ss Oriana - P&O Cruises Ship

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Oriana's Other Stuff

Courtesy of Malcolm Orr

This is the famous badge that was proudly displayed in the D Deck Embarkation Foyer just forrad of the Engineer's accommodation (D Deck starboard). This magnificent badge was removed from the old Oriana before her sale and is now on a wall on the new mv Oriana which is great but sadly it's in the Captain's Lounge where only a handful of people will ever see it. That, I think, is very sad!

Courtesy of Malcolm Orr

Here's a tribute to how much she was loved by so many when someone builds a working model of her, it looks like Ft Lauderdale to me where the residents who lived along the heads would have Oriana parties each time we sailed in and out. They would flash their house lights as we passed and the Bridge would shine our search light at them to say thank you. A sight to see I can tell you ... beautiful memories.

Courtesy of Don Cole

Don writes;

The Dock Museum in North Road, Barrow-in-Furness has found the original Oriana model and has placed it in the museum display, it's looking a bit sad
as it was in the local hospital stuck away in a store room for years, but has a nice display case now and is being renovated to its original condition which will be nice. Its about ten foot long and has a motorised movement that causes
the ship to roll and the stabilisers operate as well.

Courtesy of Don Cole

Restoration under way.

Courtesy of Don Cole

A shot of the deck cleaning under way.

Barrow cruise liner Oriana is turned into a brand new supermodel

A KIT to make a model of the famous Barrow cruise liner Oriana, which was first produced for modellers in 1961, has been reissued. Barrow’s Dock Museum is stocking the kits for the 20-inch long model as part of its efforts to celebrate the 50th anniversary year of the launch of the town’s most famous liner. Other plans at the Dock Museum include a special Oriana weekend on October 31 and November 1, close to the November 3 anniversary of the launch of the ship. The weekend will feature the showing of an old Vickers film about the building of the ship, as well as an exhibition of photos and memorabilia from people who worked on or sailed on the ship. The kit, made by Revell, has been reissued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ship’s launch by Vickers. It has wrong-footed some collectors who paid big sums for older versions of the model thinking it would never appear again. The Dock Museum says local interest in Oriana has grown again since it installed the mechanised shipyard model of the ship in the main gallery in February. The unusual model moves up and down and from side to side in a sea with moving waves. Visitors put in 50p to see the model light up and move. The money is being used to clean and refurbish the model. Since February, people have put around £500 in the slot. The ship made its maiden voyage to Sydney Australia in 1960 and its last commercial voyage in 1986. Oriana survived in preservation until 2005 when it was scrapped after sustaining gale damage at a quayside in China where it was moored as a leisure complex.

This is from the back of an Oriana menu

This is a very rare invite indeed ... a pourout by Moso & Surely!! When I first found this in my photo shoebox it really amused me that they thought my name was Jack Borril but just this very minute it's dawned on me that it probably refers to Mike JACK and Steve BORRILL. Having said that they did spell my name with only one L so I guess I was still just an insignificant pleb at the time.

Courtesy of Steve Borrill

Isn't it amazing what you hang on to for no apparent reason at the time but then time makes them somehow worth something. Above is one of the tickets filled out by the Deck Officer in Charge of the watch and delivered by hand to the Engine Room requesting a change in the ship's propeller revolutions which in turn obviously changes the speed of the ship. How I came to sign this one at 12:30 in the afternoon I've got no idea ... where was the 3rd Engineer on the 12-4 that day?

Mike Williams acquired this old newspaper from a local auction room. It's the "Evening Mail " ORIANA SUPPLEMENT dated Wednesday November 2nd, 1960. It makes a fascinating read and thanks for sending it in Mike.

Courtesy of Mike Williams

Below are some excellent technical details and the life history of our beloved Oriana.

Courtesy of Mike Williams

Courtesy of Roger Lownsborough

I found this really interesting especially when I saw the date 1967 because I was on Oriana in the 70's and don't ever remember seeing a TV onboard.

Courtesy of Roger Lownsborough

Amazing!

Courtesy of Simon Lockyer

Fantastic!

Courtesy of Simon Lockyer

Simon realls;

The Coxswains name is Steve ? (A/B) whom I sailed with on Orcades, (his surname has forsaken me after 36 years!). Those old open boats were used as cruise launches in the early days, and were 'pigs' to handle for the coxswain, as well as the wheel being back to front, the boat would not stop when arriving at its destination, consequently in the hands of an inexperienced helmsman would demolish the ships pontoon sending all and sundry into the bottom of the boat, (sometimes they were packed with punters) or in some extreme cases put a hole on the boat especially when hitting concrete wharves ashore!, (Quite funny to observe if one wasn't involved).

Courtesy of Simon Lockyer

Courtesy of Charles Oxley

Courtesy of Simon Lockyer

Simon writes;

Another classic from thirty one years ago. Tommy Coggrave had a locker on Stadium Deck ( I think) and just about lived there! He would make all types of souvenirs for the passengers (as related in the story), here in Australia we would call them "foreign orders, or foreigners" he would receive a small gratuity in return, I still have a miniature lifebuoy that he made in my collection of Oriana memorabilia. If he is still with us he would be well into his nineties, bless him!

Courtesy of Simon Holmes

Oriana Crossing the Line Ceremony.

In the red stripes is Simon, nice legs on the girl he's trying to persuade to do something she obviously doesn't want to do ??? The executioner is the actual ship's surgeon and the others are passengers.

This is the actual Oriana Crossing the Line Ceremony script sadly with page 4 missing so if anyone has page 4 please send it in.

Page 4 is missing

Courtesy of Simon Holmes

Simon believes the fisherman is an RO nicknamed Tank.

Courtesy of Steve Wedd

Oriana News of 40 years ago this week !!

Courtesy of David Jewkes

More wonderful memories evoked!

Courtesy of Steve Wedd

Steve recalls;

After Pate, Sweetbreads and Suckling Pig Farcie I think I may have moved onto the Brandy sauce. We were on a 14 day Vancouver – Caribbean – Vancouver cruise at the time and as I recall had a serious shortage of eligible females. On returning to Vancouver, Oronsay was in the middle of the harbour, quarantined for 21 days with Typhoid fever. We headed for a 10 day cruise to Hawaii and Oronsay was still there when we returned. What a way to spend January, 21 days on Vancouver harbour!

PS, some info on the internet suggests it was Cholera but the official WHO report AND my diary of the day says Typhoid!

Courtesy of Bob Johnston

This is the souvenir log of Oriana's farewell cruise, Cruise 996.

Courtesy of Bob Johnston

This is amazing, check out the people who attended Oriana's Farewell Luncheon in Sydney on the 28th February 1986.

Where the hell was my invitation?

Above are two messages sent from Oriana after hitting the bank in the Panama canal in 1968 sent in to us by her finest ex Chief Engineer, Toni Mazonowicz.

Courtesy of Jim Walton

This speaks for itself, click on the article to enlarge to read it.

Very sad!