SS ''Oronsay'' was the second

Orient Line The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% sharehold ...

ship built after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. A sister ship to , she was named after the island of

Oronsay This is a list of islands called Oronsay (Scottish Gaelic: '), which provides an index for islands in Scotland with this and similar names. It is one of the more common names for Scottish islands. The names come from ''Örfirisey'' which transla ...

off the west coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The liner was completed in 1951 at

Vickers-Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 202 ...

, but was delivered several months behind schedule because of a serious fire that broke out in the fitting-out berth. The ''Oronsay'' operated the UK to

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...

service, via the Suez Canal. Her accommodation set new standards, in both first and tourist class, with decor by Brian O'Rourke. On 1 January 1954, ''Oronsay'' left Sydney on the first Orient Line transpacific voyage to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Di ...

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Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, returning via the same ports. In later years the transpacific sailings became a regular feature of the Orient/P&O services. In 1960 the Orient Line and P&O fleets were merged under the control of P&O-Orient Lines (Passenger Services) Ltd. ''Oronsay'' continued to operate under the Orient houseflag and retained her corn-coloured hull until 1964, when her hull was painted P&O white. In 1966, P&O having acquired the balance of the Orient shares (it had controlled Orient since 1919), Orient Line was wound up and ''Oronsay'', along with her fleet mates, was transferred to the ownership of P&O and hoisted the P&O houseflag. Liner services were producing dwindling returns as jet airliner services between Europe and Australia expanded and ''Oronsay'' spent more and more time as a cruise ship, but, with declining passenger numbers, P&O could not sustain its large passenger fleet, withdrawals beginning in 1972. The large rises in the oil price in 1973/4 were the final straw and ''Oronsay'' was withdrawn from service, the penultimate example of the six post war 28,000 ton types (''Arcadia'' sailed on until 1979). On 7 October 1975 she arrived at Kaohsiung to be broken up by the Nan Feng Steel Enterprise Co.

In popular culture

''Oronsay'' was one of the ships seen in the 1958 British comedy film ''

The Captain's Table ''The Captain's Table'' is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Jack Lee based upon a novel by Richard Gordon. It stars John Gregson, Donald Sinden, Peggy Cummins and Nadia Gray, and featured Maurice Denham, Joan Sims, John Le Mesurier, Ric ...

''. Stock footage of all three post war Orient ships was used to depict the fictional SS ''Queen Adelaide'' and some scenes were shot on board at Tilbury Docks. Orient ships were also seen in stock footage in the 1962 British comedy film ''

Carry On Cruising ''Carry On Cruising'' is a 1962 British comedy film, the sixth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It was based on an original story by Eric Barker. P&O – Orient Lines were thanked in the credits. Regulars Sid James, K ...

'', in which Oronsay depicted the cruise ship SS ''Happy Wanderer''. The ship is also the primary setting of the novel '' The Cat's Table'' (2011) by

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller ...

. The novel tells the story of a boy's three week trip on the Oronsay.

Notable passengers

* Australian writer Leonora Polkinghorne died on board the ''Oronsay'' in May 1953, whilst en route to Denmark to attend the Women's World Congress. *

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Lond ...

, the 28th Prime Minister of Australia,

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

, aged 2, to Australia with his family aboard the ''Oronsay'' in 1960.
NAA citation "NAA: A1877, 07/09/1960 ORONSAY ABBOTT R H".http://naa12.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=7328488 * British historical novelist

Eleanor Hibbert Eleanor Alice Hibbert (née Burford; 1 September 1906 – 18 January 1993) was an English writer of historical romances. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen ...

travelled on the ''Oronsay'' from

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to Sydney in 1970. * Musician

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

travelled on the ''Oronsay'' from

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

in March/April 1973. *

's 2011 novel '' The Cat's Table'' is a fictionalised account of the author's childhood voyage in 1954 from Ceylon to Britain on board the ''Oronsay''. * Lord George Brown the Labour politician was a passenger on a cruise to Las Palmas, Madeira, Bermuda, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago in December 1968.Mirror Mist -Extracts from an Unwritten Diary. Memoir by A.J. Ó Laochdha. ISBN978171723601 * Andy Gibb, younger brother of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb of the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era i ...

, travelled with his parents between Australia and England in early 1969. ''Oronsay'' was on a round the world cruise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oronsay (1950) Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Cruise ships Ships of the Orient Line Passenger ships of the United Kingdom 1950 ships Steamships