PRESIDENT DE CAZALET (cinderella stamp)

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a passenger- cargo vessel under yard No 1850 by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend on Tyne, England.
Length 122,60 m,
Width 16,30 m,
Draught 5.97 m,
GRT 5324
NRT: 2867
Twin screw, 2 x 3 drg stm turbines, 10,000 shp; speed 20.5 knots
Engines built by C A Parsons of Newcastle
Passengers: 95 1st ; 226 2nd; 578 3rd. Crew: 78. ( Just think of the crews on passenger ships nowadays !)

She was ordered as the EL KANTARA for Cie de Navigation Mixte to replace a vessel of the same name lost in 1942.

15 September 1947 launched as the twin funnelled vessel PRESIDENT DE CAZALET and was delivered in August 1948 for the Port Vendres – Oran service.

In 1950 she was given a single Strombus streamlined funnel.

On 5 September 1958 a bomb exploded in the engine room, while she was in Marseilles, killing one person and wounding 13 others.

In July 1961 she left Bizerte in Tunisia with 1300 relatives of French servicemen serving at the military base near the city. Although a cease fire had been agreed between the Tunisian and the French it was considered not to be safe for the servicemen's families.

She was chartered in May 1962 by French Defence Department for the repatriation of the troops and material from Algeria,

In May 1967 she was transferred on bare boat charter to Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (CGT) and renamed MEDITERRANEE. In 1968 she was purchased by CGT and transferred to the new Cie Generale Transmediterranee.

In 1971 she was sold to Constantine S Efthymiadis of Piraeus of Greece, renamed ARCADI and used for cruising. In 1976 she was owned by Arcadi Shipping Co SA, also of Piraeus. Although her owners went into liquidation the ship remained afloat, mainly in lay-up at Perama. In 1995 she was still in Lloyd's Register but owned by the National Bank of Greece S.A. However, it is believed she was broken up in Greece in 1985.


Sources: Merchant Fleets 30 – French Line by Duncan Haws. Various internet sites.

Peter Crichton