ss ORIANA

[Neil ( Bob ) Whitmore]

Hi

Has anyone any recent pictures of the demolition of the ss Oriana in China.

Most pictures on the other websites are now over two months old and only show the start of the work.

Having worked on Oriana for over ten years until her withdrawl from service on the P&O Australian cruises and then being sold to the Japanese I am interested is seeing any recent pictures of her demolition.

Regards,
Bob Whitmore
Ex Maitre D'hotel,
ss Oriana.

[Glenn Towler]

The last I heard from my brother in law who is working in China was that it is pretty much impossible to get close enough to what is left of her to get any decent shots on land or water.  Security is very tight around the scrapping of this vessel, which in my opinion is a CRIME or an ACT OF TERRORISIM.  There is not much left so he tells me.

[Neil ( Bob ) Whitmore]

Hi Glen

Many thanks for your reply.

I have a friend from UK teaching in Dalian and he said much the same.

He supplied me with many of the pictures I have on the Australian Maritime Matters website about Oriana at Dalian.
There is also a large selection of other pictures about Oriana on this website.

Having worked with the P&O Hong Kong chinese crews on Chitral and Cathay when the ships were on the UK / Far East service I know how the Chinese react to certain difficult decisions.

It seems this is a case of loosing face !

Oriana will be sadly missed even though she had been changed a lot inside since her days on Australian cruising.

I have my house in UK named after her, having spent over 14 years working on her at various times which included the last ten years before her withdrawl from the Australian cruises in March 1986.

I  also worked on most of the other old P&O passenger ships from 1951 to 1986.

Regards

Bob

[Phil English]

I agree, it is sad that she has been reduced to scrap. However, it must be remembered that she was sold for demolition only because she was so badly damaged by the storm that hit Dalian in July 2004. Rebuilding was never going to be a viable option.


Phil

[Valeri Roussinov]

Hi, Bob
May be you have already found the website ssmaritime.com.
Just for anycase, I decided to remember about it. If you don't know this site, you can find some pics of Oriana here:

http://www.ssmaritime.com/orianatdalian.htm
http://www.ssmaritime.com/oriana-1.htm

Last ones are from september. Sad story.

brgds
Valeri

[Neil ( Bob ) Whitmore]

Hi Valeri

A lot of the pictures on the website you mention are provided by myself.

Regards,

Bob

[Neil ( Bob ) Whitmore]

Hi Phil

The original plans of the athorities in Dalain were to restore Oriana and open her free to the public but after over eight months with her port side in the water it appears too much damage was caused.

Details of their plans can be found on the Chinese Dalain Runsky news website which has a lot of information and pictures about Oriana taken from other websites and also while she was in Dalian.

Regards,

Bob

[snocky]

Did the ORIANA make stops in VANCOUVER CANADA. I seem to recall her visiting there