SS ASTURIAS PASSENGER SHIP

She was sold for breaking up in September 1957. Interestingly, before being broken up, she was lent by the breaker, Thomas W. Ward, to the Rank Organisation for use in the film "A Night to Remember".

Asturias

' port side was used to depict Titanic in the lifeboat-lowering scenes of the film even as the shipbreakers were at work on the starboard side. Once filming was completed, demolition was as well.

[Sources: Haws' Merchant Fleets; Mallett and Bell's The Pirrie-Kylsant Motorships]

The ship's tonnage (taken from a passenger list) was 12,927 tonnes (net) and 22,444 (gross). She carried up to 1300 passengers in First, Second and Third Class. Click here for more information about the ship.

¹Source: Ten Pound Poms - Australia's Invisible Migrants by A James Hammerton and Alistair Thomson.



Looking for Friends	Other References	Passenger Lists	Passenger Stories	Gallery	About this Site
Home Page \| Site Contents \| Contact Us

Welcome This site has been created to provide a central place to gather information about the SS Asturias II and may be of particular interest to those passengers who came to Australia aboard her in the 1940s and 1950s when the ship saw service as a ‘migrant ship’. All genuine material for publication on the site that may be of interest to others is welcome including photographs, memorabilia and passenger lists. Amendments are also welcome! Please submit your articles for publication by email and indicate whether you wish to be acknowledged as the source of the material. Also include your contact details in case verification is required. HMS Asturias II, the second Royal Mail Line ship of that name, was built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast and launched in 1925. Registered to Royal Mail Meat Transports, Ltd. (a Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. subsidiary), she made her maiden voyage from Southampton to La Plata (River Plate), Argentina, on 26 February 1926. In 1932, Asturias was re-registered to Royal Mail Lines, Ltd., together with the rest of the Meat Transports fleet. Originally fitted with diesel engines, Asturias was refitted in 1934 with turbine engines, and made her first voyage as a steamer in September of that year. After being taken over as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939, her forward funnel was removed, leaving her with only a single stack. While serving in the South Atlantic in 1943, she was torpedoed and badly damaged by an Italian submarine, and was towed to Freetown, where she was abandoned as a total loss. The British government took her over in 1945 and had her towed first to Gibraltar, and then to Belfast, for repairs. She served as a migrant ship from 1946 to 1952 and then as a troop carrier from 1952 to 1956.			She was sold for breaking up in September 1957. Interestingly, before being broken up, she was lent by the breaker, Thomas W. Ward, to the Rank Organisation for use in the film "A Night to Remember". Asturias' port side was used to depict Titanic in the lifeboat-lowering scenes of the film even as the shipbreakers were at work on the starboard side. Once filming was completed, demolition was as well. [Sources: Haws' Merchant Fleets; Mallett and Bell's The Pirrie-Kylsant Motorships] The ship's tonnage (taken from a passenger list) was 12,927 tonnes (net) and 22,444 (gross). She carried up to 1300 passengers in First, Second and Third Class. Click here for more information about the ship. The Journey More than one and a half million Britons left for Australia in the quarter century following the Second World War. Most of the migrants came under an assisted passage scheme through which adults travelled to Australia for just £10 whilst children travelled free¹. The trip from the UK to Australia when SS Asturias served as a 'migrant ship' took approximately 5-6 weeks. The route from Southampton varied, with some voyages via the Suez Canal, Aden and Colombo and others via Karachi and Bombay to Fremantle, Western Australia. Depending on the route, the vessel stopped at Port Said, Malta, Cape Town, Karachi and Bombay (now Mumbai) or Colombo, often picking up passengers. Many passengers disembarked at Fremantle to begin their new life in Australia, whilst others were then taken to eastern ports, including Melbourne and Sydney. ¹Source: Ten Pound Poms - Australia's Invisible Migrants by A James Hammerton and Alistair Thomson. , Troop Ship This site is devoted to the ship's service as a passenger vessel. However there are some great websites that refer to her service as a troop carrier. Some links are provided herewith: www.servicepals.com and the website of the Australian War Memorial. Details of voyages, including her service as a troop carrier, and ship repairs can be found here.
.