HMS Franconia

David Sommer

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Oct 27, 1996, 2:00:00 AM10/27/96

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In 1971 I sailed from New York to Hamilton, Bermuda and return aboard a
ship called the Franconia. I was eleven years old.

What I remember about Bermuda is riding a moped, visiting a place called
"The Devils Hole", and getting a terrible sunburn at Elbow Beach.

My folks bought me a steel drum as a souvenir. On the voyage home, I sat
on the deck trying to learn to play a song called "Yellow Bird". I was
just banging away on the steel drum, enjoying the sunlight and the view
of the sea. A smart looking couple was lying on deck chairs nearby,
working on their tans, I guess. Quite suddenly, the man got up, walked
over to me, grabbed the drum -- and pitched it over the rail.

I just wanted to apologize -- for disturbing you, mister -- but I was only
eleven years old, and you could've just asked me to quit banging the drum,
or move somewhere else.

Sometimes it's not the Bermuda triangle that causes things to vanish at sea.

Dave S
In Florida

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Fred Lanyard

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Oct 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/28/96

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p008...@pbfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (David Sommer) wrote:

>In 1971 I sailed from New York to Hamilton, Bermuda and return aboard a
>ship called the Franconia. I was eleven years old.

>What I remember about Bermuda is riding a moped, visiting a place called
>"The Devils Hole", and getting a terrible sunburn at Elbow Beach.

Hi Dave,

Sorry about the drum ;(
The reason I am posting is that we honeymooned in Bermuda in 1967 and
I took a picture of a cruise ship with my Kodak Instamatic 126 on the
pier in Hamilton. I never took notice of the name of the ship until
the picture came back since I had no interest in cruising then. As you
might have guessed, it was the Franconia. And I still remember the
Devil's Hole and Elbow Beach. We hope to get back there soon via a
cruise...thanks for bringing back a few memories.
Fred Lanyard

Living on your western shore, saw summer sunsets, asked for more...

wing...@mala.bc.ca

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Oct 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/28/96

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In article <550ud0$b...@mtinsc01-mgt.ops.worldnet.att.net>, fredl...@worldnet.att.net (Fred Lanyard) writes:
> p008...@pbfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (David Sommer) wrote:
>
>>In 1971 I sailed from New York to Hamilton, Bermuda and return aboard a
>>ship called the Franconia. I was eleven years old.
>
>>What I remember about Bermuda is riding a moped, visiting a place called
>>"The Devils Hole", and getting a terrible sunburn at Elbow Beach.

Talk about a small world. In April 1965, my family emmirgrated to Canada
aboard the "Franconia" (Southampton to Quebec City). I was 9 years-old
at the time. Crossing the Irish Sea was a particularly nasty experience.
Everyone was sick. In a letter to the editor of "Cruse Travel Magazine",
I asked about her fate. She was sold to a Russian company (it may have
been Polish" in the '70s and is still in service.

Loraine

Stephan Laengerer

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Oct 31, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/31/96

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wing...@mala.bc.ca wrote:

>Talk about a small world. In April 1965, my family emmirgrated to Canada
>aboard the "Franconia" (Southampton to Quebec City). I was 9 years-old
>at the time. Crossing the Irish Sea was a particularly nasty experience.
>Everyone was sick. In a letter to the editor of "Cruse Travel Magazine",
>I asked about her fate. She was sold to a Russian company (it may have
>been Polish" in the '70s and is still in service.

>Loraine

Hi! Did some research on the Fraconia last night, and this is what I
found out about her. Thought you might be interested:

Note: Source for information is "Era of the Passenger Liner" by
Nicolas T. Cairis, copyright 1992 Pegasus Publishing.

Original Launch June 1955, as the Ivernia, served on Trans-Atlantic
run.

Renamed to Franconia in 1963 after a refit. Introduced as
dual-purpose, both Trans-Atlantic and cruising out of Port Everglades.

Bermuda was added in the sommer of 1968, with the winter spent
cruising to the Caribbean.

She made her last commercial voyage for Cunard eastbound on Nov 21/70
and was laid up pending sale.

She was sold for 1,000,000 pounds together with the Carmania in 1973
to the Russian Far East Steamship Co. At the time of writing the
book, she was identified as still in service as the "Fedor Shalyapin",
although the picture of her indicates that today she leaves a lot to
be desired.

Her sister ships:

Carinthia
Carmania
Sylvania

Stephan Laengerer

"The world is a book. Those who do
not travel, read only one page".

Donald Blakley

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Nov 1, 1996, 3:00:00 AM11/1/96

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Stephan Laengerer (ste...@interlynx.net) writes:
>
> Hi! Did some research on the Fraconia last night, and this is what I
> found out about her. Thought you might be interested:
>
> Note: Source for information is "Era of the Passenger Liner" by
> Nicolas T. Cairis, copyright 1992 Pegasus Publishing.
>
> Original Launch June 1955, as the Ivernia, served on Trans-Atlantic
> run.

Much interesting stuff snipped.

Thank you Stephan. Interesting resume. Have been puzzeled by the caption
of this thread since its first posting because most Cunard ships
operating under Cunard's UK Govt Post Office Mail Contract were designated
RMS. Then it suddenly occurred to me it should be RMS, Royal Mail Steamer or
Ship not HMS, His or Her Majesty's Ship, reserved for ships of the Royal
Navy.

Wow the penny finally dropped.

Cheers

DB
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