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This page is one of a series devoted to postcards and
photographs of the ocean liners and cruise ships in the Union-Castle Line. This
page shows images of the 1938 liner Capetown Castle
Capetown Castle was
built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast (yard no.986), who also built her
Burmeister & Wain designed 10-cyl diesel engines totalling 24000bhp.
Subsequent passenger ships for the mail service reverted to steam
turbine power. She was launched on 23rd September 1937 and was delivered
in April 1938. Her first arrival at Cape Town was on 13th May 1938
on the mail service. She was requisitioned in 1940 and carried 164,000
troops and passengers before release in July 1946. After refit
Capetown Castle returned to the mail service in January 1947, now
accommodating 244 first and 553 cabin (later renamed tourist) class
passengers. In October 1960 she suffered an engine room explosion off
Las Palmas which killed seven. In 1965 an accelerated eleven and a half
day mail service was introduced, for which Capetown Castle was
too slow. She was replaced, along with Athlone Castle and
Stirling Castle, by the new Southampton Castle and
Good Hope Castle. Capetown Castle was used as a one-class
ship carrying 776 passengers on an intermediate service taking fifteen
days. In September 1966 she made two cruises to Palma but then returned
to the mail service briefly because of delays to the delivery of
Good Hope Castle. The last departure of Capetown Castle
from Cape Town was on 23rd August 1967 and she departed Southampton for
breaking up at La Spezia on September 26th.
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All images link to larger
copies which will open in a new window/tab
Capetown Castle was
built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast (yard no.986), who also built her
Burmeister & Wain designed 10-cyl diesel engines totalling 24000bhp.
Subsequent passenger ships for the mail service reverted to steam
turbine power. She was launched on 23rd September 1937 and was delivered
in April 1938. Her first arrival at Cape Town was on 13th May 1938
on the mail service. She was requisitioned in 1940 and carried 164,000
troops and passengers before release in July 1946. After refit
Capetown Castle returned to the mail service in January 1947, now
accommodating 244 first and 553 cabin (later renamed tourist) class
passengers. In October 1960 she suffered an engine room explosion off
Las Palmas which killed seven. In 1965 an accelerated eleven and a half
day mail service was introduced, for which Capetown Castle was
too slow. She was replaced, along with Athlone Castle and
Stirling Castle, by the new Southampton Castle and
Good Hope Castle. Capetown Castle was used as a one-class
ship carrying 776 passengers on an intermediate service taking fifteen
days. In September 1966 she made two cruises to Palma but then returned
to the mail service briefly because of delays to the delivery of
Good Hope Castle. The last departure of Capetown Castle
from Cape Town was on 23rd August 1967 and she departed Southampton for
breaking up at La Spezia on September 26th.
Capetown Castle was a slightly larger version of Stirling
Castle and Athlone Castle and could easily be identified by not having
the open first class promenade on D Deck which featured on the earlier
ships. Post WW2 images of Capetown Castle can be identified by
the white masts.
Capetown Castle Official Postcards
As usual, a wide range of the under-sized and some
standard-sized sepia postcards were issued of Capetown Castle. None
are particularly attractive cards, nor are they printed to high quality.
Pre-WW2 condition Capetown
Castle
under-sized official postcard with brown masts
Pre-WW2 Capetown Castle
under-sized official postcard
Pre-WW2 Capetown Castle
under-sized official postcard
Pre-WW2 Capetown Castle
official postcard
Standard-sized version of the image above, with
different text
Pre-WW2 Capetown Castle
under-sized official postcard, although not posted until 1952
Pre-WW2 real photo card of Capetown
Castle
- published by O.T.C. but posted at sea in 1948
Post-WW2 Capetown Castle
under-sized official postcard with white masts
Capetown Castle Commercial Postcards
Marvellous Terence J.McNally
postcard ref.236 of Capetown Castle
at Cape Town
One of my favourite liner cards of all time
Harvey Barton postcard ref.E1R
of Capetown Castle
at Southampton with a Seaspeed hovercraft
O.T.C. postcard of Capetown
Castle
- probably sold on board
Dearden & Wade postcard ref.674
of Capetown Castle
O.W.Hoffman postcard
of Capetown Castle
Photo-Precision postcard 2893
of Capetown Castle
Photochrom postcard
of Capetown Castle
Uses the same image as the card above
Harold Jordan postcard U.2
of Capetown Castle
Uses the same image as the card above
A selection of Union-Castle items from a trip taken
on
Capetown Castle from Southampton in
June 1951. My thanks to Lorna J.Clarke for making this material available to
me.
Capetown Castle
radio telegram
Capetown Castle
radio telegram envelope
Capetown Castle
writing paper
Capetown Castle
envelope
