I traveled first class to Australia as a 7 year old with my family in 1953 , so she must have been multi class then. Although I was only 7 I still have memories of her and getting lost. Also the quite amazing indoor swimming pool. We came back to England for six months in 1956, a business trip for my father and he took the family with him , on the Arcadia returning to Australia on the Iberia. We returned to England in 1958 on the Norwegian Lines Skaubryn. Which caught fire on the return trip to Australia. I had a great childhood.
What an unexpected and lovely find on UA-cam - thank you. A dear friend of mine, sadly passed many years now - first went to sea as a cabin boy on the then new Strathnaver - he retired many years later on the Canberra as P&O's Chief Steward.
Like your family my Mother, Father and myself arrived in Australia on the Strathnaver, I was 3yrs at the time. Mum was pregnant with my brother Shaun, born 17/02 1960. We arrived in Australia on 20/01/1960. Our trip was a longer than normal due to the Suez Canal Crisis, took us 6 weeks travelling. We went down the west coast of Africa, up the east coast to the normal exit point the continued the normal route. First port of call in Australia was Fremantle in Western Australia, missed Melbourne due to a severe storm and arrived in Sydney on the above date. I knew what the outside of the Strathnaver looked like but never the interior, my parents told me about it but to see it is fascinating. Another piece to add to my family history. Thanks again.
Here on the west coast of Canada, we had three steamers which bore a striking resemblance to the Strathnaver. They were Prince Robert, Prince Henry and Prince David and were owned by Canadian National Railways. The trio was built by Cammell Laird at the same time as Strathnaver. They were complete failures on the west coast so Prince David and Prince Henry were sent cruising on the east coast to the Carribean and their hulls were painted white which made them look even more like miniature versions of Strathnaver. Prince Henry was sold to Clarke Steamship Company and her funnels were changed to buff with narrow blue bands which only added to her looking like a Strathnaver doppelganger. All three ships were drastically altered for war service.
Wow you weren't kidding! They absolutely are like Strathnaver in miniature :) Fascinating bit of ship history here as I'd never come across these vessels before. Thanks for sharing!
A most enjoyable video compilation. Like your family, mine "immigrated" to Australia on the SS Georgic in 1947. When my father's "tour of duty" with the Australian Navy ended in 1953, much to my horror as a then "Aussie Boy", we traveled back to England on the RMS Strathnaver from Port Melbourne docks. I have a photo taken dockside for a nighttime departure with myself and my sister in pajamas covered in streamers thrown by well-wishers as was the custom in those days. Thankfully, a year later after living in East London with my grandparents, we all returned to Australia on the SS Orsova, another P&O vessel.
I love the personal connection you have with the RMS Strathnaver. Most of my family in the States were here before the Revolutionary War, with the exception of an Irish immigrant by the name of Patrick Henry (the equivalent of John Smith), who came over in the 1850's to escape the Potato Famine. Even when I do know the names of some of the ships that brought my ancestor's over, there are no pictures. At best, you get an artist's rendering. I'm a genealogist, and things like this are pure gold.
My school is on the other side of where the SS Rotterdam is berthed. I see her every day being beautiful as she is. She is for certain my favourite ocean liner.
Sorry if I'm correcting but she's pronounced as TSS Rotterdam, TSS meaning for 'Twin-Screw-Ship', one of the other surviving ships is the Duke Of Lancaster.
Thanks for the video which brought back many memories. My first job was with P&O located in Leadenhall Street, London. My job was to calculate and order the fuel oil supplies for the companies fleet. The Strath ships did have one major anomaly in that there were no heating coils in the double bottom tanks so I to be careful to order Intermarine fuel oil which had a viscosity of 1200 seconds. Regular Marine Fuel oil could rage up to 4000 seconds. If this fuel was put in the double bottom tanks it would turn to tar and be completely unpumpable. Fortunately this didn't happen in my time.
among them the beautiful former belgian ships Baudouinville (cathay) and Jadotville (Chitral) of the cockerill yard in Antwerp and the french yard of St Nazaire respectively!
Always enjoy watching. Brought back memories when you mentioned Mooltan. I traveled on her with my family in 1948 from Southhampton to Western Australia as £10 poms. (Scottish poms actually) The trip, very exciting for a seven year old boy. I also love the history of ship yards, particularly Belfasts, Harland and Wolff, and Glasgows John Browns on the Clyde.
Scottish are not poms, do some research & you'll find Scotland was invaded & stolen. There is no such thing as a 'scottish poms', just as there's no Irish poms or Welsh poms. There's the 'poms' & then all the 'colonies' aka the lands they stole
An excellent video! It's interesting that Strathnaver included turbo-electric propulsion. I'm more familiar with the naval side of ships, where the notable use of this technology were the later USN Standard-type battleships. They had the same goal - steady long-range efficiency. It's incredibly interesting to know that TE drives saw use in liners as well. Again, wonderful video. The quality of your work is on par with much larger channels like Drachinifel, and is incredibly enjoyable. You've got an extremely clear way of narration that really "just works" for the topic. New sub!
I have to say how much I have learnt from your channel - there are other very good channels covering vessels - but you bring the ships to life through your artistic eye and deliver a fabulous new perspective that I have never imagined! Brilliant sir and a big thank you!!
Loved your video. P&O have always been close to me as I started to work for P&O on the SS Himalaya in the 70’s until scrapping her. Then joined SS Oronsay yup until it was scrapped. Last ship I worked on was SS Arcadia before parting ways. Loved working on those great ships. Doing the woman’s weekly world cruises and the Run from UK to Australia 😀
Enjoyed this video very much. My parents and I travelled to Adelaide from England aboard Strathnaver arriving in April 1960. I am told it was one of her last voyages before being scrapped but I have never confirmed that. As a young boy the trip to Australia aboard Strathnaver started my endurng love of ships which continues today. Thank you for the memories.
Wonderful. I like her interiors, which were still woody and traditional, but simplified and light. It's cool you have a personal connection with Strathnaver. Fun episode. Thanks.
My dad worked for Orient lines in the late 50's and early 60's then went over to P&O when they merged the fleets. He worked on the Strathnaver in 1959 & 60.
Your channel, among others like it (Historic Travels, Part-Time Explorer, etc) have really given me so much joy with all of your content. All of these beautiful ships I've never known being given spotlight is great. Your research and well thought out work and presentation is amazing. Well done, sir. Looking forward to more content.
I live in Barrow, where Vicker's used to be, and my local supermarket has a collection of historical pictures dotted around (as does the local Dock Museum). The picture of the Strathaird on the slipway is my favourite.
Thank you for these wonderful videos. You bring these ships back to life! You are such a multi talent with your beautifully detailed artwork, production of these pieces and so at ease in front of the camera. Not to mention...easy on the eye, that smile you flashed at the very end...adorable!
I sailed on the Strathnaver in 1959 and arrived in Sydney on July 7th. The trip took about 5 weeks. I was 7 yrs of age. My mum and dad were £10.00 poms. It was a great trip.
A bygone era: As a young boy in the late 1950s I lived by the river Thames in Gravesend opposite Tilbury. I used to watch the “Strath” boats, arrive and depart. When they were in Tilbury dock I occasionally would be taken round them by someone who worked on them. I can remember seeing the plated over bases of the number one and three funnels which were removed. WW2 was a relatively recent memory (i.e. less than 15years earlier) for people working on them at that time who told me where they had been when they were used as troopships. They must hold many memories for people who emigrated to Australia to start a new life from drab post war Britain. Sad to think they are all now scrapped.
Thanks for this video! My mother, aged 26 at the time, emigrated from Sri-Lanka to the UK to become a nurse and travelled on this ship. It was the Strathnaver's final voyage from Colombo to Southampton in 1961. I've been looking everywhere for more details and pictures of this ship.
Hi Mike, looking forward to your videos. I traveled on P&O's Orontes as a child of 6 in 1959 from Sydney to London. Amazing journey! Hopefully we'll see something on her one day on your channel ! Cheers
I can happily claim the RMS Olympic as my family’s immigration ship because in the 1920’s my Great grandparents came over to America on it. Which honestly it’s the clear coolest Olympic liner between the dazzle paint job & it’s war time career in my bias opinion the Olympic is the coolest.
Great presentations Mike. I worked for MacDonald - Hamilton, the P&O agents in OZ, but when i was a kid, I took hundreds of photos with my Box Brownie. I still have them and I threaten to post them on the Tube as a slideshow one day. When I was 12, MH and the Orient Line gave me an open pass to visit any passenger vessel in port. I visited the all the Strath's except the Strathallen which never came to OZ as far as I can recall. I loved your video, but felt a bit let down when you never mentioned that the Strathmnaver and Strathaird eventually lost those silly false funnels.
The Strathnaver features twice in my family's story. Firstly my grandfather was returned to the UK on Strathnaver at the end of his service in the Second World War and secondly my parents and siblings emigrated to Australia on the same ship in 1959. Very interesting video and some lovely photos. Thank you.
Hello, I must say that your work and channel is great source for any ship fan and I admire it. Not only the astonishing paintings with huge amount of details, but these videos about ship histories and design features and progress are also very interesting. I have learned much about liners that I did not know before and I would like to thank you for that :) PS: I tried to design my own modern ocean liner class that would correspond with modern standards, accomodation needs and SOLAS rules but combined it with more traditional look of beloved liners from past century. I even tried to express that idea to Cunard, but unfortunately, though expexted, they kindly refused.
Another great production, Mike. My parent's came out from Scotland, via Southampton, to New Zealand on the Stratheden. She was on her last outward voyage. Later that next year she was sold on. Look forward to a video on the Stratheden if you do one.
I traveled on the Stratheden on her last inward voyage. All the way from Wellington to Tilbury. We almost had to tow the Canberra when it had a fire in in her engine room. Ii was 12 at the time. What an adventure.
Though I was only a kid at the time I’ve very fond memories of the Strathnaver. My brother and I went to the wharf where she was docked in Brisbane, Australia and managed to get on board to look around. Btw. the only thing Art Deco you have shown is the menus cover, her interior is nothing like Art Deco 😄. Thanks for the upload and the wonderful memories of a vanished era.
Fascinating and very much appreciated. I know these vessels would be deemed unbearable by the current travelling public, but .. they looked the way ships should look (…. yes, I know you agree 😎) and what a far cry from the hideous monstrosities that blot the seascape nowadays. The name Mooltan rang a bell and prompted me to look through some papers of my late parents where I found a postcard of her and recalled that they’d sailed on her from Australia to East Africa in the late 1940s soon after marrying. After moving to Australia in the 60s, i went on cruises on the Himalaya and Iberia , both obviously ships which had evolved from the Strathnaver …
I would dearly love to see you apply your amazing skills to the subject of the unusually beautiful and very rapid Trans-Tasman Express Liner TSS Awatea of the Union Steam Ship Company. She was only in service for a couple of years before being requisitioned by the Royal Navy for service as a troop carrier in WWII. Sadly, she was lost in action In 1942 in an epic battle where "she fought the fight if a battleship.", according to her fleet admiral. She was adored by the lucky few who traveled on her in peacetime. At just over 500 ft., she was a like one of the great Transatlantic liners scaled down. She could average over 23 knots and top 25, which is pretty impressive considering her waterline length was hundreds of feet shorter than many slower ships...
My great aunt loved the "Strath" liners as they took their periodic trips to the "old country" from Australia. We have film of their last journey by liner in 1961/2.
A fun video Mike! I knew about the P&O Line, but not much, and this is the first I've heard about Strathnaver. (I figured there was something Scottish about the name!) I learned something today, and it's a wasted day if you don't learn something new. Thanks Mike!
I travelled from Sydney to Tilbury on the Mooltan for the Coronation in 1953 she was an old ship then but for a 10 year old an adventure. I later worked for P&O head office in Sydney when Oriana Canberra were the super liners of the day. Have sailed many times since on current ships.
My great uncle was an officer in the Indian Army between the Wars and I still have P&O playing cards and am holding postcards of the black-funnelled Mantua, Kaisar-I-Hind, Corfu, Carthage, and the white 'Electric Ship', Strathaird. Somewhere is the postcard for the Rangitata (aka?). I know that the cards often had the same picture yet the name was changed for another of the same class - but these ones are all different.
Here in the States, we have been deprived of certain colours. "Buff" is one of them. It appears to have been a very popular choice for funnels. I have seen a range of colours described as Buff, from Yellowish to a sort of beige. German liners used to have funnels painted in what appeared to be a shade of Yellow- was that described as "Buff" or just "Yellow"? Or "Schornsteinengelb", perhaps? I think I've just managed to confuse myself further.
A brilliant video. I really enjoy the old newsreels of ships but they don't often seem to have interiors. I suppose most of the footage was of port arrivals/departures. Thank you for the video!
Excellent video, as always, on a vessel I wasn't familiar with. Several ships from the 1950s and early 1960s I sailed on: Alcoa Corsair (combo passenger-bauxite & banana carrier), Bahama Star, France and Statendam.
Loving your videos recently, ocean liners and large ships in general are fascinating me more and more. Really wish I could find out which ship my mums parents came over on.
Oh how I LOVED the P&O - Orient Line ships. This was in my era. My father worked as Chief Engineer n many an Orient Line vessel. My family and extended family emigrated to Australia as £10.00.00 Scots/Irish (Not the £10 Poms often referred to. Yes Sir, My dad's sister and daughter travelled on the ss "CHUSAN" in 1956, the latter's husband travelled to Australia 2 years later on ss "STRATHAIRD" in 1958; another uncle travelled to Australia in 1956 on ss "OTRANTO"; my grandparents, uncle, aunt and baby cousin on the ss "ORION", my aunt and her husband travelled on ss "ORSOVA" in January 1961, followed by my Uncle and his wife on ss "HIMALAYA", my family of five (including me) travelled on RMS "ORONSAY" in March 1961. Another uncle and aunt travelled on ss "ARCADIA" in 1961, and finally a cousin travelled on ss "CANBERRA" on her second voyage to Australia. I loved those ships, and wish I could relive those happy days again. Many thanks for bringing this programme to us with nostalgic memories of our travels.
We sailed to Aus in 1963 on the Stratheaden as £10 POMS. Different times,hard to imagine a three week journey to sail between Southampton and the hope of a new life!
Hey there, absolutely amazing content as always. I'd like to suggest a topic for a video, the RMS Aragon (Of 1905) the liner that changed the Royal Mail Line and the South American Routes forever. She was an extremely revolutionary liner in her route and completely changed the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.
My great grandfather sailed on Strathnaver on 16 November 1940 bound for Middle East it arrived there December 1940 and he was out in Middle East until war in North Africa was over in 1943 he drove armoured cars in desert he was in Kings Dragoon Guards.
My Grandad used to work on this ship in the 50s, by chance maybe he was working on board while your family were immigrating. He still tells loads of stories from his time on the ship.
"Because the ships were to be oil-fired, they only needed one funnel to vent the fumes" (5:23) I don't believe that was the reason for three funnels. I believe it was because the designer thought they looked better with three funnels, and/or because in that era, passengers still associated the number of funnels with the power and reliability of ships. However, the main reason for the number of funnels was determined by the disposition of boilers throughout a ship. For example, Queen Mary (of the same era) was also oil fired from new and had three funnels, but they were all active: her boilers occupied about half the length of the ship and it would have been impossible to conduct their uptakes into one funnel.
It always struck me as clever how P&O designed those towering forward superstructures.Six or seven decks high,yet they still looked sleek and not ungainly.It reminds me of the Volkswagen Golf's designs over the years.They were boxy as hell but managed to look appealingly trim.
i find your book intresting on the technical side on the p&o ship your video showed. that boook i pure gold for a tech nerd as my self. thanks for up loadin a intresting vidoe on p&o`s ships. ✨✨✨👍👍👍🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪
Thanks to Mike for another great watch. Funny how the QE2 and QM2 still paint their hulls black, "but they do look great." Hmmm, putting on two fake funnels just to look more powerful is like putting a couple of socks in your front pocket, well you know. Thanks for helping keep history alive.
Actually the current Cunard ships (QM2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria) are painted a very dark blue. So was QE2 before she was retired. I don't know if the older ships were black or not. When I visited the retired Royal Yacht Britannia, I noticed she was the same dark blue. From a distance of course the colour looks black.
My Step-Parents emigrated to Canada aboard the Aquitania's second-last voyage to the New World... though that has nothing to do with my Western accent ;) Kudos on an excellent video, old chap - keep up the head of steam! Subbed, with Respect
My mother and sister came to Australia, Sydney in 1957 on this ship, along with my father returning from Naval Service in UK. The Royal Australian Navy paid for their car to be shipped over as well. They lived in Sydney for a few years and I was born in Camberwell, Victoria. Most UK emigres would have sailed on her.
A contemporary to the Strathnaver, though for a very different route was Furness Bermuda's turbo electric liner Monarch of Bermuda, and her near sister Queen of Bermuda of 1933.
Interesting to me, because my father was a young US soldier on the Strathaird, which was in the first convoy of US ships to cross the Atlantic in January 1942, headed to Northern Ireland for training.
An excellent video. Very informative. To my North American ears, your accent isn't what I would call typical Australian. You sound more British than Australian. And I have Australian relatives in Melbourne.
Thanks Ronald! That's interesting actually. I was born in Adelaide, where they speak with a bit more of an English accent on words like 'chance' or 'dance'. Also Dad being from London surely has something to do with it. :) Thanks for watching!
My first voyage to Euope was on a small Italian ship in 1967, the AURELIA. It was normally on a Genoa to Australia run, but was chartered ou as a student ship in the summer. I was told it was Launched in the 1930s by the Germans as a fleet of small ships to reward Nazi workers. Later it sailed as the ROMANZO. It was a small inelegant ship, but as the opening act of my brother and my first adventure in Europe, It was a never to be forgotten youthful tour.
5:44 - I actually like the black paint scheme better. It looks more refined and luxurious, like the ship is wearing a suit and three top hats. The white one looks kinda like a hospital ship. Of course, I'm looking at it with a 2022 sense of style, and as a drawing. It was probably different in person, and "ship fashion" was different back then.
I traveled first class to Australia as a 7 year old with my family in 1953 , so she must have been multi class then. Although I was only 7 I still have memories of her and getting lost. Also the quite amazing indoor swimming pool. We came back to England for six months in 1956, a business trip for my father and he took the family with him , on the Arcadia returning to Australia on the Iberia. We returned to England in 1958 on the Norwegian Lines Skaubryn. Which caught fire on the return trip to Australia. I had a great childhood.
What an unexpected and lovely find on UA-cam - thank you. A dear friend of mine, sadly passed many years now - first went to sea as a cabin boy on the then new Strathnaver - he retired many years later on the Canberra as P&O's Chief Steward.
Like your family my Mother, Father and myself arrived in Australia on the Strathnaver, I was 3yrs at the time.
Mum was pregnant with my brother Shaun, born 17/02 1960.
We arrived in Australia on 20/01/1960. Our trip was a longer than normal due to the Suez Canal Crisis, took us 6 weeks travelling. We went down the west coast of Africa, up the east coast to the normal exit point the continued the normal route. First port of call in Australia was Fremantle in Western Australia, missed Melbourne due to a severe storm and arrived in Sydney on the above date.
I knew what the outside of the Strathnaver looked like but never the interior, my parents told me about it but to see it is fascinating. Another piece to add to my family history.
Thanks again.
Here on the west coast of Canada, we had three steamers which bore a striking resemblance to the Strathnaver. They were Prince Robert, Prince Henry and Prince David and were owned by Canadian National Railways. The trio was built by Cammell Laird at the same time as Strathnaver. They were complete failures on the west coast so Prince David and Prince Henry were sent cruising on the east coast to the Carribean and their hulls were painted white which made them look even more like miniature versions of Strathnaver. Prince Henry was sold to Clarke Steamship Company and her funnels were changed to buff with narrow blue bands which only added to her looking like a Strathnaver doppelganger. All three ships were drastically altered for war service.
Wow you weren't kidding! They absolutely are like Strathnaver in miniature :) Fascinating bit of ship history here as I'd never come across these vessels before. Thanks for sharing!
A most enjoyable video compilation. Like your family, mine "immigrated" to Australia on the SS Georgic in 1947. When my father's "tour of duty" with the Australian Navy ended in 1953, much to my horror as a then "Aussie Boy", we traveled back to England on the RMS Strathnaver from Port Melbourne docks. I have a photo taken dockside for a nighttime departure with myself and my sister in pajamas covered in streamers thrown by well-wishers as was the custom in those days. Thankfully, a year later after living in East London with my grandparents, we all returned to Australia on the SS Orsova, another P&O vessel.
I love the personal connection you have with the RMS Strathnaver. Most of my family in the States were here before the Revolutionary War, with the exception of an Irish immigrant by the name of Patrick Henry (the equivalent of John Smith), who came over in the 1850's to escape the Potato Famine. Even when I do know the names of some of the ships that brought my ancestor's over, there are no pictures. At best, you get an artist's rendering. I'm a genealogist, and things like this are pure gold.
I'd love an SS Rotterdam: The ship that changed Holland America forever vid - due to her revolutions in ship design :)
Excellent choice Rohnski! One day :)
My school is on the other side of where the SS Rotterdam is berthed. I see her every day being beautiful as she is. She is for certain my favourite ocean liner.
*Happy dutch noices*
Sorry if I'm correcting but she's pronounced as TSS Rotterdam, TSS meaning for 'Twin-Screw-Ship', one of the other surviving ships is the Duke Of Lancaster.
Save Ukraine
Thanks for the video which brought back many memories. My first job was with P&O located in Leadenhall Street, London. My job was to calculate and order the fuel oil supplies for the companies fleet. The Strath ships did have one major anomaly in that there were no heating coils in the double bottom tanks so I to be careful to order Intermarine fuel oil which had a viscosity of 1200 seconds. Regular Marine Fuel oil could rage up to 4000 seconds. If this fuel was put in the double bottom tanks it would turn to tar and be completely unpumpable. Fortunately this didn't happen in my time.
The P&O Line had some of the best looking ships!
Agreed 👍
Completely agreed Kip!
among them the beautiful former belgian ships Baudouinville (cathay) and Jadotville (Chitral) of the cockerill yard in Antwerp and the french yard of St Nazaire respectively!
Always enjoy watching. Brought back memories when you mentioned Mooltan. I traveled on her with my family in 1948 from Southhampton to Western Australia as £10 poms. (Scottish poms actually) The trip, very exciting for a seven year old boy. I also love the history of ship yards, particularly Belfasts, Harland and Wolff, and Glasgows John Browns on the Clyde.
Scottish are not poms, do some research & you'll find Scotland was invaded & stolen. There is no such thing as a 'scottish poms', just as there's no Irish poms or Welsh poms. There's the 'poms' & then all the 'colonies' aka the lands they stole
An excellent video!
It's interesting that Strathnaver included turbo-electric propulsion. I'm more familiar with the naval side of ships, where the notable use of this technology were the later USN Standard-type battleships. They had the same goal - steady long-range efficiency. It's incredibly interesting to know that TE drives saw use in liners as well.
Again, wonderful video. The quality of your work is on par with much larger channels like Drachinifel, and is incredibly enjoyable. You've got an extremely clear way of narration that really "just works" for the topic. New sub!
P&O are so entwined in Australia's maritime history .... I hope get a chance to do more of their great ships.
I have to say how much I have learnt from your channel - there are other very good channels covering vessels - but you bring the ships to life through your artistic eye and deliver a fabulous new perspective that I have never imagined! Brilliant sir and a big thank you!!
Loved your video. P&O have always been close to me as I started to work for P&O on the SS Himalaya in the 70’s until scrapping her. Then joined SS Oronsay yup until it was scrapped. Last ship I worked on was SS Arcadia before parting ways. Loved working on those great ships. Doing the woman’s weekly world cruises and the Run from UK to Australia 😀
My grandparents traveled exclusively on P&O ships when they vacationed in Europe. Good video and very smart narration.
Enjoyed this video very much. My parents and I travelled to Adelaide from England aboard Strathnaver arriving in April 1960. I am told it was one of her last voyages before being scrapped but I have never confirmed that. As a young boy the trip to Australia aboard Strathnaver started my endurng love of ships which continues today. Thank you for the memories.
Wonderful. I like her interiors, which were still woody and traditional, but simplified and light. It's cool you have a personal connection with Strathnaver. Fun episode. Thanks.
My, those interiors! Perfect balance between traditional and art deco! :)
Agreed, Derpy! And they just got better with each subsequent Strath liner too!
My dad worked for Orient lines in the late 50's and early 60's then went over to P&O when they merged the fleets. He worked on the Strathnaver in 1959 & 60.
Your channel, among others like it (Historic Travels, Part-Time Explorer, etc) have really given me so much joy with all of your content. All of these beautiful ships I've never known being given spotlight is great. Your research and well thought out work and presentation is amazing. Well done, sir. Looking forward to more content.
I live in Barrow, where Vicker's used to be, and my local supermarket has a collection of historical pictures dotted around (as does the local Dock Museum). The picture of the Strathaird on the slipway is my favourite.
Thank you for these wonderful videos. You bring these ships back to life! You are such a multi talent with your beautifully detailed artwork, production of these pieces and so at ease in front of the camera. Not to mention...easy on the eye, that smile you flashed at the very end...adorable!
I sailed on the Strathnaver in 1959 and arrived in Sydney on July 7th. The trip took about 5 weeks. I was 7 yrs of age. My mum and dad were £10.00 poms. It was a great trip.
Love this guy! Channel is so great, so elegant, so well crafted!! I never miss a video!!
My father served aboard during WWII ... Thank you for providing the history of the ship
A bygone era:
As a young boy in the late 1950s I lived by the river Thames in Gravesend opposite Tilbury. I used to watch the “Strath” boats, arrive and depart.
When they were in Tilbury dock I occasionally would be taken round them by someone who worked on them. I can remember seeing the plated over bases of the number one and three funnels which were removed.
WW2 was a relatively recent memory (i.e. less than 15years earlier) for people working on them at that time who told me where they had been when they were used as troopships.
They must hold many memories for people who emigrated to Australia to start a new life from drab post war Britain.
Sad to think they are all now scrapped.
As a 19 year old man i feel your sadness sir. I my self am also sad so much old machinery & vehicle's are scrapped
my grandpa worked at a shipyard in hongkong and was there when WW2 broke out he still have nightmares of he being chased by troops
and he was there in the queen elz fire
he died in 2018 in canda
First ever cruise ship that made the black ocean liners bankrupt due to airline travel
My family also came to England on the Strathnaver in the 1950s! Thanks for sharing such a great video
Wow!! Great interesting story! I travelled with my grandparents on the Oslofyord and the Bergenfyord in 1965 to Norway!
Love the image of the group of women standing in front of the bow, such a cool photograph! 🤩
Thanks for this video! My mother, aged 26 at the time, emigrated from Sri-Lanka to the UK to become a nurse and travelled on this ship. It was the Strathnaver's final voyage from Colombo to Southampton in 1961. I've been looking everywhere for more details and pictures of this ship.
A beautiful story, told beautifully....your videos NEVER fail to deliver....
Hi Mike, looking forward to your videos. I traveled on P&O's Orontes as a child of 6 in 1959 from Sydney to London. Amazing journey! Hopefully we'll see something on her one day on your channel ! Cheers
So cool that you got to do a video on the ship that your relatives immigrated on! Keep up the amazing work!
My family came oot from the UK n the Strathaird in 1949, Great to hear the background to the design.
Very well done; excellent video! Thank you! Regards from Canada 🇨🇦
My family traveled from Sydney to Naples aboard SS Orsova in 1954. Still remember a lovely trip!
She Was A Beaut!
Great vid Oceanliner Designs, what a gallant ship.
G'day.I too came to Oz on a ship Sitmar Lines Fairstar back in '66,loved it🤗
Excellent presentation with compelling graphics.
Thank you for this history of a ship you have a familial connection with!
Great video, fantastic graphics 👍
Yes she brought my mother, father and 1 year old oldest sister to Australia in 1955 also. Thanks for the great videos
That was so very interesting. I’m not a ship person, but my parents loved cruising p and o.
Wonderfully made!
That's a piece of your history mate - amazing, I wonder why you are so passionate about ships, its part of you and your family.
I can happily claim the RMS Olympic as my family’s immigration ship because in the 1920’s my Great grandparents came over to America on it. Which honestly it’s the clear coolest Olympic liner between the dazzle paint job & it’s war time career in my bias opinion the Olympic is the coolest.
Great presentations Mike. I worked for MacDonald - Hamilton, the P&O agents in OZ, but when i was a kid, I took hundreds of photos with my Box Brownie. I still have them and I threaten to post them on the Tube as a slideshow one day. When I was 12, MH and the Orient Line gave me an open pass to visit any passenger vessel in port. I visited the all the Strath's except the Strathallen which never came to OZ as far as I can recall. I loved your video, but felt a bit let down when you never mentioned that the Strathmnaver and Strathaird eventually lost those silly false funnels.
Well done once again, thank you.
The Strathnaver features twice in my family's story. Firstly my grandfather was returned to the UK on Strathnaver at the end of his service in the Second World War and secondly my parents and siblings emigrated to Australia on the same ship in 1959. Very interesting video and some lovely photos. Thank you.
Hello, I must say that your work and channel is great source for any ship fan and I admire it. Not only the astonishing paintings with huge amount of details, but these videos about ship histories and design features and progress are also very interesting. I have learned much about liners that I did not know before and I would like to thank you for that :) PS: I tried to design my own modern ocean liner class that would correspond with modern standards, accomodation needs and SOLAS rules but combined it with more traditional look of beloved liners from past century. I even tried to express that idea to Cunard, but unfortunately, though expexted, they kindly refused.
Thank you for another great video. I'm glad to see the tie and vest are back.
They have the builder's model of this very ship in a museum I often go to, it has wonderful lines
I would love to see that one day!
@@OceanlinerDesigns It's in the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia. Great place
Excellent presentation as usual! I really enjoy these no nonsense short history projects. Love your work and knowledge. 😉
Another great production, Mike.
My parent's came out from Scotland, via Southampton, to New Zealand on the Stratheden.
She was on her last outward voyage.
Later that next year she was sold on.
Look forward to a video on the Stratheden if you do one.
I traveled on the Stratheden on her last inward voyage. All the way from Wellington to Tilbury. We almost had to tow the Canberra when it had a fire in in her engine room. Ii was 12 at the time. What an adventure.
Though I was only a kid at the time I’ve very fond memories of the Strathnaver. My brother and I went to the wharf where she was docked in Brisbane, Australia and managed to get on board to look around. Btw. the only thing Art Deco you have shown is the menus cover, her interior is nothing like Art Deco 😄. Thanks for the upload and the wonderful memories of a vanished era.
Fascinating and very much appreciated. I know these vessels would be deemed unbearable by the current travelling public, but .. they looked the way ships should look (…. yes, I know you agree 😎) and what a far cry from the hideous monstrosities that blot the seascape nowadays. The name Mooltan rang a bell and prompted me to look through some papers of my late parents where I found a postcard of her and recalled that they’d sailed on her from Australia to East Africa in the late 1940s soon after marrying. After moving to Australia in the 60s, i went on cruises on the Himalaya and Iberia , both obviously ships which had evolved from the Strathnaver …
The ship now look like
Sky rise hotels on a barge!!
Yeah. Been trawling through your back catalogue. Nice work. Looking forward to checking the rest. Great illustrations. New sub.
I would dearly love to see you apply your amazing skills to the subject of the unusually beautiful and very rapid Trans-Tasman Express Liner TSS Awatea of the Union Steam Ship Company. She was only in service for a couple of years before being requisitioned by the Royal Navy for service as a troop carrier in WWII. Sadly, she was lost in action In 1942 in an epic battle where "she fought the fight if a battleship.", according to her fleet admiral.
She was adored by the lucky few who traveled on her in peacetime. At just over 500 ft., she was a like one of the great Transatlantic liners scaled down. She could average over 23 knots and top 25, which is pretty impressive considering her waterline length was hundreds of feet shorter than many slower ships...
My great aunt loved the "Strath" liners as they took their periodic trips to the "old country" from Australia. We have film of their last journey by liner in 1961/2.
Excellent as ever.
A fun video Mike! I knew about the P&O Line, but not much, and this is the first I've heard about Strathnaver. (I figured there was something Scottish about the name!)
I learned something today, and it's a wasted day if you don't learn something new. Thanks Mike!
Thanks Wayne! It is a real pleasure being able to expose these lesser-known but stunningly beautiful liners.
Thanks for watching as always!
@@OceanlinerDesigns Wouldn't miss it for the world, mate!
I travelled from Sydney to Tilbury on the Mooltan for the Coronation in 1953 she was an old ship then but for a 10 year old an adventure. I later worked for P&O head office in Sydney when Oriana Canberra were the super liners of the day. Have sailed many times since on current ships.
My great uncle was an officer in the Indian Army between the Wars and I still have P&O playing cards and am holding postcards of the black-funnelled Mantua, Kaisar-I-Hind, Corfu, Carthage, and the white 'Electric Ship', Strathaird. Somewhere is the postcard for the Rangitata (aka?). I know that the cards often had the same picture yet the name was changed for another of the same class - but these ones are all different.
Another great video many thanks from Cheshire UK
Here in the States, we have been deprived of certain colours. "Buff" is one of them. It appears to have been a very popular choice for funnels. I have seen a range of colours described as Buff, from Yellowish to a sort of beige. German liners used to have funnels painted in what appeared to be a shade of Yellow- was that described as "Buff" or just "Yellow"? Or "Schornsteinengelb", perhaps?
I think I've just managed to confuse myself further.
The Strath liners were a household word in Australia till the 1960s.
Well done. Thank you for sharing.
A brilliant video. I really enjoy the old newsreels of ships but they don't often seem to have interiors. I suppose most of the footage was of port arrivals/departures. Thank you for the video!
lovely video. Personal link makes it special. Looking forward to more. Lots of you tubes on trains but window of opportunity for ships
P&O ships are painfully good wow the three funnels are so blanced and the white hull with the decks
Excellent video, as always, on a vessel I wasn't familiar with.
Several ships from the 1950s and early 1960s I sailed on: Alcoa Corsair (combo passenger-bauxite & banana carrier), Bahama Star, France and Statendam.
Your video's are top notch, sir!
Loving your videos recently, ocean liners and large ships in general are fascinating me more and more. Really wish I could find out which ship my mums parents came over on.
Oh how I LOVED the P&O - Orient Line ships. This was in my era. My father worked as Chief Engineer n many an Orient Line vessel. My family and extended family emigrated to Australia as £10.00.00 Scots/Irish (Not the £10 Poms often referred to. Yes Sir, My dad's sister and daughter travelled on the ss "CHUSAN" in 1956, the latter's husband travelled to Australia 2 years later on ss "STRATHAIRD" in 1958; another uncle travelled to Australia in 1956 on ss "OTRANTO"; my grandparents, uncle, aunt and baby cousin on the ss "ORION", my aunt and her husband travelled on ss "ORSOVA" in January 1961, followed by my Uncle and his wife on ss "HIMALAYA", my family of five (including me) travelled on RMS "ORONSAY" in March 1961. Another uncle and aunt travelled on ss "ARCADIA" in 1961, and finally a cousin travelled on ss "CANBERRA" on her second voyage to Australia. I loved those ships, and wish I could relive those happy days again. Many thanks for bringing this programme to us with nostalgic memories of our travels.
That’s a nice tie Mike ;)
Another brilliant video .
We sailed to Aus in 1963 on the Stratheaden as £10 POMS. Different times,hard to imagine a three week journey to sail between Southampton and the hope of a new life!
Hey there, absolutely amazing content as always. I'd like to suggest a topic for a video, the RMS Aragon (Of 1905) the liner that changed the Royal Mail Line and the South American Routes forever. She was an extremely revolutionary liner in her route and completely changed the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.
My great grandfather sailed on Strathnaver on 16 November 1940 bound for Middle East it arrived there December 1940 and he was out in Middle East until war in North Africa was over in 1943 he drove armoured cars in desert he was in Kings Dragoon Guards.
My Grandad used to work on this ship in the 50s, by chance maybe he was working on board while your family were immigrating. He still tells loads of stories from his time on the ship.
What a wonderful video
"Because the ships were to be oil-fired, they only needed one funnel to vent the fumes" (5:23) I don't believe that was the reason for three funnels. I believe it was because the designer thought they looked better with three funnels, and/or because in that era, passengers still associated the number of funnels with the power and reliability of ships. However, the main reason for the number of funnels was determined by the disposition of boilers throughout a ship. For example, Queen Mary (of the same era) was also oil fired from new and had three funnels, but they were all active: her boilers occupied about half the length of the ship and it would have been impossible to conduct their uptakes into one funnel.
Excellent
It always struck me as clever how P&O designed those towering forward superstructures.Six or seven decks high,yet they still looked sleek and not ungainly.It reminds me of the Volkswagen Golf's designs over the years.They were boxy as hell but managed to look appealingly trim.
i find your book intresting on the technical
side on the p&o ship your video showed.
that boook i pure gold for a tech nerd as my self.
thanks for up loadin a intresting vidoe on p&o`s ships.
✨✨✨👍👍👍🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪
You should be in radio..your voice is perfect
I like the disaster relief advantage of turbo-electric propulsion.
👍😊🇺🇲 thanks for showing
Thanks to Mike for another great watch. Funny how the QE2 and QM2 still paint their hulls black, "but they do look great." Hmmm, putting on two fake funnels just to look more powerful is like putting a couple of socks in your front pocket, well you know. Thanks for helping keep history alive.
Actually the current Cunard ships (QM2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria) are painted a very dark blue. So was QE2 before she was retired. I don't know if the older ships were black or not. When I visited the retired Royal Yacht Britannia, I noticed she was the same dark blue. From a distance of course the colour looks black.
You should make a video on the Imperator Class liners, they are my favorites
My Step-Parents emigrated to Canada aboard the Aquitania's second-last voyage to the New World... though that has nothing to do with my Western accent ;)
Kudos on an excellent video, old chap - keep up the head of steam!
Subbed, with Respect
My mother and sister came to Australia, Sydney in 1957 on this ship, along with my father returning from Naval Service in UK. The Royal Australian Navy paid for their car to be shipped over as well. They lived in Sydney for a few years and I was born in Camberwell, Victoria. Most UK emigres would have sailed on her.
Thanks
A contemporary to the Strathnaver, though for a very different route was Furness Bermuda's turbo electric liner Monarch of Bermuda, and her near sister Queen of Bermuda of 1933.
Oh goodness yes, lovely ships! I would love to cover them some day.
Interesting to me, because my father was a young US soldier on the Strathaird, which was in the first convoy of US ships to cross the Atlantic in January 1942, headed to Northern Ireland for training.
An excellent video. Very informative. To my North American ears, your accent isn't what I would call typical Australian. You sound more British than Australian. And I have Australian relatives in Melbourne.
Thanks Ronald! That's interesting actually. I was born in Adelaide, where they speak with a bit more of an English accent on words like 'chance' or 'dance'. Also Dad being from London surely has something to do with it. :)
Thanks for watching!
My first voyage to Euope was on a small Italian ship in 1967, the AURELIA. It was
normally on a Genoa to Australia run, but was chartered ou as a student ship in the summer. I was told it was Launched in the 1930s by the Germans as a fleet of small ships to reward Nazi workers. Later it sailed as the ROMANZO. It was a small inelegant ship, but as the opening act of my brother and my first adventure in Europe,
It was a never to be forgotten youthful tour.
Ain't no one gonna talk about how fine the narrator is?
5:44 - I actually like the black paint scheme better. It looks more refined and luxurious, like the ship is wearing a suit and three top hats. The white one looks kinda like a hospital ship. Of course, I'm looking at it with a 2022 sense of style, and as a drawing. It was probably different in person, and "ship fashion" was different back then.
very good