TSS Fairstar - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Twin Screw Steamer TSS Fairstar (Fairstar, the Fun Ship) was a popular Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n based cruise ship

Cruise ship

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...

operating out of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

for 22 years. Originally completed in 1957 as the British troopship

Troopship

A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...

Oxfordshire, was converted to become the Fairstar in 1964 for immigrant voyages and from December 1974 was permanently engaged in cruising.

Background

In the early 1950s, the British War Office still regularly required the transportation of troops to and from garrisons in many parts of the Empire. The British Ministry of Transport

Department for Transport

In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...

had contracts with several shipping lines to transport the officers, troops and their families. One particular shipping company, The Bibby Line

Bibby Line

The Bibby Line is a British company concerned with shipping and marine operations.Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to the shipbroking partnership of Bibby & Hall, which was founded in 1801. It is and always has been based in Liverpool...

, had a long history of transporting troops; in fact from as early as 1854 during the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

. In 1953, Bibby Line was made an attractive offer by the British Government to build a new vessel for troop transport. A simultaneous arrangement was made with the British-India Steam Navigation Company

British-India Steam Navigation Company

British India Steam Navigation Company was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company. The company had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading partnership of the Scots William Mackinnon and Robert Mackenzie, to carry mail between Calcutta and Rangoon. It...

for an almost identical vessel, which would become Nevasa. These new ships would become the largest and last British vessels built solely for trooping. It was intended that the pair would take up twenty-year charters from the British Government, to secure their employment. Consequently Bibby Line sold the original 1912 Oxfordshire and plans for the new ship proceeded with the ship to be built at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the...

of Glasgow. The keel of the new vessel (designated as 'Ship No. 755') was laid down with 8,396 tons of steel assigned for the construction. On 15 December 1955 the Oxfordshire was launched by Lady Dorothea Head, wife of the Minister for War, Lord Head

Antony Head, 1st Viscount Head

Antony Henry Head, 1st Viscount Head GCMG, CBE, MC, PC was a British soldier, Conservative politician and diplomat.-Background and education:...

. Fitting out of the ship took over a year, with her sea trials commencing on 29 January 1957.

The Oxfordshire was officially handed over to the Bibby Line on 14 February 1957 when she steamed towards Liverpool to commence her trooping role. On 28 February 1957 Oxfordshire left Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

on her maiden voyage under the command of Captain Norman Fitch, bound for Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

via Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

. The vessel had the capacity to carry 1000 troops, 500 passengers (usually the families of the troops) and 409 crew members. Oxfordshire made an average of four trips per year between Britain and the Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

, calling en route at Ceylon, Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

, Port Said

Port Said

Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...

and Suez

Suez

Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...

in Egypt. However, by the early 1960s the use of aircraft to fulfil transport requirements and the declining number of overseas British garrisons meant that trooping by sea was soon to be redundant. In 1962 the British Government finally decided to rely entirely on air trooping, so the long-term charters of Oxfordshire and near sister-ship Nevasa were terminated and the vessels withdrawn from service. The last active troopship Oxfordshire followed Nevasa (despatched in October 1962), to lay-up in the safe haven of Cornwall's River Fal

River Fal

The River Fal flows through Cornwall, United Kingdom, rising on the Goss Moor and reaching the English Channel at Falmouth. On or near the banks of the Fal are the castles of Pendennis and St Mawes as well as Trelissick Garden. The River Fal separates the Roseland peninsula from the rest of...

in December of that year.

It was at this time that the migrant trade to Australia was booming. British and European migrants were given assisted passage to Australia - only having to pay ten pounds, with the balance paid by the Federal Government. The Vlasov Group passenger division, SITMAR Line, was already well established as a migrant carrier to Australia and they quickly showed an interest in the idle Oxfordshire. A six-year charter agreement with an option to purchase the ship was signed in February 1963 between the Bibby Line and Fairstar Shipping Corporation (another subsidiary of Vlasov Group).

'ConOx'

The complex plan to convert the Oxfordshire into a ship that was suitable for both liner voyages and cruises was one of the most ambitious projects to be overseen by the Vlasov engineers. On 19 May 1963 the Oxfordshire entered the Wilton-Fijenoord

Wilton-Fijenoord

Wilton-Fijenoord was a shipbuilding and repair company in Schiedam in the Netherlands from 1929 to 1999.The company has since been fully absorbed into Damen Shiprepair.-Ships built:* De Zeven Provinciën class cruiser:** HNLMS De Ruyter,...

shipyard at Schiedam

Schiedam

Schiedam is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It is part of the Rotterdam metropolitan area. The city is located west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen and south of Delft...

to commence the transformation. The project was known as the "Conox Project" (Conversion of Oxfordshire). Unfortunately, the project took longer than expected and cost more than anticipated (£4.5 million). In May 1964 it was then decided to buy the ship outright and move her to Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

to complete the fitting out. The handsome, new-look ship was quite changed from her former image: the superstructure was lengthened both fore and aft, three pairs of cargo booms were replaced by cranes, also the signal mast and funnel housing were redesigned. Internally, the vessel was completely transformed, with contemporary 'One Class Tourist' accommodation for a maximum of 1,868 passengers in 488 cabins, all but 68 of which were equipped with private shower and toilet facilities.

Fairstar

On 19 May 1964 the Fairstar left Southampton with a full complement of passengers, mostly migrants, on her maiden voyage to Sydney, Australia, joining older company vessels Fairsky

Fairsky

Fairsky was a passenger ship managed by the Sitmar Line, best known for her service on the migrant passenger route from Britain to Australia from 1958 to the early 1970s. In her later career, she operated out of Australia as a popular cruise ship, until striking an unmarked wreck in 1977 which...

, Fairsea and Castel Felice already operating in the same role. During the low season of the migrant run, SITMAR used the ships for cruises out of Sydney to the South Pacific. Fairstars first such cruise departed on 6 January 1965 under charter to Massey-Ferguson for their annual convention. After almost another full year of liner voyages from the UK to Australia, Fairstar sailed on another cruise from Sydney, departing on 22 December 1965 and visiting Nouméa

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

and Suva

Suva

Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...

. SITMAR lost its migrant carrying contract to Chandris Lines in 1970, Fairsea having been withdrawn in 1969 following a disabling engine-room fire mid-Pacific. Castel Felice also went to the breakers in October 1970, after a career of almost 40 years. Fairsky was laid up in Southampton in February 1972, not returning to the Australian service until November 1973.

Fairstar was used more and more for cruising over the following years and in November 1974, the vessel departed Southampton for her last liner voyage. Fairstar then began cruising as a permanent cruise ship from Australia in December 1974. Most of the cruises were to the South Pacific, however she often made annual trips to Asia where the vessel would be dry-docked in Singapore for routine maintenance and upgrades in between cruises. Fairstar thus joined Fairsky in full time cruising, Fairsky having finally been withdrawn in July 1974 from the now unsubsidised UK-Australia route. Both ships remained in service together for a further three years, until the sudden unfortunate demise of Fairsky in June 1977, after the vessel struck a submerged wreck near Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

, Indonesia and was found to be beyond economic repair.

Several upgrades were made to Fairstar during her career, the most notable occurring in April 1989, not long after SITMAR was sold to P&O

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...

for $210 million. During the refit, her boat deck was extended, lounges and passenger cabins were upgraded and a new potable water plant installed. The passenger capacity was also reduced to 1,280. The funnel sported a new colour scheme: a blue swan on a white funnel (it was originally changed to a white swan on a blue logo in July 1988).

The end of Fairstar

During the 1990s, Fairstar suffered an increasing number of breakdowns and problems. New SOLAS

International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea is an international maritime safety treaty. The SOLAS Convention in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships.- History :The first version of the...

(Safety Of Life At Sea) requirements that were to be introduced in 1997 meant that Fairstar would require extensive upgrading which would cost millions of dollars. In late 1996, the managing director of P&O, Mr Phil Young, announced that Fairstars long career would conclude the following year. When the news was broken to the public, the final cruise was sold out in a few hours. On 21 January 1997, Fairstar sailed on her last ever cruise, visiting Amedee Island, Nouméa, Lifou, Vila and Havannah-Boulari Passage before finally returning to Sydney. On her return to Sydney, she had the traditional long white pennant flying from her mainmast.

The name "RIPA" was then roughly painted on her bow (which many believe stood for "Rest In Peace Always") and she flew the St. Vincents & Grenadines flag. Soon after, she slipped out of Sydney harbour and arrived at Alang, India on 10 April 1997 where she was broken up for scrap.

Remembering the Fairstar

On 1 March 2008, a "Fairstar Reunion" was held at the ANZAC club in Cammeray, Sydney for any ex-crew, passengers or Sitmar/P&O staff members. Around 260 guests from around Australia, New Zealand and as far as Italy attended the reunion.

A comprehensive memorabilia display was set up which included many rare items. The event was emceed by Graeme Gillies, a former Cruise Director of Fairstar and now a producer of cruise ship entertainment through his company Grayboy Entertainment. A DJ played music and there was also a guitarist/singer, Bernie Segedin who was a popular band member on Fairstar. The night ended with a 'balloon drop', reminiscent of the last night in the Zodiac Lounge on Fairstar.

External links

"TSS Fairstar from troopship to funship" by Mike Ristuccia