reina del mar5.jpg
REINA DEL MAR in Chandris colours! a "photoshop" of course as she never wear them. But was she bought after all?
The widely known story of REINA DEL MAR goes like that:
Her service with Pacific Steam Navigation Co ended when she completed her last South American voyage in March of 1964. She was refitted for cruising during 1964 and was then chartered to a South African organisation; Max Wilson's Travel Savings Association (TSA), the principle shareholders being Canadian Pacific, Union-Castle and Royal Mail. With Union-Castle Line managing the ship she commenced her first sailing to New York on 10th June 1964. In October Union-Castle Line took over ownership of TSA and in November she was painted in the famous lilac livery of the mailship operators. The Reina was still owned by PSNC and was chartered to Union-Castle for five years. In 1973 she was finally acquired by Union-Castle Line before the charter expired and she traded for a further two years.
Source
But where does Chandris fits into this?
The photo comes from a 1964 article from greek magazine Nautika Hronika which mentions that she had been bought by Chandris for £3million with the aggreement to charter her back to TSA "until the end of her life"! Chandris also took a 20% share in TSA. The ship would raise the Greek flag in June 1964, crewed with Greeks and renamed accordingly.
Here it is from another source:
In November 1963 a powerful controversy sprang up over the decision to resell the Reina del Mar to the Greek shipowner A.J. Chandris. Flying the Greek flag and manned by a Greek crew she would be chartered back to TSA for her lifetime. Chandris would become a fifth equal shareholder. Sir Nicholas Cayzer, the then chairman of TSA, pointed out that the organisation was primarily a sales concern and not a shipping company, and was not geared to operating a cruise ship on a complicated itinerary.
Ambitious plans were announced. With an increase from 770 to 1,150 in her passenger capacity, and with new public rooms and facilities, the Reina del Mar would be well equipped for her new role as a full-time cruise liner. A sixty day voyage from Durban to Japan for the Olympics was scheduled as a curtain raiser.
However the British seafarers unions put a strong opposition, and they found a good argument when LAKONIA sunk. TSA stepped back from the deal and Chandris never took delivery of the REINA DEL MAR.
Sadly though, if she had came in Greek hands she would have survived for longer. She was scrapped in 1975 with only 19 years of service.
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