![]() Empress of Australia on Sydney Harbour, 1968 | |
History | |
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Name | Empress of Australia |
Operator | Australian National Line |
Builder | Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company, Sydney |
Cost | $2.6 million |
Yard number | 220 |
Laid down | 11 September 1962 |
Launched | 18 January 1964 |
Acquired | 8 January 1965 |
Identification | IMO number: 6405434 [1] |
Fate |
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General characteristics (as built) [2] | |
Type | Ro-Ro passenger ferry |
Tonnage | 12,037 GRT |
Length | 443 ft (135 m) |
Beam | 40 ft (12 m) |
Draught | 20 ft (240 in) |
Propulsion | MAN diesel engines, 2 shafts, bow thruster |
Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
Capacity |
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Empress of Australia was a ferry operated by the Australian National Line. Ordered in 1962 by the Australian National Line and launched by Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company on 18 January 1964, Empress of Australia was the largest passenger ferry built in the world. [3]
From the time of her 16 January 1965 maiden voyage, the ship could carry up to 250 passengers in cabins, 91 cars, 16 trucks, and 160 intermodal containers. [3] The ferry made three runs from Sydney to Tasmania every fortnight until 1972; one each to Hobart, Bell Bay and Burnie. [3]
In 1972, the ship was transferred to the Melbourne to Tasmania route, replacing MS Princess of Tasmania. [3] [4] She was modified at the State Dockyard: the installation of 190 reclining seats in the original lounge increased her passenger capacity to 440, and a deck was added at the aft end. [3] Empress of Australia began sailing between Melbourne and Devonport on 28 June 1972, and continued making Bass Strait crossings until 1986. [3]
Empress of Australia was replaced in 1986 by Abel Tasman, also a car ferry. [3] then renamed as Empress was sold to Cypriot owners and heavily refitted and converted into a cruise ship, in 1991 offered Mexican Riviera Cruises from San Diego, California to Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, may be under Starlite Cruises managing, but these trips were unsuccesful and lasted only 6 months, she may be sold to an Asian Company in Singapore, then she was renamed Royal Pacific and began operations there, mainly for gambling-casino business.
On August 22, 1992, the Royal Pacific departed from Singapore for a three day, two night cruise off the coast of Malaysia and Thailand. In the evening of August 23, 1992, she was rammed by the Taiwanese fishing vessel Terfu 51 in the Straits of Malacca after the Tefru misjudged the distance needed to cross the path of the Pacific. The collision caused a six-foot hole beneath the water line of the hull. The ship remained above water for about 2 hours after the collision before sinking around 3 a.m. [5]
At the time of sinking, she was carrying 516 people, consisting of 337 passengers and 179 crew. [6] A majority of passengers were from Singapore, with smaller numbers from Britain, Australia, India, United States, Indonesia, Germany, Taiwan, and Canada. [7] 193 passengers were rescued by the Japanese ship Marissa, while most others were picked up by the Greek ship Chapai. [8] The collision resulted in 30 deaths, with most attributed to the crew's choice to abandon ship first. At the time of the collision the Royal Pacific was piloted by captain Anastasios Papagiannis. [9]
Vasco da Gama is a cruise ship operated by German cruise line Nicko Cruises. Completed in 1993, she previously sailed for Holland America Line as MS Statendam, for P&O Cruises Australia as Pacific Eden and for Cruise & Maritime Voyages as Vasco da Gama. In 2020, following CMV's filing for administration, she was sold by CW Kellock & Co Ltd. at auction to Mystic Cruises' parent company, Mystic Invest for US$10,187,000.
CP Ships was a large Canadian shipping company established in the 19th century. From the late 1880s until after World War II, the company was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships. Many immigrants travelled on CP ships from Europe to Canada. In 1914 the sinking of the Canadian Pacific steamship RMS Empress of Ireland just before World War I became largest maritime disaster in Canadian history. The company provided Canadian Merchant Navy vessels in World Wars I and II. Twelve vessels were lost due to enemy action in World War II, including the RMS Empress of Britain, which was the largest ship ever sunk by a German U-boat.
HMAS Derwent, named for the Derwent River, was a River-class destroyer escort of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was laid down by Williamstown Naval Dockyard in 1959, and commissioned into the RAN in 1964. During the ship's career, she was deployed to South East Asia on 23 occasions, including operations during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, and escort of the troopship HMAS Sydney to and from the Vietnam War. Multiple flag-showing cruises were also embarked upon, with port visits throughout Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Derwent was also briefly used to portray a fictional vessel for the British drama series Warship.
HMAS Jervis Bay was a roll-on/roll-off passenger and vehicle ferry operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1977 and 1994.
TT-Line Company Pty Ltd, better known by its trading name Spirit of Tasmania is a company which has been operating ferries from mainland Australia to Tasmania since July 1985. The company was separated from the Tasmanian Government's Department of Transport in 1993, becoming a government business enterprise wholly owned by the Government of Tasmania where it was then named Spirit of Tasmania in August 1993.
Australian National Line (ANL) was a coastal shipping line established by the Government of Australia in 1956. It was sold in 1998 by the Howard government to CMA CGM.
RMS Empress of Asia was an ocean liner built in 1912–1913 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland for Canadian Pacific Steamships.
MS Princess of Tasmania was an Australian-built roll-on/roll-off passenger ship. She was built by the State Dockyard in Newcastle, New South Wales for the Australian National Line. Laid down on 15 November 1957, she was launched on 15 December 1958. As built, the ship had a tonnage value of 3,964 gross register tons (GRT), was 113.32 metres (371.8 ft) long, had a beam of 17.73 metres (58.2 ft), and a draught of 4.74 metres (15.6 ft). Two 9-cylinder Nydquist & Holm Polar M69TS diesels supplied 8,600 horsepower (6,400 kW) to the propellers, allowing a maximum speed of 17.75 knots. Up to 334 passengers and 142 vehicles could be carried. Princess of Tasmania was given the IMO number: 5284986. The ship was the first RO/RO passenger ship in the southern hemisphere, and at the time of launch, the largest vessel built in Australia.
SS City of Launceston was a 368 GRT steamship operated by the Launceston and Melbourne Steam Navigation Company from 1863, which had an early role in colonial steam shipping as the forerunner of the modern Bass Strait ferry service between Tasmania and Victoria. It was sunk in Port Phillip Bay after a collision with another ship on 19 November 1865.
HMS Nairana was a passenger ferry that was requisitioned by the Royal Navy (RN) as a seaplane carrier in 1917. She was laid down in Scotland in 1914 as TSS Nairana for the Australian shipping line Huddart Parker, but construction was suspended after the outbreak of the First World War. Following resumption of work, the ship was launched in 1915, and converted to operate wheeled aircraft from her forward flying-off deck, as well as floatplanes that were lowered into the water. She saw service during the war with the Grand Fleet, and in 1918–19 supported the British intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Bass Strait Ferries have been the ships that have been used for regular transport across Bass Strait between Tasmania and Victoria in mainland Australia, as well as the various attempts to link Tasmania with Sydney. Historically, some regular shipping services in the twentieth century linked Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart with the Bass Strait ports: Launceston's various port locations, Devonport and Burnie. The distinction between coastal shipping and Bass Strait ferry has been blurred at times.