norboy76

On 2/15/2024 at 6:46 AM, Philly Steve said:

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the SS United States Conservancy, in a letter to the White House, is now offering to donate the ship to the state, National Park Service or any other entity that can offer a new home amid the legal case stemming from dock fees.

 

It may be the last SOS.

Any new updates on the SS United States? Also curious to your thoughts on these interesting crew and shipboard used items from the liner, including the letters to the chief purser. 

I always buy a souvenir spoon from the ship’s gift shop on board, I’ve gotten a lot from thrift stores too or found some on the islands when lucky enough to find an antique shop at the islands, or spoons given to me by my parents and friends, I have around 260 I think ship spoons in my personal collection now. These are my spoon racks in the photos. Many of the lines for these spoons are for no longer exist and have disappeared from the ship scene.

*Not all the spoons are on racks as the handles are to thick to fit on the racks as you’ll see 

*Lines: Cunard, Canadian Pacific, P&O, Anchor Donaldson, Shaw Savil, NYK, Chandris, Royal Caribbean, NCL, Celebrity, Hamburg America Line, Sally Cruises, Townsend Thoreson, Princess, Greek Line, Carnival, Orient Line, Holland America, Sun Cruises, Regency

I got these *Big U* crew items a little while back and thought might find them interesting to see. There are signs from on board the liner for the dining room, luggage, signs about clocks and clean linen. Note pads from Engineering and Repair area, a letter to the Chief Purser, a sheet from the cleaning staff for cleaning the cabins and staterooms, and crew overtime report forms.

Please enjoy the crew item photos as the items are in my personal collection now.

Here are some nice souvenirs in my collection including a red fabric mystery item as I haven’t ever been able to identify what it is, interior postcards, postcard with the commodore, a Normandie tootsie toy still with it’s original paint on it, a postcard booklet, a reproduction of the gift clock *the original was given only to first class passengers if I’m right? 
it’s the last photo *the red item* which I’m not sure what it is, it’s all cloth, red on one side, cream on the other side, only the red side has the illustration on it though.

*Please note the very fancy tile work in the galley where the meals were made, very ornate for a galley floor

4 hours ago, Lowiepete said:

I have a sneaking suspicion that this isn't a Caronia item. Speaking of the Franconia, both her and Carmania of the 1960s were re-purposed and painted in Cunard Cruising Green, along with a brief period for the RMS Mauretania. The straighter prow and domed funnel of this piece associates more closely with the two smaller sisters. The foredeck clutter also tends to rule out Caronia.

 

Whilst there's mention of these ships, I spent the worst 5 months of my sea-career on board Carmania. That was _not_ a happy ship! I cannot put into words the amount of hate carried by a substantial number of her crew. You had to pick who you spoke to as associates very carefully; it was scary! Apparently, by comparison, Franconia was like chalk and cheese and a very much calmer place to live.

 

In May 1965, just 3 days from home, the Carmania sailed over 8 hours later than booked from Barcelona, while overnight more than a dozen men were flown home in disgrace, their sea-going days over. A junior catering officer was left behind, being hospitalised after being launched backwards and head-first down a companionway he was climbing to investigate a disturbance at the aft end of the galley.

 

At that moment, I was Staff-Captain's Commis clearing up after luncheon service. I quickly ducked-down twixt the port-side galley exit and aft restaurant entrance when a very drunk and angry crowd came back on board. I've never been more scared by any situation before or since and the dreadful sounds of that commotion will never leave me!

 

I'm aware that I'm digressing away from the Caronia, but I need to record this properly. All this was at the height of "the troubles"; the one thing that was rarely conveyed by any commentator of this difficult period of history was the extreme levels of hate. There were so many factions that for many people, me included, the whole thing was just too confusing. This to the point where I cannot for certain confirm whether it came from just one side or was shared. All I fervently hope for is that such situations never return!

 

Regards,
Steve

Thank you for fixing the ship mix, the shop I bought the tie clip from had it listed as the Caronia, but as I look through my postcards, she looks more like the liners you mentioned, I also have postcards for the Franconia, but one with an all white hull. I do have in the green hull too. Green hull top photo, white hull bottom photo. Thank you again for clearing it up for me.

On 8/2/2023 at 5:16 PM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

I believe you are talking about Franconia II.  Franconia I was from 1923.  Franconia II was launched as Ivernia in 1956.  Around 1958-1960 (extemporaneous) the name was changed to Franconia and she had a career cruising to Bermuda which is probably where you caught up with her.  Caronia was a luxury liner in her own class…World Class…she was purpose built for cruising and about 10,000 tons larger than Franconia.  So in response to your initial question…no Franconia was not a sister ship to Caronia.  Caronia II was a very special purpose built ship.  

I thought might like to see a couple of my Caronia items. 
A spoon from 1918 for the earlier Caronia, a nice tie clip from the later one known as *The Green Goddess*, a nice postcard for *The Green Goddess*, the postcard is unique as it’s not one you can write on on the back as you’ll see in the photo as it shows part of the fleet

I don’t have too many souvenirs for this ship, but I do have items when she sailed for Cunard and Sitmar. Souvenir Bell, Spoon, Menus, Record Album. 

On 4/19/2023 at 2:02 AM, Travel Junkie Judy said:

This was our first ship .  We sailed when she was NCL Sea.  This was in 2002 or 2003.

We loved sailing on her. 

 

Seaward / Norwegian Sea

This ship was built in 1988 as Seaward, but was rechristened in 1997 after a hefty renovation. In 2005, the ship left NCL and moved to Star Cruises, at that time renamed SuperStar Libra.

Photo By: Norwegian Cruise Line

She continued sailing in various markets, including the Mediterranean Sea and Aegan Sea, in South America, and in Asia. In July 2018, the ship was converted to a hotel ship at a German shipyard.

I have a couple of souvenirs from the Seaward, a nice spoon showing the older logo and a shot glass. 

Some of my nice Home Line souvenirs including a cookbook, record album from 1959 from the Homeric, menu from a 1988 Homeric cruise, melamine trays, menus from the Oceanic in 1971, and 2 postcards.

On 1/7/2022 at 11:28 AM, jeh10641 said:

Copper10-8

Thanks for the photo of my first ship (Nieuw Amsterdam, 1938 version). I sailed on her again in 1966 with my parents. Had the same table steward as in 1959. His name was Carl. In 1959 I also sailed from Genoa to New York on American Export's Constitution. Stay well.

 

Jim

Some nice menus from the Nieuw Amsterdam including an *error* menu which I’ll post information about lol. And a nice scarf. 
 

*Error Menu Information 
Arrow is pointing to the indentation of the embossed front cover, but as you can see when the menu is opened it is all upside down. The menu is also on the back of the front cover where the name of the ship and date should be, and that part is upside down inside the back cover where the menu should be. I’m unsure how many of these *error menus* are still around, unless others have it too if they had been on that cruise. The date for the error menu is Tuesday, November 3, 1970.

On 1/7/2022 at 3:46 PM, rotjeknor said:

ss Rotterdam , july 1980 , NYC to Bahamas, cabin # 42 on boat deck.

My uncle was onboard as Second Engineer , my dad was Marine Superintendent for HAL at that time so as a 20 year old, I had a blast 😉  . My mom and sister were also onboard but luckily we didn't share a cabin ....

My 3 Rotterdam postcards.

Top: 1908-1940 (postcard used and dated Feb 2, 1914)

Middle: 1959-1997

Bottom: 1997-2020

On 1/9/2022 at 7:26 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I appreciate you posting the photos.  Swedish American's Gripsholm was a beauty.  

 

If I recall correctly, she was the next newbuild for Swedish American Line whose first Master was the Captain of the Stockholm when she was involved in the Andrea Doria disaster.  

I thought might find this Gripsholm postcard interesting as it’s for the older Gripsholm before her name changed to Berlin for Norddeutscher Lloyd, but they hadn’t changed the name yet and still shows as Gripsholm on the bow of the ship and on the back but under the Norddeutscher Lloyd name. 
Ship Name History:

Gripsholm: 1925-1954

Berlin: 1954-1966

Scrapped: 1966

I have this nice Soviet Era cruise ship pin collection: These are the ship names. 

1 Admiral Nakhimov
2 The Ship "Ukraine"
3 The Ship "Georgia"
4 Byelorussia
5 Azerbaijan
6 Taras Shevchenko
7 "Ivan Franko"
8 Russia (above)/Dnipro (below)
9 Ship "Latvia"
10 Rustaveli
11 Dnipro
12 "Colchis"
13 Uzbekistan
14 Abkhazia
15 Baltiкa
16 Riverflot Ukraine 
17 Mikhail Kalinin
18 Adjara
Again the name "Ukraine"(3 times), Admiral Nakhimov and Ivan Franko.

I have a postcard for the Gruziya with the Black Sea Shipping Company in my collection. 

Sent to scrappers in 2022

Ship History: 

Sadly not really, there’s a couple on EBay and Etsy for less than $30 and a couple selling for around $10 plus shipping. Plus I wouldn’t want to sell as in my personal collection. There’s one person selling 2 bottles on EBay for $22.79 plus shipping.

On 3/15/2021 at 8:12 PM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

WOW NB...I wonder what the schnapps would be worth in Germany today??  You might have something that would be very valuable to someone from Germany.  They would probably want to drink it!  The Germans were extremely proud of the Bremen (pronounced “Braemen”) when she debuted in 1958.  They took a 20 year old French ship and rebuilt it to a very high standard and made one of the most comfortable and charming vessels to sail the Atlantic.  Thank you for sharing.

I forgot to mention that the bottle of schnapps for the Bremen is from between 1929-1939. That makes this small Norddeutscher bottle between 84-94 years old now as of 2023. 

I have a couple of nice souvenirs from the Starward. I have a nie souvenir spoon and a circle deck of playing cards still in the original holder. I've never seen circle shaped ones before until I got these. Also have a glass souvenir tray with the fleet names on it. Have a nice souvenir bell too from the Starward. 

I have some nice souvenirs from Epirotiki: 

2 Heavy glass ashtrays

Postcards: Oceanos (sank during cruise), Atlas (formerly the HAL Ryndam 1951-1972, Pallas Athena (which would catch fire), Argonaut, World Renaissance

1 Souvenir scarf

1 Tote Bag (not a typical looking tote bag)

Enjoy the photos of my souvenirs

Sad to think these items are probably some of the last items from that liner, unless passengers from that fateful cruise kept some items with them during the rescue, I wonder if any did?

I thought might find these items interesting as they’re from the Andrea Doria and please take note of the dates on them as one is dated only 13 days before the liner would go to the bottom of the ocean as one has the dates July 11-13, 1956 and the ship was hit on July 25 and sank July 26, 1956. I have stationary, envelopes, a Marconi wireless, bar napkin and weather sheets. Hard to believe only 12 days later she’d be hit and be in the news. The items cover from July 5-13, 1956. The square item with the folds is the cocktail napkin. 

On 11/1/2022 at 2:38 PM, john watson said:

Carla C was originally built in 1957 and called Flandre. It was under Costa control between 1967 and 1992.  It was the third ship  Princess Cruises ever chartered and marketed as Princess Carla although the ship's name was not changed.

 

Regards John

I have a postcard of her as the French Line's Flandre

Info and history on this ship: Hope that helps. I have a postcard and playing cards for the line showing her. I also have a postcard as the Lakonia. So she started with the Nederland Line, then chartered to Holland America, then went back to the Nederland Line, then sold to the Greek Line

The 19,787 grt, 609.2-ft steamship Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was built in 1929 by Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij, Amsterdam for the Nederland Line. She had accommodation for 338-1st, 281-2nd and 64-3rd class passengers. The ship was chartered to Holland America Line in the summer 1939 and from 1940 - 1945 she was used as an Allied troopship. After the war she returned to the Nederland Line and refitted as a one class vessel. In 1958-59 she was rebuilt at Amsterdam to 20,314 tons and the result was an increase of accommodations to 1,210 one-class passengers.

In March 1963 she was sold to the Greek Line and renamed Lakonia and offered a popular service from Southampton to the Canary Islands. She departed on her first voyage as Lakonia on April 24, 1963. On December 19th, she departed Southampton carrying 646 passengers and 376 crewmen on board for an 11 day Christmas Cruise of the Canary Islands; on the night of the 22^nd. the southbound Lakonia met with disaster. At around 11:00 p.m., 200 miles NNE of Madeira, a steward noticed thick smoke seeping under the door of the ship's hairdressing salon. Upon opening the door, he found the room completely ablaze, and the fire rushed into the hallway. An attempt to fight the flames with fire extinguishers proved to be futile; the flames spreading too fast to be contained and soon had over taken the ship. A total of 128 people died in the Lakonia disaster, of which 95 were passengers and 33 were crew members. 53 people were killed in the actual fire. The rest died from exposure, drowning and injuries sustained while diving overboard. The hulk was taken in tow but she sank on December 29, 1963, 250 miles SW of Gibraltar.

On 7/23/2022 at 2:37 PM, Steppy08 said:

Very cool! Were the teacups given away or purchased? 

The tea cup and saucer were from the gift shop on board

I have some nice vintage glasses for various cruise ships and lines such as:

1. Costa Riviera (2 different versions)

2. Regal Empress

3. SS Norway

4. Sunward II

5. MV Tropicana

6. 2 Royal Caribbean (both show the fleet names showing only 5 names: sun viking, nordic prince, song of norway, song of america and sovereign of the seas)

7. SeaEscape

8. Cunard (2 ships named on this one Cunard Princess & Cunard Countess)

9. SS Meridian 

10. Carnival (Looks like a whiskey glass)

11. Carnival Hurricane Glass

12. Princess Roly Poly Glasses

13. Ove Skou sherry glasses from 1950

14. Festival Cruises

15. Crown Cruise Line

16. BC Ferries Queen Of Esquilmalt tea cup and saucer

Not all but here are some photos to enjoy

I don't have many souvenirs for Sun Line. I do have a nice scarf showing the funnel and 3 ship names on it though.