Advertisement
Published: February 23rd 2015
Edit Blog Post
Sunday February 15th, 2015. At Sea En Route to The Azores
Following D and Roy's complaints to the Captain about the tender operations they were both were asked to write a letter each outlining their issues and concerns. D spent some considerable time on this. M didn't fancy sticking pictures from holiday brochures on a tile so she gave it a miss. D went to a lecture on the tragic relationship between poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. We had pre-dinner drinks with Roy and Patti in their cabin and then we went and had our first dinner on our new table for 8. After dinner we went to the show which was Richard Sykes with his tribute to Nat King Cole.
Monday 16th February 2015.
Craft was a repeat of the book making so M gave it a miss. It is all getting a bit dull now as they are starting to repeat the lectures too. The daily rag has no port to tell you about so has started to tell us a bit about the ship which has made quite interesting reading. Today's offering informed us that in just under 67 years this vessel has had
ten different names - Stockholm, Volkerfreudschaft, Volker, Fridtjof, Nansen, Italia, Italia Prima, Valtur Prima, Caribe, Athena and now Azores - and she had flown 5 national flags. The ship has come incredibly close on a number of occasions of ending its life prematurely as scrap somewhere on a beach in India.
MS Stockholm was launched in 1948 and was the biggest passenger ship ever constructed in Sweden yet the smallest of transatlantic liners at the time. It was built in Gottenburg for Swedish American Line and for its first few years sailed between Gottenburg-Copenhagen and Halifax-New York transporting Scandinavians to North America to visit their family members who had settled in Canada and the US and carrying homesick emigrants back to Europe. Cargo was also ferried back and forth, and early brochure encouraged passengers to take their cars with them. Although Stockholm operated primarily as a no -frills liner, it occasionally deviated from its weekly ocean crossing. In January 1951 setting out for the first time to visit the West Indies.
Dinner followed by a really good show "We Will Rock You" concluded our day.
Tuesday February 17th, 2015. A
The daily rag told us about 4 types of sea life that can be found in the Atlantic - none of which we would see from the ship as they were all undersea creatures. Still interesting reading. M went to the craft and made a card. D went to the lecture on Edward Much called "Beyond The Scream". Dinner and the show "Rock 'n' Roll Legends" conculded the day.
Wednesday February 18th, 2015.
The rag gave us some more ship history today. In 1960 the East German Government purchased Stockholm, renaming it Volkerfreundschaft (People's Friendship). It was the world's first trade union cruise ship, providing voyages to, among others, deserving workers on employer-subsidised holidays. Strict security surrounded these and in general only the most trustworthy citizens were allowed aboard - remember East Germany was then behind the Iron Curtain. Even then, to prevent potential defections the ship sailed primarily to fellow communist countries, with destinations including Leningrad, Rostov, Tallin, Riga, Constanta and Havana taking care to steer clear of Western coastlines. In October 1965 it caught the attention of President John F Kennedy during an urgent defense meeting at the White House. The Cuban Missile Crisis was underway and the Volkerfreundschaft was sailing directly towards the US naval blockade. There was talk of disabling the East German ship by shooting off its rudder but this would cause a problem if they accidentally sank her. In the end she was allowed through in a significant political win for the East. This was just the first of several victories for the ship under the control of the East Germans. One occurred in 1983 off the coast of Denmark when a West German submarine made contact with the ship's propeller. On that occasion the West German government had to pay reparations to its neighbour and also cover the substantial cost of its own repairs. The ship continued to sail until 1985 when its name was shortened to Volker by a new Norwegian owner and it moved to Oslo.
M didn't fancy creative writing which was the craft offering for the day. Dinner was followed by "Magic of The Musicals" show which featured hits from Broadway and the West End.
Thursday February 19th, 2015
More history on the ship appeared in the Rag. On July 25th 1956, having just left New York, Stockholm was sailing in clear conditions when lights appeared almost dead ahead. The Italian liner Andrea Doria had emerged from heavy fog, travelling at close to top speed. Upon sighting Stockholm it turned sharply - but its turn was contrary to normal passing practice and, instead of increasing the distance between the two vessels it swung the hull broadside into Stockholm's path. When the vessels collided, the ice-strengthened bow of Stockholm sliced into Andrea Doria's starboard side. Experts later testified that the ensuiing capsize was because Andrea Doria's fuel tanks - nearly empty after its ocean crossing - had not been ballasted correctly with sea water, allowing a surge to occur once they were ruptured. In an amazing coincidence, one girl thrown from her bed on Andrea Doria was found shivering and disorientated but alive on Stockholm's deck. We were informed that this was not the only thing transferred between the ships that night but we will hear about this later in the week! With its bow broken off completely Stockholm limped back to New York. Repairs were carried out at a cost of $1 million US and the ship resumed sailing that November. A court case followed but before judgement could be handed down the Italian insurer offered Swedish America Line a confidential settlement.
M went to the craft in the afternoon and made a mosaic coaster. D got the time wrong for the lecture and missed it! Dinner as usual followed by the show which was Pauline Daniels stand-up show. It was very good indeed.
Friday February 20th 2015.
Another sea day. We went to the morning lecture on the Pendle Witches which was presented by Billie. It was OK but had clearly been cribbed from tourist literature. There was very little substance to it. M didn't fancy the craft which was making key-rings made of nautical knots. At 3.30 we went to the Calypso Show Lounge where there was "Comedy Corner". Richard was in conversation with Pauline Daniels to discuss comedy heroes and legends. It was very funny and Richard did a great job as a chat show host. Drinks in our cabin followed by dinner for 8 and a show called "Step in Time" finished the day. Tomorrow we will be on dry land again - thank goodness!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.094s; Tpl: 0.03s; cc: 10; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0542s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1mb