The steamship S/S Letitia was built in Govan by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. She launched in 1924. By 1925 she was part of the Anchor-Donaldson company and sailed between Glasgow, Montreal, and Quebec during the summer. In the winter months, she sailed to Halifax and St. John's.
The S/S Letitia became part of the Donaldson Atlantic Line in 1935 and that same year ran aground twice -- once at Cape Papas, Greece, and again entering the Belfast Lough.
The British Admiralty requisitioned the S/S Letitia in 1939. She was armed with eight 6-inch guns and two 3-inch guns and flew pennant F16. After performing convoy duty, the Admiralty decided ocean liners were too exposed and instead used the ship for transport duty starting in 1941. The S/S Letitia was badly damaged in 1943 and sailed to the U.S. for repairs. For the rest of the war she was used by the Canadian government to bring wounded soldiers home.
She was sold to the Ministry of Transport in 1946. The ministry renamed her the Empire Brent. A collision in the Mersey river required her to be dry docked for repairs. She was again turned into a troop transport and used between India and the Far East. In 1949 she began immigration runs between the U.K. and Australia.
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| S/S/ Captain Cook in Wellington Harbor, New Zealand sometime in the 1950s; photograph courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand |
In 1950 she was out of service for six months to be refitted for the U.K. to New Zealand run. She began sailing to Wellington via the Panama Canal in 1952 as the S/S Captain Cook. A fire broke out aboard her in Wellington Harbor in 1957 and caused extensive damage. She was able to limp back to the U.K. for repairs. She made her final return trip to Glasgow in 1959 and was laid up at Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1960 she was sold to British Steel. The company towed her to Inverkeithing where she was broken up.
I sailed on TTS Captain Cook from Christmas Island to Southampton in November 1958 arrived 5th January 1959. Temp when left 105 when arrived -5 my dads birthday.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting — the same ship! And what a temperature change. My goodness.
DeleteMy mother sailed on the captain cook but I don't have the information. I have an original copy of her crossing the line certificate from 17th March 1958 they were going to Wellington I belive. If anyone would like to see the certificate please email me. Pclarkey19888@googlemail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for the offer. I'm sure someone will take you up on it.
DeleteI sailed on SS Captain Cook on what I believe was her final trip. My Mother, Father and my self were posted to Malta with the the Royal Artillery in 1957 and sailed back to Southampton in August 1959.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting. Another person commented a few years ago that they sailed on the ship from November 1958-January 1959 from the Christmas Islands to the UK.
DeleteMorag Hamilton
ReplyDeleteAs a child I sailed with my parents on the Captain Cook, december, 1952. The Captain was Jas Cook.
ReplyDeleteI sailed as a 12 year old on the TSS Captain Cook from Glasgow in June 1956 via Panama Canal stopping off Pitcairn Island on the way to Wellington with my Mother , brother and sister.
ReplyDeleteThe ship of 13,000 tons had about 1400 passengers including about 600 children and it was very cramped on board with virtually no facilities on board. There was a journalist on board who was undergoing some investigation on the £10 pound immigrants to NZ and the conditions that were being experienced. Most of the passengers were from Scotland as were the crew and the Voyage was about 4 to 5 weeks .
My father travelled that sailing with his sister and father. He was 11. Thank you for sharing your memories, Kellie
DeleteI was on the original 1952 sailing with my parents an older brother
ReplyDelete