RMS ''St Helena'' was a passenger-cargo liner, built in 1963 as ''Northland Prince'', operated by the St. Helena Shipping Company that operated between Britain and South Africa via the British colony of

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

between 1978 and 1990.

History

''St Helena'' was constructed in 1963 by

Burrard Dry Dock Burrard Dry Dock Ltd. was a Canadian shipbuilding company headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Together with neighbouring North Van Ship Repair and Yarrows Ltd. of Esquimalt, which were both later purchased by the company, Bur ...

in North Vancouver, Canada as the ''Northland Prince'', and operated under that name between Vancouver and Alaska. The ship was purchased by the St. Helena Shipping Company, which had been formed as a joint venture between the Saint Helena Government and Falmouth-based shipping firm Curnow Shipping to operate an ocean mail service to the island after the

Union-Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

ceased operations in 1977. She underwent a refit, was renamed ''St Helena'', and entered service in September 1978 on a route from

Avonmouth Avonmouth ( ) is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, on the north bank of the mouth of the River Avon and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuary. Part of the Port of Bristol, Avonmouth Docks is important to the region's maritime eco ...

, England to

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa, calling en route at

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

, Canary Islands, and

Jamestown, Saint Helena Jamestown is the capital city of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, located on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is also the historic main sett ...

. She continued on this route, interrupted by British government service during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, until 1990 when she was replaced by a new ship, also named ''St Helena''. ''St Helena'' was sold and subsequently renamed ''St Helena Island'', ''Avalon'' and ''Indoceanique''. She was laid up for several years, as a planned service in the Indian Ocean never materialized, before being scrapped in 1996. ''St Helena'' measured 3,150 gross register tons, and was long, with a beam of . She was propelled by a single diesel engine and propeller, which gave her a service speed of . She had a passenger capacity of 88 in a single class configuration.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St Helena (1963) Transport in Saint Helena Passenger ships of Canada Merchant ships of Canada Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Cargo liners Ships built in North Vancouver 1963 ships Falklands War