Ship History

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE                                                                                                                                                                                                                       RMS SAXONIA 1954

Design and Construction (1951 – 1954):

In the final weeks of 1951, Cunard Line announced that they had decided to build a completely new class of ships for the service between Liverpool and Montreal. This initial announcement only mentioned two ships, though this was soon extended to include two further ships. They were to be the largest Cunard liners ever built purely for the company’s Canadian service. The ships were to be built by John Brown & Co. Ltd, Clydebank, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. All four ships in this new class were built to meet the requirements of Canada’s rapidly growing population and increasing volume of overseas trade. The basic design of the ships combined a large passenger capacity, in maximum comfort, with space for a substantial amount of cargo – all within the biggest dimensions which would permit safe navigation of the St Lawrence River up to the terminal port of Montreal.

It had been announced on the 25^th November 1953, that the first two vessels were to be named Saxonia and Ivernia. In January 1954, Cunard announced that the Saxonia, the lead ship in their new class, would be named the following month by Lady Churchill, wife of Sir Winston Churchill (who was then the British Prime Minister). At noon on Wednesday, the 17^th February 1954, the new Saxonia slid down the ways to meet her natural element, despite the bad weather, winter sunshine illuminated the emblem of the rampant Cunard lion on her bows. The Saxonia was the first modern Cunarder to revive memories of the figureheads and clipper bows of the past. She was then towed to the fitting out basin. Even prior to her launch, her handsome, clean modern lines were clearly evident. While prominent on her stern was the special anchor for use in the St Lawrence.

At the celebratory luncheon head shortly after Lady Churchill had performed the naming ceremony, she read a message from her husband which aptly summed up the purpose of the Saxonia:

“Canada, as well as being a glorious member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, is also the link across the Atlantic Ocean of the English speaking world. Here we are creating physical arrangements which help to turn into actual important facts those aims for an even closer unity to which we aspire.”

As a memento of the launching, Lady Churchill was presented with an 18^th century diamond brooch.

Saxonia at the time was the largest Cunard liner built for the Canadian service. The Saxonia was fitted to carry 125 First class and 800 Tourist class passengers in the highest standard of comfort of the day.

In appearance, Saxonia was quite unlike any previous Cunard liner and it was her distinctive dome-topped funnel that gave her that very special silhouette. A great deal of thought had gone into the design of the new ship and consideration for the comfort of her passengers was paramount. Denny-Brown stabilisers were fitted, making her the very first Cunard Line ship to be given these anti-rolling devices at the time of her building.

It took nearly six months from her launching to complete Saxonia. On the 9^th August 1954, she left her fitting out berth for dry docking, then sailed from Glasgow on the 18^th for her sea trials. Finally she arrived in Liverpool on the 23^rd August 1954 to prepare for her maiden voyage. As completed, she had a gross tonnage of 21,637 tons, was 608 ft 3 inches in overall length and had a breadth of 80 ft.

The Dominion Service (1954 – 1962):

On the 2^nd September 1954, Saxonia departed Liverpool on her maiden voyage to Quebec and Montreal. She was under the command of Captain Andrew McKellar and, very importantly, she had a full complement of passengers. She arrived in Quebec on the 7^th September 1954 and remained in Montreal from the 8^th to the 15^th, when she set sail again for Liverpool. It was a stormy crossing with gale force winds but nevertheless she arrived back in the River Mersey nine hours ahead of schedule. Despite the gales, Saxonia had managed to reduce the existing record for the crossing to Liverpool from just over 5 days to 4 days 23 hours and 24 minutes, with an average speed of 20.74 knots. It seemed as though she was set for a long and successful career on the Canadian route.

She continued to maintain the service between Liverpool and the St Lawrence until late November, by which time the ice could be expected to make the river impassable. On the 26^th November 1954 she left Liverpool with 716 passengers on board, bound for Cobh and Halifax and what would be her maiden arrival in New York. She steamed into the Hudson on the 5^th December, 36 hours late, to be greeted with the traditional welcome of fireboats, sending up plumes of water, and a flotilla of other small craft as well as city officials. Spectators lined the shore. The voyage had been an unpleasant one and the Saxonia had encountered headwinds of gale and hurricane force.

Although it was planned that the new quartet would replace the old prewar ships that had been running the Canadian service, at the time that Carinthia entered service the Franconia, Ascania and Scythia were still fully employed on the Canadian route. On the 12^th October 1956 it was announced that Franconia and Ascania would be withdrawn from service in November 1956. Early in 1957 the Scythia was transferred to the Liverpool to New York service and in January 1958 she was sold for scrap. Now the Canadian service was entirely in the hands of the new quartet. While perhaps eclipsed by the glamour of the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Caronia, the new Canadian ships were undoubtedly stars in their own right in the Cunard Line fleet.

On the 7^th June 1957, while the Sylvania (last of the quartet) was just two days into her maiden voyage and the quartet of liners was now complete, Saxonia departed Montreal for Le Havre and Southampton to begin the previously announced service between Canada and the Hampshire port. She made her first arrival there on the 14^th June and began the regular service just five days later. On the 24^th January 1958 Saxonia arrived in the Port of London for the first time and her winter sailings to New York were all made from the Thames until the 25^th April, when she resumed the service to Canada. It was not until mid June that she returned to Southampton. In October 1960 and again in November 1961 Saxonia had her voyages extended to include calls at Rotterdam. In January 1962 Saxonia was again in Liverpool and she sailed from there to New York. In March there was a further diversion from her regular route when she sailed from New York to St John, New Brunswick and Bremerhaven. Having arrived there on the 14^th she sailed the following day for St John, New Brunswick and New York, making a return to Southampton via Halifax, Cobh and Le Havre.

In June 1962, Sir John Brocklebank (Chairman of Cunard Line) announced that both the Saxonia and Ivernia would be taken out of service and given an extensive rebuild and restyling to make them more suited to cruising. Both ships continued with their Atlantic service for a few more months but on the 5^th September 1962 Saxonia departed Southampton for her final voyage under that name, returning on the 21^st. She had completed 116 round voyages across the Atlantic. On the 25^th September 1962 she sailed for the Clyde, back to her birthplace and John Brown’s, who had been given the task of giving her and the Ivernia the transformation that would allow them a fresh start as cruise ships.

The Cunard Cruising Years (1962 – 1973):

The Saxonia had arrived back at the Clydebank yard on the 27^th September 1962 to undergo an extensive refit. The refit was to involve considerable structural alterations and she would be given a completely new décor before taking up her new role as a dual purpose Atlantic liner and cruise ship. It had been announced earlier that month that not only would the Saxonia and Ivernia be remodelled but they would also be renamed. Saxonia would be renamed Carmania and Ivernia would be renamed Franconia. Names associated with previous famous cruising ships in the Cunard fleet. Cunard’s plan was to operate both ships between Southampton and the St Lawrence during the summer with calls at Rotterdam, but during the winter months they were to switch to cruise service from Port Everglades to the West Indies.

Carmania was the first of the pair to emerge from the builder’s yard. She was resplendent in the new Cunard cruising livery of four shades of pale green, like the famous RMS Caronia (the famed Green Goddess). On the 1^st April 1963 450 representatives of the travel trade and shipping press boarded the ship for a short shakedown cruise through the Irish Sea to Southampton. It was obvious to those on board that the change of name symbolised a complete change of personality for the ship. The newly found elegance of her décor was the result of cooperation between Cunard Line, John Brown’s and a very talented team of designers, Jean Munro, Evelyn Pinching, Michael Inchbald and Paul Gell. Paul Gell had been responsible for the stunning interiors on the direct competitor of these restyled Cunarders, the Empress of Canada of Canadian Pacific.

Apart from the enhanced public rooms and cabins, much had been done behind the scenes to make the Carmania a more effective cruise ship. Her fuel oil capacity was substantially increased and she was fitted with two evaporators capable of producing 350 tons daily of fresh water from seawater. Additional facilities for passengers were installed such as three laundrettes. Four specially designed glass fibre launches replaced the conventional lifeboats for transporting passengers from the ship to the shore when she was at anchor during cruises. The original air conditioning plant was increased to provide all accommodation with air conditioning.

The transformation had made both ships among the best equipped cruise ships afloat at that time, able to undertake any length of voyage and had also made them two of the most attractive liners then serving the North Atlantic.

Before the Carmania re-entered service on the 8^th April 1963 she was inspected by Sir John Brocklebank at Southampton. Despite being rebuilt with cruising in mind, she immediately returned to service on the regular North Atlantic route. In October, after she had been back in service for six months, Carmania was greeted by violent scenes at Quebec when she arrived during a dockworker’s strike. One of her crew members received a gunshot wound during the incident. Later that year the Carmania settled into her first programme of winter cruises from Port Everglades.

By the winter of 1964/65, both Carmania and Franconia were well established on the cruise scene and on the 23^rd December the Carmania departed Port Everglades on a 3,033 mile Christmas and New Year cruise that took her to five ports: San Juan, St Thomas, Curacao, Kingston and Port au Prince. It was the first in a programme of nine cruises which would vary in length from 6-17 days. Carmania’s winter programme in 1966 began on the 22^nd December and continued until the 17^th April 1966.

In early May 1966, Britain was hit by the National Seamen’s Strike. This was to have a devastating effect, practically bringing all ports around the country to a standstill and virtually immobilising many shipping lines. The strike dragged on for over six weeks, not ending until the 1^st July. Ports such as Southampton presented an incredible sight. Never had so many liners been gathered together in one place at the same time. In some instances they were berthed three abreast. All four of the Saxonia sisters were caught by the strike action. Carmania having left Port Everglades on the 19^th April on an Atlantic crossing to Southampton via Nassau, Bermuda and Le Havre, barely a month into her Atlantic season, also became strikebound in Southampton Eastern Docks. So for several weeks, there was no Cunard Line service across the Atlantic to either New York or Canada. With this most prestigious player temporarily out of action, it was left to the liners of Holland America, Norddeutscher Lloyd, French Line and the United States Lines to fill the gap. By mid July, everything had returned to normal, but with so many weeks with its fleet out of action, it had an unfortunate effect on the finances of Cunard.

In 1968 Cunard withdrew the Carinthia and Sylvania from service, however the Carmania and Franconia continued to maintain the company’s cruise programme, as well as a much reduced summer liner service to Canada. Cruising, however, was to become the most important part of their employment. On the 1^st October 1966 Carmania made her first Mediterranean cruise before returning to her usual winter employment in the Caribbean. It was at this time, during their winter refits, that both Carmania and Franconia underwent a further change, their cruising green livery was replaced with a more conventional white hull and upperworks. As before, Carmania was based at Port Everglades but for part of this 1966/67 season she was joined there by Franconia. In 1967 the Carmania was employed in her final season as a transatlantic liner. Her final sailing in this mode started at Montreal on the 26^th September 1967. However, she had made a four day cruise from Montreal and Quebec on the 8^th August, something of a farewell, and it was fitting that it was the lead ship of the quartet that should have made it. An era had ended and the Dominion service to Canada was no more.

Carmania returned to Southampton and once again made a Mediterranean cruise. It was 19 days long and unlike the previous year’s cruise which only called at western Mediterranean ports, this time she went as far as Istanbul. The winter months were spent in the Caribbean as usual. 1968 was the Carmania’s first year as a full time cruise ship. Cunard had planned an extensive European programme for her, which took her to quite unfamiliar waters. On the 18^th June 1968 she sailed from Southampton on her first excursion into Scandinavian waters. She called at Rotterdam, Bergen, Hammerfest, Copenhagen and Hamburg. Other trips took her to the more familiar areas of the Atlantic Isles, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. On the 28^th September, Carmania began a programme of fly-cruises. She first sailed into the Mediterranean, ending at Naples, and her passengers were flown home from there. Then followed a series of four cruises, all based from Naples, which included ports such as Venice, Rhodes and Dubrovnik. The final cruise of the series ended back in Southampton in November.

That winter, Carmania returned to the Caribbean. Her cruise programme proved to be a memorable one but for the wrong reasons. The Christmas cruise had to be cancelled when it appeared that the ship was in contravention of the US fire regulations. Modifications were made and finished in time to meet the departure date of her next cruise, scheduled for the 11^th January 1969. On the afternoon of that day, she ran aground on a sandbank one mile west of San Salvador in the Bahamas. She was stuck so firmly that it was five days before she could be refloated. By that time the rest of her 12 day cruise had been cancelled and her passengers taken to Miami. By strange coincidence they had been transferred to the Italian ship Flavia, which had been Cunard’s combination cargo/passenger liner Media earlier in its career and so was a former fleetmate of Carmania. Once refloated Carmania was moved into the lee of Eleuthera Island, where she was inspected by divers. Her hull was found to be damaged and she was sent to the shipyards at Newport News, Virginia to be repaired. The work took almost a month and she did not resume her schedule until the 8^th February. An enquiry was held and it turned out that there had been a fault in the Admiralty charts for the area.

3 months later the Carmania was again in trouble. On the 12^th May, she collided off Gibraltar with the Russian ship Frunze and damaged her bow. Temporary repairs were made and she resumed her cruise programme five days later. While 1968 had seen Carmania make her first cruise to Norway, in 1969 she made her first cruise to the capitals of the Baltic. This was followed by a further series of Mediterranean cruises based on Naples and the winter of 1969/70 saw her back in the Caribbean.

By this time the Carmania and Franconia had built up a loyal following and were very popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Early in 1970, their port of registry was changed from Liverpool to Southampton. During the summer of 1970, Carmania undertook a full programme of cruises out of Southampton. On the 10^th December she made a transatlantic crossing to New York, but enroute to Port Everglades for her usual winter programme. It was her first arrival in New York as Carmania. She was joined by the Franconia in January. Sadly it was to be their last season in the Caribbean.

In 1971, Cunard suddenly found themselves facing the most important event of their long and illustrious history – a takeover bid. In August 1971 a successful £26 million bid came from Trafalgar House Investments Ltd, a company with interests in property, civil engineering, hotel ownership, house building and investments. The new owners of Cunard Line were faced with the fact that both Carmania and Franconia were in need of further refitting and modernisation. With several new purpose built cruise ships coming into the market, the two sisters were beginning to look dated, particularly when compared with their new fleetmates, the striking flagship Queen Elizabeth 2 and the cruise ship Cunard Adventurer. Cunard, and their new owners, Trafalgar House, realised that to bring the Carmania and Franconia up to standard would be an expensive business. It was eventually decided to withdraw the two venerable ships, lay them up and put them up for sale. Their roles in the Caribbean would be taken over by the new cruise ships Cunard Adventurer and Cunard Ambassador.

Meanwhile both ships soldiered on. Carmania’s final season was a programme of 8 cruises out of Southampton to the Mediterranean based on Naples. Her final Cunard cruise departed Naples on the 24^th October 1971 and she arrived back in Southampton on the 31^st October. She was placed in lay up with her sister Franconia, which had arrived two weeks earlier. A few days later they were joined by the Shaw Savill liner Southern Cross which had also been withdrawn from service. The three redundant liners made a majestic sight awaiting their fate.

Carmania and Franconia remained there for almost 7 months. When it was apparent that there was no immediate prospect of selling them, Cunard decided to place them in more permanent lay up and on the 14^th May 1972 the two ships sailed for the River Fal in Cornwall.

The Soviet Years (1973 – 1989):

In August 1973 it was announced that the Carmania and Franconia had been sold to Panamanian interests, Nikreis Maritime Corporation. It seemed a very complicated transaction as it was also announced at the time that Nikreis Maritime Corporation was affiliated to a New York company known as Robin International. It turned out that they would fly the Hammer and Sickle and sail for Russian interests.

Before entering service for their new owners, it was arranged for the Carmania and Franconia to be overhauled by Swan Hunter on the River Tyne. The Carmania left the River Fal on the 30^th August 1973 and arrived on the Tyne on the 1^st September. Between the announcement of her sale and her departure for the Tyne, it was announced that the Carmania would be renamed Leonid Sobinov.

After her refit the Leonid Sobinov, joined her sister (Fedor Shalyapin, former Franconia) in February 1974 in service in Australia. The layout and décor of their public rooms and cabins remained exactly as it had been when the ships had sailed for Cunard. Even the coathangers in the wardrobes were still stamped Cunard Line. The only apparent alteration was the names of the public rooms. The refit work had mainly concentrated on the ships’ machinery, ensuring that the long months of inactivity had not caused any problems. The most obvious external change was that now the funnels were painted white with a broad red band that carried the golden crossed Hammer and Sickle emblem. On both bow and stern the names were spelled out in Cyrillic lettering. The ships were registered in Vladivostock and came under the ownership of the Far Eastern Shipping Company until 1980.

Once they reached Australia both ships embarked on a programme of cruises out of Sydney. The Leonid Sobinov however was soon heading back to Europe. It would appear that there were no clauses in the contract of sale of the former Carmania and Franconia restricting their areas of operation, as had been the case with their sisters Sylvania and Carinthia. By July the Leonid Sobinov was once again in European waters and based in Southampton, she operated a series of five cruises, going to the North Cape and into the Mediterranean as far as Alexandria.

However the ships were quite tired and dated in places. Leonid Sobinov was something of a timewarp, as most of the public rooms retained the same furnishings and décor they had when she first re-emerged as the Carmania. Nevertheless the Leonid Sobinov appears to have acquired a degree of popularity during her first season of Southampton based cruises.

Her final cruise of that 1974 season ended in Malta on the 9^th September and the following month she was again making her way to Australia and New Zealand, this time via the Cape route. However, at that time Russian ships were not allowed to call at South African ports, so after calling at Las Palmas, Dakar and St Helena, she then rounded the Cape of Good Hope without a call and then called at Mauritius. She then made her way to Singapore before arriving at Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland.

This was to be the pattern of her service for several years, with most of her cruises being operated out of Australia. Her schedule of Pacific cruises sometimes ran from mid December through to early May, while her European cruise programme was rather shorter. In 1976 for example it was barely two months from the 20^th June to the 26^th August but included itineraries to the Baltic Capitals, the Canary Islands and the western Mediterranean.

She spent 1979 on the regular line service between Sydney and Southampton. She had left Sydney for Europe on the 15^th January and had arrived in Southampton on the 20^th February. The following day, she began another long voyage down to Australia arriving there at the end of March. After a month cruising out of Sydney, she returned to Southampton arriving there on the 18^th June. That night she departed for a cruise to the Mediterranean and Black Sea. This ended at Odessa and the passengers were flown home. On the 16^th November she was back at Southampton prior to another line voyage to Australia where she arrived just before Christmas. In 1980 she made just two line voyages, the first departing Sydney on the 14^th May arriving at Southampton a month later; then on the 18^th November she left Southampton for Australia. After that visit her visits to England were rather less frequent.

In December 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. As a result the Australian government banned all Russian passenger ships from calling at Australian ports. The ban took effect from February 1980. The Leonid Sobinov was the first to leave heading for Vladivostock. Because of the internationally illegal restrictions of civil merchant ships made by U.S. and Australian governments and others preventing USSR ships in their ports because of the political and military assistance to Afghanistan's internationally recognized government with their cruel fight against that country's islamist mujaheddins in late 1970's. As a result in 1980 the Leonid Sobinov was reregistered in Odessa and transferred to the ownership of the Black Sea Shipping Company and made cruises in Europe as Russia kept to the international maritime laws and they were much successful here. 

Without this lucrative charter work, the two former Cunarders were now used on the most diverse routes to places of political unrest such as Angola. On other occasions they could be found on voyages from the Black Sea across the Atlantic to Cuba. Both the Leonid Sobinov and Fedor Shaliapin  sailed together with the Ivan Franko (1964) on the regular cargo and passenger line (without timetable!) between Odessa and Cuba.  The Leonid Sobinov transported volunteers from all over the world, most from Cuba, to the struggle against the South-African fascist forces in Angola and won there successfully, and many of them came also back with the Leonid Sobinov on 3rd February 1989 in the Port of La Habana welcomed by Chairman Fidel Castro in person.

The Final Years (1989 – 2000):

The beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 changed the future of the two former Cunarders. At first they became part of the Ukrainian fleet. Then in 1990 Leonid Sobinov was registered under the ownership of Transblasco Four Shipping Co. Ltd of Valetta, Malta but was managed by Transorient Overseas SA, also of Valetta. The real ownership of the two ships however still lay in Ukraine. The ships no longer carried the Hammer and Sickle emblem on their funnels. The Leonid Sobinov carried an abstract design of three blue lines over a distorted red triangle on her funnel.

For a while both ships continued to sail, looking pristine and well maintained. In 1989, Leonid Sobinov underwent mechanical repairs and refitting work at Piraeus. Unfortunately many of her better furnishings were replaced with cheaper fittings. By the autumn of 1995, both ships were laid up at Ilichevsk, a Black Sea port some 40 km south west of Odessa.

On the 27^th January 1999 the Leonid Sobinov sailed for Odessa. She arrived there on the same day and preparations were made for her final voyage. The now shabby liner left Odessa on the 30^th January and passed through the Suez Canal on the 10^th February. Although her destination was not reported, it was in fact the breakers yards of India. Although still proudly sailing under her own steam rather than under tow, the old former Cunarder gave a final show of reluctance to face her demise and ran out of fuel and went adrift in the Indian Ocean. However she was retrieved by tugs and anchored off Alang on the 1^st April 1999. After sitting at anchor under the blistering Indian sun, she was dragged ashore for breaking, by the tugs Lion King and Neftegas 52, on the 1^st October 1999. Even then, it seemed that the old liner was still exerting some influence over her demise, for on the 8^th May 2000 there was a strike by workers at the ship breaking yard affecting her dismantling process.

Thus in 2000 the long and remarkable career of the former Saxonia, one of the most significant, if not entirely successful, British liners of the 1950s, ended on the beaches of Alang, India. A sad end to a fine liner.