"End of the Line looms for Part of Shipping History"

"The Times" newspaper article on the RMS Windsor Castle

Written by Jon Ashworth, Saturday 14th April 2001

An Article from “The Times” newspaper

SATURDAY 14^th APRIL 2001

End of the Line looms for Part of Shipping History

Written by JON ASHWORTH

ELEUSIS BAY, on the western outskirts of Athens, is a world removed from the empty Birkenhead quaysides of Cammell Laird. The Sacred Way of antiquity has given way to a traffic-snarled highway that runs a gauntlet of factories and oil refineries. As far as the eye can see, ships lie at anchor, huddled together as if seeking solace from the wind that blows in off the Aegean.

In a distant corner of the bay, a familiar silhouette rides the swells. Her sides are streaked with rust and a foreign name graces her bow. But to those who remember her, there is no mistaking the elegant lines of the Windsor Castle.

Built by Cammell Laird in 1959, and launched by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the Windsor Castle, at 36,000 tonnes, was the last big passenger ship to be built on Merseyside. She was the biggest and most famous of the Union-Castle mailships that sailed between Southampton and the Cape.

Even in 1959, Cammell Laird and its competitors were in their twilight years. The industry's problems were highlighted this week when receivers were appointed to the Birkenhead yard. The original Cammell Laird closed in 1993, but the company was reborn under new owners as a repairer and converter of ships.

With their lavender hulls and black-and-red funnels, the Union-Castle mailships were part of a golden age. However, cheap air travel, oil price increases and containerisation rang the death knell for the Union-Castle liners.

In September 1977 the Windsor Castle sailed from Cape Town for the last time, with a flotilla of boats and tugs leading the way. While sisters such as the Edinburgh Castle went to the breakers, the Windsor Castle was to end up in the ships' graveyard that is Eleusis. How she came to be there is the story of a missed opportunity and of a Greek billionaire called John S. Latsis.

Latsis is one of Greece's more colourful characters. Now 90, and in failing health, he is best known in Britain for playing host to the Prince of Wales on jaunts around the Mediterranean on board his luxury motor yacht Alexander. The Latsis Group owns banks, oil refineries, tankers and construction companies.

Latsis has long been close to the Saudi Royal Family. He started out running pilgrims to Mecca free of charge and was rewarded with favourable oil concessions for his tankers. When the Windsor Castle was put up for sale, Latsis bought her to accommodate his workers in Saudi Arabia.

A South African consortium proposed using the Windsor Castle for carrying cargoes of wool, but the opportunity came too late. She was repainted white with a yellow funnel and renamed Margarita L after one of Latsis's daughters.

In late 1977 the Windsor Castle sailed from Southampton for Greece with the port anchor bashing against the bow. On the first night at sea, one of the Greek crewmen switched off an oil pump, seizing one of the turbines. Union-Castle engineers worked day and night fitting new bearings.

After a year laid up in Eleusis, the Windsor Castle set sail for Jedda. She was berthed in the Jedda docks, where Latsis was building a navy base for Saudi Arabia. Escalators were installed on the quayside and a helicopter landing pad was fitted on the aft deck. The forward hold was fitted with a desalination unit producing 600 tonnes of fresh water a day.

The Windsor Castle stayed at Jedda from 1978 to 1990. She moved twice, first a little farther up the coast to where Latsis was building a palace for the future King Fahd, and then to Rabegh, where Latsis was building an oil refinery. The ship became the centrepiece of a complex with swimming pools and sports facilities. She was dry-docked at five-year intervals, first in Piraeus and then in Bahrain.

Her usefulness at an end, the Windsor returned to Eleusis to be laid up.

A handful of Union-Castle ships remain intact. The former Kenya Castle continued in service as the Chandris cruise ship Amerikanis. Laid up in Eleusis, she is set to return to London's Docklands as a floating hotel, opening in autumn 2002. The Dunnottar Castle, now the Princessa Victoria, is cruising out of Cyprus.

The S.A. Vaal, similar in size to the Windsor, has spent the past two decades cruising the Caribbean as the Carnivale and more lately as Island Breeze. Her most recent owner, Premier Cruises, collapsed last year, and the ship is laid up in Freeport, Bahamas.

The Windsor is for sale at $5 million (£3.5 million), but her prospects appear bleak. Her steam turbines make her hopelessly expensive to run. Under progressive rules aimed at reducing fire hazards on ships, all wood used in construction, bulkheads and decking must be removed by 2010. This leaves a narrow window for anyone looking to return the Windsor Castle to service.

Martin Hill, a retired radio officer living in Yorkshire, is trying to drum up support for an investment scheme that entails modernising the Windsor Castle while keeping many of her features. Investors would buy shares in the ship for a few hundred pounds each. The costs could run to as much as £40 million, however, and Hill has made little progress.

A group of enthusiasts is in talks with City venture capitalists about launching a classic cruise service, with the Windsor Castle as an obvious candidate. Others would like to see her donated for use as a mercy ship serving African ports.

Peter Knego, a classic-ship expert who managed to get on board the Windsor Castle in 1998, says her interiors are much as they were 30 years ago. He says:

"She still has the same chairs, brass railings, linoleum decking, chandeliers, even most of the same carpeting and soft furnishing. Signs in the passageways still say Windsor Castle, especially in officers' territory. She is a treasure trove of classic fittings and would make a magnificent museum or hotel. I think Latsis's people were holding out for this, as her asking price is still above scrap value."

Peter Knego adds:

"Sadly, it would be a poor investment to restore her to cruise service as 2010 would force her retirement. One would have to recoup the moneys spent on a refit in too short a time to make sailing her again viable. Her engines need work and crewing a steamship is very difficult nowadays. Add to that the price of fuel and the lack of interest in other steamships that are in better condition and cannot find work and it looks more and more as if she will be going to the scrappers."

The signs are not encouraging. Two other Latsis-owned liners, the Aureol and the former Principe Perfeito (moored alongside the Windsor Castle) were recently sold for scrap.