RMS Transvaal Castle — BrandWiki

RMS Transvaal Castle

Overview

*1961–1966: RMS Transvaal Castle *1966–1969: RMS S.A. Vaal *1969–1977: TSS S.A. Vaal *1977–1996: TSS Festivale *1996–2000: TSS IslandBreeze *2000–2003: SS The Big Red Boat III *2003: SS The Big Boat

country	Bahamas
owner	1961–1966: Union-Castle Line house flag.svg Union-Castle Line 1966–1977: Safmarine 1977–1996: Carnival Corporation house flag.svg Carnival Cruise Line‡R1R‡ 1996–1996: Dolphin Cruise Line‡R2R‡ 1996–1998: Thomson Cruises 1998–2000: Premier Cruise Line‡R3R‡
route	Southampton, Las Palmas, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban
builder	John Brown & Co., Clydebank, Scotland, United Kingdom
yard number	720‡R4R‡
launched	17 January 1961‡R4R‡
completed	December 1961
maiden voyage	18 January 1962‡R4R‡
in service	1962
out of service	September 2000‡R4R‡
fate	Scrapped at Alang, India in 2003.‡R4R‡

RMS Transvaal Castle was a British ocean liner built by John Brown & Company at Clydebank for the Union-Castle Line for their mail service between Southampton and Durban. In 1966 she was sold to the South Africa-based Safmarine and renamed S.A. Vaal for further service on the same route. Following cessation of the service between the UK and South Africa in 1977 the ship was sold to Carnival Cruise Line [5] and rebuilt in Japan as the cruise ship SS Festivale, re-entering service in 1978.[6] In 1996 she was chartered to Dolphin Cruise Line and renamed IslandBreeze.[7] In 1998 the ship was sold to Premier Cruise Line,[8] which renamed her The Big Red Boat III.[3]

Service history

1961–1977: United Kingdom—South Africa liner service

Transvaal Castle set out on her maiden voyage from Southampton to Durban on 18 January 1962. In July 1965, the mail service was accelerated with the Southampton-Cape Town voyage cut from 13½ days to 11½ days. The previous departure from Southampton at 4 PM on Thursday, every week was altered to 1 PM every Friday.[6]

In order to meet South African demands for a greater share in the running of the mail service, the Transvaal Castle and her fleetmate RMS Pretoria Castle (respectively the youngest and oldest units of the fleet) were transferred to the South African Marine Corporation (Safmarine) in 1966.[6] The Transvaal Castle was taken over by Safmarine on 12 January 1966 and renamed S.A. Vaal. The ship's hull was repainted white and her funnel changed to Safmarine's mid-grey, with three thin lines of the then South African national colours: orange, white and blue. Although now under Safmarine ownership, both ships were bareboat chartered back to Union-Castle and continued to be crewed by the same crews as the other mail ships. RMS S.A. Vaal remained registered in London[4] and continued to operate on the same service as before. Thus the UK—South Africa service became a joint operation between Union-Castle and Safmarine.[6] In February 1969 the S.A. Vaal and S.A. Oranje were re-registered in Cape Town.[4] but continued to be managed and crewed by Union-Castle, with a few Safmarine officers in later years. The mail ship operation was always managed from London.

The Union-Castle/Safmarine joint mailship service declined heavily during the 1970s. This was due to a combination of adverse economic factors including the loss of earnings from high value cargoes, which were increasingly being carried in the more efficient, revolutionary new container ships. With the large increase in oil prices in 1973, the mail ship schedule was extended by one day to allow more economical steaming. After Pendennis Castle was withdrawn in June 1976 just two mailships remained on the route – Union-Castle's Windsor Castle and Safmarine's S.A. Vaal – in addition to Union-Castle's last cargo/passenger vessels RMMV Good Hope Castle and RMMV Southampton Castle (carrying just 12 passengers each) and other chartered cargo-only tonnage. The jointly owned passenger liner service ceased completely in October 1977, with the S.A. Vaal being the last to arrive in Southampton on 10 October 1977.[6]

1978–2003: Cruise ship service

S.A. Vaal was sold to Carnival Cruise Line and renamed SS Festivale. Carnival converted her into a cruise ship in Japan at a cost of $30 million,[1] removing former cargo holds and doubling the vessel's passenger capacity, installing lounges, discothèques and casinos. The vessel became one of Carnival's "First Generation" fun ships. Although the former mail ship's superstructure was greatly enlarged, registration in Panama resulted in her tonnage dropping to 26,632 (by UK rules it would have been around 38,000). Soon after entering service in 1978, the Festivale was used as a floating location for the TV miniseries The French Atlantic Affair, starring Telly Savalas, Chad Everett and Michelle Phillips.[11]

Carnival chartered the Festivale to Dolphin Cruise Line in 1996. They renamed her IslandBreeze, and she annually operated cruises under charter to Thomson Holidays.[7] In 1998, she was sold to Premier Cruise Line,[8]