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HISTORY - ss ARIADNE - HAPAGs first expedition cruise ship?

Was HAPAG´s ss ARIADNE their first expedition cruise ship?
by Alan Dumelow, editing by Earl of Cruise
Hapag cruises, ss Ariadne
ss ARIADNE, HAPAG, ex ss PATRICIA, SWEDISH LLOYD, in a Norwegian Fjord - postcard, own collection
ss Ariadne luggae tag
 ss ARIADNE, luggage tag - courtesy Alan Dumelow
The little ARIADNE is an oddball in my mental list of favourite passenger ships. I never had the fortune to know her first hand but, from a young age, I have always admired this petite girl in her early guise as a cruise ship. Ironically, many many years later, in the late-70’s, the company I then worked for as their Projects & Marketing Manager, were asked to produce operational management costs for the ARIADNE for a proposed cruise-liner service mimicking the British India’s “port out – starboard home” POSH run to India and back via the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition.
promotional postcard of ss Ariadne of Hapag
ss ARIADNE as HAMBURG AMERICA LINE´s cruise ship - from a postcard by Alan Dumelow
Following the early 50’s relaxation of post-war restrictions on German shipping companies expansions, it was surprising that of the three giant liner operators, only Bremen’s NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD* re-entered the trans-Atlantic passenger trade. The once-mighty HAMBURG SÜD AMERIKA LINIE* did not resume passenger liner services to South America and, equally, the powerful HAMBURG AMERIKA LINIE* failed to show any interest in resurrecting their once-dominant trans-Atlantic passenger trade BUT, with amazing fore-sight, believed the future lay in deluxe cruising and, tentatively, dipped their toe in the market by purchasing the 7,710 GRT six-year-old PATRICIA from SVENSKA LLOYD / SWEDISH LLOYD**.
* German Wiki, English is accessable
** only in Swedish
Swedish Lloyd ss Patricia
ss PATRICIA in SWEDISH LLOYD colours - photography from a painting once displayed on board the STENA SAGA - own collection
Built in 1951 by the Swan Hunter Shipyard at Newcastle for SWEDISH LLOYD’s Tilbury – Gothenburg route, the 138.39 meter long PATRICIA was fitted with six Parsons steam engines and was the height of luxury for any “ferry” in service at the time, having first-class, second-class and third-class cabins plus four 8-berth dormitories on D-Deck, in all providing accommodation for 408 passengers. And, being a three-class ship, her superstructure was configured to embrace a plethora of comfortable, wood-panelled public rooms. And so, in winter months, Swedish- Lloyd would deploy PATRICIA on short cruises from New York to Bermuda and the Bahamas, with the occasional longer cruise into the Caribbean.
ss PATRICIA in SWEDISH LLOYD advertisings - courtesy Reuben Goossens, ssmaritime.com
By 1957, SWEDISH LLOYD eventually realised that PATRICIA was too big for the Tilbury – Gothenburg run and sold the little ship to HAMBURG AMERIKA LINIE. Refitted at Blohm&Voss, Hamburg, at a considerable expense, she re-appeared on 1 February 1958, renamed ARIADNE and, re-painted all white with her new owner’s funnel colours, she now offered luxurious accommodation for just 185 cruise passengers. 
For the next two years, the deluxe cruise ship made a wide variety of cruises around the world. These had the character of soft expedition cruises. However, the economical climate for deluxe expensive cruising was not yet ripe and, faced with poor capacities, the owner realised this fact and, in November 1960, sold the ARIADNE to EASTERN SHIPPING CORPORATION of Miami which, at that time, was owned by the McCORMICKSHIPPING GROUP.
ss Ariadne in Hapag colours
ss ARIADNE, HAMBURG AMERICA LINE’s luxury cruise ship "dressed all over" - own collection
After a minor refit that saw her capacity increased to a more commercially viable 239 passengers, and retaining her name, the ARIADNE commenced short cruises from Miami, alternating her destinations between Puerto Rico and the U.S.Virgin Islands or Jamaica and Nassau, and both the ship and cruises became very popular with American passengers.  However, in May 1961, the company was bought from McCORMICK by W.R. Lovett of Jacksonville; at that time the owner of the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain.
ss ARIADNE in EASTERN STEAMSHIP colours - postcard, own collection
 Dick Lovett didn’t change the winning formula or the name ARIADNE but, in the 1961-62 winter months, ran her on 13-day cruises to the West Indies and South America and, in the summer months, alternated her out of Fort Lauderdale to Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas.
ss ARIADNE as Lovett’s EASTERN STEAMSHIP cruise vessel - copy from a broshure, own collection
In 1970, the EASTERN SHIPPING CORPORATION (as it had become renamed) was sold to the GOTASS-LARSEN GROUP, which also part-owned (at the time) ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES. The company’s name was again changed to EASTERN CRUISE LINE, but ARIADNE was by now a popular, well-known brand identity, and her name was retained by the new owner. For the next two years, she maintained her cruise schedules out of Miami, but expanded her itineraries to include Jacksonville, Charleston, San Juan and Charlotte Amalie.
By April 1972, the continued success of EASTERN CRUISE LINE´s prompted GOTASS-LARSEN to search for additional, larger, second-hand cruise tonnage and, in a deal with CHANDRIS, purchased that company’s ATLANTIS, renamed EMERALD SEAS, selling ARIADNE to the Greek in part-payment for the much larger ship.
On completion of the deal, however, CHANDRIS chartered ARIADNE back to EASTERN CRUISE LINE’s sister company BAHAMAS CRUISE LINE for eighteen months, but under her new name FREEPORT II, for cruises from Miami to the Bahamas and back.
ss Bon Vivant of Chandris
ss PATRICIA´s, ARIADNE´s new appearance as BON VIVANT after the major refit in 1973 - own collection
The FREEPORT II was delivered back to CHANDRIS at the end of her charter in December 1973, and was dispatched to Piraeus for a major refit. In April 1974, she emerged from the Greek shipyard virtually unrecognisable. Gone were both her forward and aft masts; in their place, a modern radar mast atop the bridge. Her classic funnel had been replaced with a modern tapered stack with a rounded top, and the gap between her Main Deck superstructure and aft deck housing was fully enclosed to shield the newly installed swimming pool. Renamed BON VIVANT, the ship was immediately re-chartered to BAHAMAS CRUISE LINE; GOTASS-LARSEN, at the time, experiencing operating problems with the big EMERALD SEAS.
Chandris Cruises Adriatic cruise vessel Bon Vivant
ss BON VIVANT in CHANDRIS colours during her Adriatic cruise days - copy from a CHANDRIS CRUISES broshure, own collection
Handed back to CHANDRIS in 1974, BON VIVANT replaced the older, smaller FIESTA on 11-day and 12-day cruises out of Venice along the Dalmatian coast to Corfu and Corinth, but spent the short winter months laid-up in Piraeus. She completed three successful years on this schedule but, in 1977, was chartered out to Dubai and, on 8 January, arrived at Abu Dhabi for use as a floatel, conference and social centre, but primarily as an accommodation ship for expatriate building workers. The charter lasted one year and, upon return to Piraeus, BON VIVANT was refurbished, renamed ARIANE and, in Spring 1978, she began short cruises from her home port to the Greek islands.
ss BON VIVANT in CHANDRIS colours aa a Floatel in Dubai - courtesy Alan Dumelow
By 1979, ARIANE was beginning to show her age and become commercially unviable. Chandris, in the meantime, were adding newer and larger ships to their fleets; the end result of which meant that the ARIANE was laid up cold at Piraeus until, in 1989, she was sold to the Cypriot-based NIOS MARCH CORPORATION and renamed EMPRESS KATERINA. 
ss BON VIVANT in lay up in Eleusis Bay - photo by Antonio Scimali, courtesy from Rich Turnwald collection
 In the "living grave" of Eleusis Bay, ss ARIANE amoung other laid up vessels, ss ELLINIS, ss REGINA PRIMA and ss NOGA, ex AUSTRALIS, ex AMERICA - courtesy Reuben Goossens, ssmaritime.com
ss EMPRESS KATERINA, es ARIANE, ex BON VIVANT, ex FREEPORT II, ex ARIADNE, ex PATRICIA, anchored in Singapore - courtesy Alan Dumelow
A year and a half after the sale, on 23 March 1991, she departed Piraeus and sailed via the Suez Canal and Singapore to Ho Chi Min City, where she suffered the penultimate indignity of becoming an army barracks ship for the Peoples Republic of Vietnam for six years before being acquired by FORTUNE REGAL MARITIME in 1995, and re-located to Subic Bay in the Philippines for further service as a barracks ship.
In 1997 the final bell tolled for this once beautiful little passenger ship. Bought by the St.Vincent-based THAFIL SHIPPING & TRADING COMPANY and renamed EMPRESS 65. On December 18th, 1997 she arrived at the Aalang beaches to be broken up; the final indignity for a proud old lady.
ss ARIADNE bow-to-bow with EUROPA of NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD - courtsey by CardCow.com

3D type deck plans of ss PATRICIA and a more common deck plan, clearly visiable the three classes of ss PATRICIA
above and down courtesy Reuben Goossens, ssmaritime.com

Comments

  1. I sailed on The Ariadne '59 _ '60 from New York to Cherbourg with my mother to visit her family in France. We crossed the Atlantic via ocean liner many times but our voyage on the Ariadne became our most memorable.
    Played ping pong with the crew on her small deck. I recall there was even a swimming pool ( salt water). Otherwise a simple vessel remembered more fondly than others such as the giants of their time like the Bremen,Untied States and Liberty. Thanks for posting its history. Robert J. Lees, Westfield, Massachusetts U.S.A.

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