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This website has no connection with any shipping company, cruise line, boat operator or other commercial organisation
Flotta Lauro - Lauro Lines
An alphabetical list of ships
shown on this page is shown below.
The Table
beneath gives links to complete postcard history pages on selected individual ships. Below the table are official
postcards of the fleet
in chronological order.
These pages are devoted to postcards and photographs of the Lauro fleet until its sale to the Mediterranean Shipping Company in 1987, with its subsequent renaming as
StarLauro, then MSC
. Achille Lauro inherited his first ships in 1912, and built up a substantial fleet of freighters before WW2. After the war, he ventured into the emigrant market, with the converted freighters
Ravello
,
Olimpia
and
Napoli
. These were very basic conversions, and still largely retained a freighter appearance. His first actual passenger ship was the
Surriento
, an ex-Grace Liner bought in 1949. During the 1950s, Achille Lauro was a multi-millionaire, known as the "King of Naples", and owner of a fleet of 50 ships. By the 1970s, the empire was falling apart; it was being managed by his son Ercole by this time. The line collapsed in 1980, followed two years later by the death of its founder.
Ships on This Page:-
Achille Lauro
Angelino Lauro
Daphne
Napoli
Oceanos
Ravello
Roma
Surriento
Sydney
Associated Web Pages:-
StarLauro - MSC
- Lauro Lines Page 2
Epirotiki Lines
Nederland Line
Rotterdam Lloyd
Cruise Ship Postcards
Ocean Liner Postcards
Simplon Postcards Home Page
References:-
Passenger Liners Italian Style:
by William Miller, published by Carmania Press.
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Table of Ship Histories
Name
Other Names
Built
Angelina Lauro (1)
Oranje
1939
Achille Lauro
Willem Ruys
1939
Lauro Fleet List
Ravello (1947-71)
Achille Lauro's first passenger carrying ship, as serving as a cargo ship.
Scan: Dimas Almada
Achille Lauro's first passenger carrying ship, seen in a Duncan photographic card.
Napoli (1948-71)
Napoli
was built as the
Araybank
(Bank Line) in 1940. She was bombed and abandonned in Cretan waters in 1941. In 1947 she was salvaged and purchased by Achille Lauro and rebuilt as an emigrant-carrier. She entered service as the
Napoli
in 1948 between the Mediterranean and Australia, changing to the South American route in 1951. She was converted to a freighter in 1960, and was scrapped in 1971.
A Lauro company postcard of
Napoli
.
Scan: Dimas Almada.
Surriento (1949-66)
The first true passenger ship in the Lauro fleet. Built as the
Grace Line's
Santa Maria
,
Surriento
was bought in 1949 and refitted to carry 187 first class and 868 tourist class passengers on the Australian migrant trade. Originally, she retained her two funnels from Grace Line days, reduced to one when refitted in in 1959. She was scrapped in 1966.
A Lauro company postcard of
Surriento
.
Scan: Dimas Almada.
A Lauro company postcard of
Surriento
.
A Lauro company postcard of
Surriento
.
In 1959
Surriento
was rebuilt again, with a single funnel. Accommodation was rearranged for 1080 tourist class passengers, and she served on the Italy-Caribbean route. She was scrapped in 1966.
Sydney - Roma (1951-70)
Roma (1950-66)
Sydney
and
Roma
were rebuilt from WW2 escort carriers in 1948-51. They carried 800 passengers on the Italy-Australia route.
Roma
was scrapped in 1967, and
Sydney
then took this name and was used on Mediterranean cruising. She was sold in 1968 and broken up in 1975.
Company postcard of
Sydney
and
Roma
.
Company postcard of
Roma
.
Company postcard of
Sydney
and
Roma
.
Company postcard of
Sydney
and
Roma
.
Company postcard of
Sydney
and
Roma
.
Company postcard of
Sydney
and
Roma
.
Farrania postcard of
Roma
.
Angelina Lauro (I) (1964-79)
Angelina Lauro
was completed in 1939 as the
Oranje
, of
Nederland Line
. She left on her maiden voyage to Batavia on September 4th, after a cruise from Amsterdam-Madeira. She remained in Sourabaya following the outbreak of WW2, later transferring to Australia where she was converted to a hospital ship for the Royal Australian Navy, though remaining under the Dutch flag.
Oranje
re-entered Amsterdam-Batavia service in 1946. In 1950 she began a Round-the-World service via Panama, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Suez. In 1964 she was sold to Achille Lauro, who renamed her
Angelina Lauro
. As with fellow Dutch liner
Willem Ruys/Achille Lauro
, conversion was seriously delayed by a fire.
Angelina Lauro
finally re-entered service from Europe to Australia and New Zealand in 1966. In 1972 she became a fulltime cruise ship. In 1978
Angelina Lauro
was chartered to
Costa
. She was destroyed by a galley fire during a Caribbean cruise in March 1979. Whilst being towed to Kaohsiung for scrapping, she began taking on water and then sank in mid-Pacific on September 21st 1979.
A complete history of this ship is available
on this link
.
A Lauro company postcard.
A Lauro company postcard.
In 1978
Angelina Lauro
was chartered to Costa, but was destroyed by fire the following year.
Costa company postcard.
Scan: Dimas Almada
Costa company postcard.
Scan: Dimas Almada
Achille Lauro (1964-87)
The
Willem Ruys
was laid down in January 1939, shortly before the outbreak of WW2. Little work was carried out during the war, often held up by resistance groups.
Willem Ruys
was finally launched in July 1946, and delivered in November 1947, with the maiden voyage Rotterdam-Indonesia starting on December 2nd. This service was operated until December 1957, when political changes caused its cessation.
Willem Ruys
ran a number of transatlantic crossings before being rebuilt for a round-the -world service, which started in 1959. This was not a great success, and she was sold to Achille Lauro in 1964. She was named after her new owner, but did not enter service until April 1966 following an explosion and fire during conversion work. The route was from North Europe (Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Southampton)-Genoa-Sydney-Wellington, which operated until 1972 when
Achille Lauro
became a fulltime cruise ship. Lauro Lines were in financial trouble by the late 1970s, and the
Achille Lauro
was arrested in Tenerife in 1982. She lay there for a year, until the Italian Government arranged to have her brought back to Genoa. After a further year's lay-up, a joint charter arrangement for Mediterranean cruises was made between Lauro and Chandris. Chandris pulled out after the much-publicized hijacking in October 1985 affected passenger numbers. Lauro struggled on until 1987, when it was bought by the Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, who rebranded the company as Starlauro Cruises. This venerable ship served with them until November 1994, when she caught fire on a Genoa-South Africa cruise. The ship was abandoned, and sank two days later.
A complete history page has been added
on this link
.
Lauro Lines official card of
Achille Lauro
Lauro Lines official card of
Achille Lauro
Lauro Lines official card of
Achille Lauro
Lauro Lines official card of
Achille Lauro
Achille Lauro - TFC Charter
The following details on TFC were supplied by Derek Walker:-
TFC was a South African travel agency which basically pioneered the cruising industry in South Africa in the 1980's. The Achille was brought out by them to operate the December to January season for local cruise fans. Usually there were short Durban-Cape Town voyages with a Christmas and a new years cruise to Mauritius. I sailed on her in 26/12/1986 - 03/01/1987 on the New Year cruise and after I returned she did a voyage to Australia which could be where this particular postcard originates from. There were problems with South Africans and visa's on that voyage and I do not recall her going to Australia for a few years afterwards. TFC folded following the sinking of the Oceanos. They had been bought out by another group and the scandal from the Oceanos sunk the company. The last ship they brought out was the Aegean Dolphin in 1992. The previous owners of TFC formed Starlight Cruises and have successfully brought out the Achille, Symphony, Rhapsody and Monterey.
This card of
Achille Lauro
at Sydney has the logo TFC. Note P&O's
Sea Princess
in the background.
Another card of
Achille Lauro
at Sydney, photographed just after the one above. This one is published by Marine Photographic.
This card of
Achille Lauro
at Capetown has the logo TFC.
This Lauro photograph of
Achille Lauro
at Capetown uses the same image as the card above.
Achille Lauro - Croisieres Notre Temps Charter
Croisieres Notre Temps postcard of
Achille Lauro
, published for their 20th anniversary.
Oceanos
Lauro chartered various other ships during the summer in the late 1970s, early 1980s.
This is an official Lauro Lines card of
Epirotiki Lines'
Oceanos
.
This is an official Lauro Lines card of
Epirotiki Lines'
Oceanos
.
Scan: Dimas Almada.
Photographic card of
Epirotiki Lines'
Oceanos