SS Príncipe Perfeito
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SS ''Príncipe Perfeito'' was a
passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...
built in 1961 by
Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three pow ...
for the , often abbreviated as CNN.


History

The first voyage of ''Príncipe Perfeito'', which began in
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
to
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
with calls at nine different ports (
Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...
,
São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álv ...
,
Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...
,
Lobito Lobito is a municipality in Angola. It is located in Benguela Province, on the Atlantic Coast north of the Catumbela Estuary. The Lobito municipality had a population of 393,079 in 2014. History The city was founded in 1843 and owes its existe ...
,
Moçâmedes Moçâmedes is a List of cities and towns in Angola, city in southwestern Angola, and the capital of Namibe Province. The city's current population is 255,000 (2014 census). Founded in 1840 by the Portuguese Angola, Portuguese colonial administr ...
,
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 ...
,
Lourenço Marques Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...
) and then ended at Beira Harbour, was a run that would become her usual voyage. On July 6, 1964, the ''Príncipe Perfeito'' transported the president of the Portuguese Republic, Americo Tomas in an official trip to
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
. During her service years with her original owners, the ''Principe Perfeito'' was generally used for passenger service or troop transport, making cruises only occasionally. During the 1960s, armed campaigns for independence in Portugal's African colonies (notably
Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...
,
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and Mozambique) started, leading to demand for troopships as Portugal's government led by
António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese statesman, academic, and economist who served as Portugal's President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal, President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1 ...
attempted (unsuccessfully) to crush the insurrections. In 1974, the CNN merged with three other major shipping companies, ,
Companhia Colonial de Navegação The Companhia Colonial de Navegação (CCN) (literally "Colonial Navigation Company") was a Portugal, Portuguese shipping company that was founded in 1922 and merged into another company in 1974. Its ships carried freight as well as passengers. ...
and Empresa Insulana de Navegação to form the Companhia Portuguesa de Transportes Marítimos, or CTM. This move was made in order to streamline operations during the
1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
and due to severe competition from
airlines An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in ...
. Despite this major change she continued her original route. The
Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
of 1974 and the subsequent granting of independence to the colonies in 1975, ''Principe Perfeito'' was laid up at Lisbon in 1976. That April she was sold to the Panamanian company
Global Transportation Incorporated Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
, who sent her back to her builders with the intention of converting ''Principe Perfeito'' into the
accommodation ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...
''Al Hasa''. These plans never materialized and ownership of the vessel was passed on to the Sitmar Line, who renamed ''Fairsky'' with the intent of rebuilding her into a cruise ship, as they did with the SS ''Fairwind''. However the company decided to build an entirely new ship (resulting in the
Fairsky The Turbine Steamship ''Fairsky'' was a one-class Italian-styled passenger ship operated by the Sitmar Line, best known for service on the migrant passenger route from Britain to Australia from May 1958 until February 1972. After a 20-month lay ...
of 1984). With this decision Sitmar renamed her ''Vera'' in 1981. She was sold to the
John Latsis Ioannis "Yiannis" Latsis (; 14 September 1910 – 17 April 2003), also known as John Spyridon Latsis, was a Greek shipping multi-billionaire business magnate notable for his great wealth, influential friends, and charitable activities. The year ...
company Bilinder Marine Corporation in 1982, who renamed her ''Marianna IX'' after one of his daughters. She entered a new role as an accommodation ship at
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...
and then
Rabigh Rabigh () is a city and governorate in the Province of Makkah of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, situated on the coast of the Red Sea, around northwest of Mecca in the historic Hejazi region. The city had an estimated population of 180,352 in 2014 ...
. In 1984 her name was changed to ''Marianna 9''. She was sent to
Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...
to house earthquake victims in 1986, but was later returned to Rabigh. In 1992 she was laid up at
Eleusis Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost ...
alongside the . She remained there until 2001 when she was sent to the scrapyards at
Alang, India Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Alan ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Principe Perfeito 1960 ships Passenger ships of Portugal Ships built by Swan Hunter Cultural depictions of John II of Portugal