SS Orontes

SS Orontes in Tilbury Docks, circa 1957, about to sail for Sydney on a single-class voyage with (mainly) migrant passengers on the Ten Pound Poms scheme.
History
United Kingdom
Name	SS Orontes
Owner	Orient Line (P & O)
Port of registry	Tilbury, Essex, United Kingdom
Route	England - Australia (1929-1940) England - Australia (1948-1962)
Builder	Vickers Armstrong Ltd. at Barrow-in-Furness, England
Launched	26 February 1929
Maiden voyage	June 1929
Refit	1947-1948
Identification	Code Letters and radio callsign GBXM
Fate	Scrapped at Valencia, Spain in 1962
General characteristics
Type	Passenger
Tonnage	20,097 grt
Length	664 ft (202 m)
Beam	75 ft 2 in (22.91 m)
Draft	29 ft 8 in (9.04 m)
Installed power	2 steam turbines, 20,000 shaft horsepower (15,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 screws
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h)
Capacity	1st: 500 passengers 3rd: 1,112 passengers Total: 1,612 passengers

SS Orontes was a passenger ship owned by Orient Line.

The ship was built in 1929 by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England.

Its sister ships were Orama (II), Orford, Oronsay, and Otranto (II). Orontes was the last of the "Orama" Class and great effort was taken to make the public rooms of Orontes the best of this class. The name had previously belonged to the RMS Orontes, an earlier ship owned by the Orient Line.^[1]

Service

Orontes maiden voyage was a Mediterranean Cruise in June 1929. From 1929 to 1940, it served on the England to Australia route. It carried the England cricket team on the way to the Bodyline tour in 1932.^[2]

During World War II, Orontes became a troopship, serving that role from 1940 to 1947. In 1947 Orontes transported World War II prisoners of war from Melbourne to Cuxhaven, West Germany.^[1]

The ship served on the England to Australia route from 1948 to 1962, being refitted as a single class passenger ship at Thornycroft in 1953. In August 1958, Orontes was involved in a collision with SS Empire Baltic, a landing ship used as a ferry on the River Thames. The Orontes was scrapped at Valencia, Spain, in 1962.^[1][3][4]

References

1. "Builder's model of SS Orontes". Sydney, New South Wales: Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
2. McKinstry, Leo (14 September 2007), "When cynicism eclipsed chivalry in sport", Daily Telegraph, London^{[dead link‍]}
3. "Orontes (1146027)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
4. ORONTES (1929) (PDF), P&O Line, archived from the original on 9 January 2007, retrieved 5 March 2009

Further reading

• Geddes, FL (24 June 1948), "The Reconditioned "Orontes"", Shipbuilding and Shipping Record: 774 - article about the post-war refit
• McCart, Neil (1987), Passenger Ships of the Orient Line, P. Stephens, ISBN 978-0-85059-891-9