The old picture today is from the Facebook site Durban Down Memory Lane and shows the Edinburgh Castle leaving the port of Durban for the last time, probably in 1975 or 1976..

The vessel was operated by the Union-Castle Line between Britain and South Africa during the mid 20th century. She and her sister ship the RMS Pretoria Castle were built to replace the first SS Edinburgh Castle (1910) and Warwick Castle (1931) which were “lost” during World War 2. 

She was built by Harland and Wolff of Belfast at a cost of £2.5 million. The Edinburgh Castle measured 28 705 tons, and was 747 feet long with a beam of 84 feet. She was powered by steam turbines, which drove twin propellers that gave her a service speed of 22 knots. She had a passenger capacity of 755 – 214 in first class and 541 in tourist class – and a crew of 400.

The ship was launched on October 16, 1947 by Princess Margaret and made her maiden voyage in November.

The Edinburgh Castle was actually the third ship with the name. The first was built in 1873 and scrapped in 1898. The second was built in 1910, was withdrawn from service in 1938 and in August 1939 was requisitioned by the Admiralty to prevent her being scrapped.

From 1940, she was stationed in Sierra Leone, as an accommodation ship for sailors. She was released from service in September 1945, but by then so much growth had accumulated on her hull during her years at Freetown that she could not be economically returned to Britain for refitting. The ship was towed out to sea and sunk by the Royal Navy in a target practice exercise.

The third Edinburgh Castle was refitted twice in the mid 1960s, with modifications to her masts and internally with the addition of air conditioning and added private bathrooms. She was taken out of service in 1976 after oil prices rose sharply in the preceding years, and sailed from Southampton for scrapping in Taiwan in April 1976.

The modern picture is of the MSC Virtuosa leaving Durban harbour in May this year. The Virtuosa is the biggest cruise ship to dock in a South African port and was on a ‘technical stop’ to refuel and stock up as part of her return journey to Europe, after being diverted to avoid risks in the Red Sea.

The ship, which can accommodate over 6 300 passengers and has around 1 700 crew, did not have any passengers on board on its debut in SA waters.

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