TSS Fairstar
Encyclopedia : T : TS : TSS : TSS Fairstar
The TSS Fairstar (Fairstar, the Fun Ship) was a popular Australian cruise ship operating out of Sydney during a career lasting almost 25 years. TSS Fairstar was originally built as the troopship Oxfordshire and later changed into the Fairstar for immigrant voyages and further on, cruising.
Background
In the early 1950s, the British War Office regularly required the transportation of troops to troublesome countries that were part of the Empire. The British Ministry of Transport had contracts with several shipping lines to transport the officers, troops and their families. One particular shipping company, The Bibby Line, had a long history of transporting troops; in fact from as early as 1854 during the Crimean War. The Bibby Line was made an attractive offer by the British Government to build a new vessel for troop transport. The company sold the original 1912 Oxfordshire and plans for the new ship were underway with the vessel to be built at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Glasgow. The keel of the new Oxfordshire (designated as 'Ship No 755') was laid down with 8,396 tons of steel assigned for the construction. On 15 December 1955 the Oxfordshire was launched by Lady Dorothea Head, wife of the Minister for War, Lord Head. Fitting out of Oxfordshire took over a year, with her sea trials commencing on 29 January 1957.The Oxfordshire was officially handed over to the Bibby Line on 14 February 1957 when she steamed towards Liverpool to commence her trooping role. On 28 February 1957 the Oxfordshire left Liverpool on her maiden voyage under the command of Captain Norman Fitch bound for Hong Kong via Cape Town. The Oxfordshire had the capacity to carry 1000 troops, 500 passengers (usually the families of the troops) and 409 crew members. The Oxfordshire made an average of four trips per year between Britain and the Far East and she also stopped at Ceylon, Aden, Port Said and Suez in Egypt. By the 1960s the number of British troopships was decreased and Oxfordshire was withdrawn from service in October 1962.
With the Oxfordshire going into lay-up at Falmouth in 1962, it was at this time that the migrant trade to Australia was booming. British and European migrants were given assisted passage to Australia - only having to pay ten pounds, with the balance paid by the Federal Government. Sitmar Line was already well established as a migrant carrier to Australia and they quickly showed an interest in the idle ship. A six-year charter agreement with an option to purchase the ship was signed in February 1963 between the Bibby Line and Fairline Shipping Corporation (a subsidiary of Vlasov Group).
'ConOx'
The complex plan to convert the Oxfordshire into a ship that was suitable for both liner voyages and cruises was one of the most ambitious projects to be undertaken by the Vlasov engineers. On 19 May 1963 the Oxfordshire entered the Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard at Schiedam to commence the transformation. The project was known as "Conox Project" (Conversion of Oxfordshire). Unfortunately, the project took longer than expected and cost more than anticipated (£4.5 million). In May 1964 it was then decided to buy the ship outright and move her to Southampton to complete the fitting out. The new-look ship was quite changed from her former image: the superstructure was lengthened both fore and aft, three pairs of cargo booms were replaced by cranes and the funnel housing was redesigned.Fairstar
On 19 May 1964 the Fairstar left Southampton with a full compliment of passengers, mostly migrants, on her maiden voyage to Sydney, Australia. The Fairstar was to maintain the migrant run from the UK to Australia for nine years. During the low season of the migrant run, Sitmar used the ship for cruises out of Sydney to the South Pacific. The first of these cruises departed on 6 January 1965 under charter to Massey-Ferguson for their annual convention. After almost another full year of liner voyages from the UK to Australia, Fairstar sailed on another cruise from Sydney, departing on 22 December 1965 and visiting Noumea and Suva.The ship was used more and more for cruising over the following years and in July 1973, Fairstar departed Southampton for her last liner voyage. Fairstar began cruising as a permanent cruise ship from Australia. Most of the cruises were to the South Pacific, however she often made annual trips to Asia where she would be dry-docked in Singapore for routine maintenance and upgrades in between cruises.
Several upgrades were made to the ship during her career, the most notable occurring in April 1989, not long after the Sitmar was sold to P&O for $210 million. During the refit, her boat deck was extended, lounges and passenger cabins were upgraded and a new potable water plant installed. The passenger capacity was also reduced to 1280. The funnel sported a new colour scheme: a blue swan on a white funnel (it was originally changed to a white swan on a blue logo in July 1988).
The end of Fairstar
During the 1990s, Fairstar suffered an increasing number of breakdowns and problems. New SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) requirements that were to be introduced in 1997 meant that Fairstar would require extensive upgrading which would cost millions of dollars. In late 1996, the managing director of P&O, Mr Phil Young, announced that Fairstar's long career would conclude the following year. When the news was broken to the public, the final cruise was sold out in a few hours. On 21 January 1997, Fairstar sailed on her last ever cruise, visiting Amedee Island, Noumea, Lifou, Vila and Havannah-Boulari Passage before finally returning to Sydney. On her return to Sydney, she had the traditional long white pennant flying from her mainmast.The name "RIPA" was then roughly painted on her bow (which many believe stood for "Rest In Peace Always") and she flew the St. Vincents & Grenadines flag. Soon after, she slipped out of Sydney harbour and arrived at Alang, India on 10th April 1997 where she was broken up for scrap.
See also
Reference
- Mike Ristuccia, [www.TssFairstar.com]
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.