RMS Caronia

RMS Caronia was a 34,183 gross register tons (GRT) passenger ship of the Cunard Line (then Cunard White Star Line). Launched on 30 October 1947, she served with Cunard until 1967. She was nicknamed the "Green Goddess" . She is credited as one of the first "dual-purpose" built ships: suited to cruising, but also capable of transatlantic crossings. After leaving Cunard she briefly served as SS Caribia in 1969, after which she was laid up in New York until 1974 when she was sold for scrap. While being towed to Taiwan for scrapping, she was caught in a storm on 12 August. After her tow lines were cut, she repeatedly crashed on the rocky breakwater outside Apra Harbor, Guam subsequently breaking into three.

History

After World War II, the Cunard White Star Line operated three ships on the Southampton—New York run. The famous RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth operated an express service, with the smaller and slower RMS Mauretania sailing as the third ship on the route. The company placed an order for a running mate to the Mauretania, a ship of similar speed and proportions for the transatlantic run. Ultimately this was not to be the role of the new ship. Cunard White Star's executives decided that the new ship would be built primarily for cruising.

RMS Caronia (1904)

RMS Caronia was a British ocean liner, launched on 13 July 1904. She was built for Cunard by John Brown & Co. of Glasgow. She was the only ship in the Cunard fleet to be named after an American, being named after Caro Brown, granddaughter of Cunard's New York agent. She left Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York on 25 February 1905. A successful 1906 cruise from New York to the Mediterranean led to Caronia's being used for cruising frequently in the coming years.

On 14 April 1912 Caronia sent first ice warning at 09:00 to RMS Titanic reporting "bergs, growlers and field ice".

Caronia was briefly placed on Cunard's Boston service in 1914, but the start of World War I caused her to be requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser. In 1916, she became a troopship and served in that role for the duration, returning to the Liverpool-New York run after the War.

In 1920 Caronia was converted to burn oil instead of coal.

After returning to service, she sailed on a number of different routes, including:

Caronia

Caronia (Sicilian: Carunìa, Greek: Καλάκτα, Ptol.: Καλὴ Ἀκτὴ, Diod. et al., Latin: Calacte or Cale Acte) is a town and comune on the north coast of Sicily, in the province of Messina, about half way between Tyndaris (modern Tindari) and Cephaloedium (modern Cefalù). The town has 3,555 inhabitants.

History

Kale Akte (or Caleacte, Calacta, Calacte) derived its name from the beauty of the neighboring country; the whole of this strip of coast between the Montes Heraei and the sea being called by the Greek settlers from an early period, the Fair Shore (ἡ καλὴ Ἀκτή – he Kale Akte). Its beauty and fertility had attracted the particular attention of the Zanclaeans, who in consequence invited the Samians and Milesians (after the capture of Miletus by the Persians, 494 BC) to establish themselves on this part of the Sicilian coast. Events, however, turned their attention elsewhere, and they ended with occupying Zancle itself. At a later period the project was resumed by the Sikel leader Ducetius, who, after his expulsion from Sicily by Syracuse and his exile at Corinth, returned at the head of a body of colonists from the Peloponnese; and having obtained much support from the neighbouring Siculi, especially from Archonides, dynast of Herbita, according to Diodorus Siculus founded a city on the coast, which was called Kalè Akté (The Fair Shore or Beautiful Coast). The date given by Diodorus is 446 BC, but in another passus the same author says that Ducetius colonised Kale Akte in 440 BC, the same year he died. In addition, recent excavations at Caronia, which is clearly the site of the Hellenistic and Roman town Kale Akte, have revealed only very sparse remains from the 5th century BC, and show that a Sikel settlement already existed here in the early 5th century BC. It is possible that Ducetius founded the colony on the site of this already existing Sikel settlement, just as he had done at Menai and Paliké.

Caronia (disambiguation)

Caronia may refer to: