PENDENNIS CASTLE was built in 1958 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage 28582grt, a length of 763ft 2in, a beam of 83ft 9in and a service speed of 22.5 knots.

She was the largest and the last ship built for Union-Castle as subsequent buildings were ordered by British & Commonwealth. Due to a dockyard strike she was named on the 10th December 1957 but not launched until 24th December.

Based on the earlier Pretoria Castle design, but considered to have an ungainly profile, her internal layout was the first to differ significantly since the Arundel Castle set the pattern.  (A matter of opinion, I think she ranks as one of the most beautiful ships to have ever been built - CNI)

She commenced her maiden voyage on 1st January 1959 on the Southampton- Cape Town-Durban mail run and was the first ship to have Stewardettes - waitresses in the dining room.

She was withdrawn from the mail run on 14th June 1976 and replaced by Blue Star's refrigerated cargo liner Andalucia Star but in Union-Castle livery.

Sold to Ocean Queen Navigation Copr. of Panama, but Philippine owned, she was renamed Ocean Queen.and arrived in Hong Kong on 9th August 1976 where she was laid up.

In 1978, still laid up, she was renamed Sinbad by Kinvarra Bay Shipping Co. of Liberia and later in the year was renamed Sinbad 1. Four years later, in April 1980, she arrived at Kaohsiung in Taiwan for breaking up.

Originally intended as an 'upgraded' "Pretoria Castle", as usual the company was not flush with funds, she was on the stocks when the Cayzer family took over the company.  

The Cayzer's were a shipping family of the old school, as opposed to the accountancy minded fraternity, they at once saw that the ship as planned would be old fashioned before she was launched.  If the company was to compete with Mr. Boeing and his 707, something very much more modern was required.

At the fitting-out berth at Harland & Wolff

Launched without ceremony on 24 December 1957

Tthis picture is to mark the elevation to Commodore of   Capt H Deller   in 1960

From Left to Right

Back Row: Chris Dadson,  Peter Feeley,  Adrian Woodgate,  Peter Stubbs,  ?,  Colin Deller,  ?,  ?,  Ian Bell,  Brian Raynolds

Middle Row:  ?,  Cliff Williamson,  Arthur Jenner,  Fiona Gillies,  ?,  ?,  ?,  Di Coleman,  Irene Govett,  Mike Mears,  ?

Front Row:  David Bristow,  John Latham,  Bill Finlay,  A Foster,Commodore Cambridge and his daughter,  Dennis Tourell,  Jack Eastmond,  Dave Morris

Pendennis Castle on her Maiden Voyage, 1959.

The keel of this vessel had been laid down shortly before the take-over of Union-Castle Line by the Cayzers and she was subsequently lengthened, equipped with technical innovations and given luxurious accommodation by the designer, Jean Monro.

Artist   Norman Wilkinson

© Courtesy Caledonia Investments

Pendennis Castle

Artist  Roger H Middlebrook GAvA

Pendennis Castle at Cape Town

Water Colour by Tony Westmore

Senior Staff on her final mail voyage

From Left to Right

Arthur Jenner (Purser Catering), Jack Eastman (Purser), Arthur Wigham (Staff Commander), Bob Gemmell (Chief Engineer), Capt Stan Catterall (Master),

Tony Hodge (Chief Purser), Dr Mike MacNamara (Surgeon), Ralph Hough (Chief Radio Officer).

She was sold to Filipino owned “Ocean Queen Navigation Corp.” She departed for Hong Kong on July 7, 1976, arriving on August 9. She was given an attractive new look with a white hull and a gold-brown funnel. The intention was to use her as a cruise ship, but this never eventuated.

She remained laid up in Hong Kong until 1978, when she sold to a Liberian Company, Kinvarra Bay Shipping who renamed her Sinbad I, but, remained laid up.

Having been idle for four years, she departed Hong Kong in April 1980, heading for Kaohsiung, Taiwan where she was scrapped.

The delivery voyage over, Pendennis Castle alongside at the Hong Kong United Dockyard (HUD)

As Ocean Queen

As Sinbad

There was nothing they could do about her basic construction, she was far too gone for that, but she could be lengthened to accommodate Denny Brown stabilizers and given a more stylish profile.  

Whether it was these modifications, or whether it would have happened in any event, I cannot say; the strains of the ship's hull in a seaway were taken up, in the upper decks, with expansion joints, visible as brass covers across the decks.

These joints allowed the hull to flex without damage.  But the "Pendennis Castle" suffered all her life with cracks in the windows of the accommodation, clear signs that the hull was flexing more than expected.  But she was a very popular ship.  

Steaming slowly down Southampton Water on 7 July 1976 bound for Hong Kong via Suez