TAHITIEN

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TAHITIEN

Post by shipstamps » Fri Dec 12, 2008 9:51 pm


Built under yard No ME2 by the Dir Desconst & Armes Navales, Brest, France for Cie des Messageries Maritimes, Marseille.
04 October 1952, launched under the name TAHITIEN, one sister the CALÉDONIEN.
Tonnage 12.614 gross, 7.304 net, 8.402dwt. Dim. 549.0 x 67.7 x 25.9ft. (draught).
Powered by two 10-cyl 2SA B&W diesel engines manufactured by Forg. & At. Du Creuso, Le-Creusot, 10.300 hp, twin screws, speed 17 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 71 first, 84 tourists and 208 third and steerage passengers.
She did have six cargo holds when built.

She was built for the Messageries Maritimes, South Pacific colonial regular six-weekly service.
04 May 1953, made her maiden voyage from Marseilles via Algiers Madeira, Pointe-a-Pitre, Fort de France, Curaçao, Cristobal, the Panama Canal, Papeete, Fort Vila, Noumea to Sydney.
02 May 1969 fire in the engineroom, she was towed by the cargo vessel MARQUISIEN to Bilbao.
When in the early 1970s modern cargo liners, and air traffic took over the trade, she and her sister were put on the sale list.
1972 Sold to Aphrodite Cruises Ltd., Famagusta, Cyprus renamed ATALANTE.
Rebuilt in a 659-passenger cruise ship sometimes used as a ferry, for service in the Mediterranean. Most of her loading gear and mast were removed, while extra cabins and 180-car garage were added. Managed by Mediterranean Sun Lines.
1976 Registered at Limassol, Cyprus, after a refit, and in 1977 at Piraeus, Greece.
1978 Again refitted and modernized, passenger accommodation then given as 549.
1991 Chartered by Epirotiki after the loss of there cruise ship OCEANOS., she was renamed HOMERICUS, but already in the end of 1991 she returned to her owners, and renamed again ATALANTE.
1993 Sold to Med Queen Lines, Limassol, Creece.

01 November 2004 sailed for her last cruise.
November 2004 sold to shipbreakers in India.
Sunday 14 November 2004 sailed from Limassol for Alang, India to be broken up. Passed Suez Canal 16 November, beached at Alang 11 December.
February 2005 demolition in progress.

French Polynesia 1978 75f sg 286, scott 309.

Source : North Star to Southern Cross by John M Maber. Great Passenger Ships of the World Vol. 6 by Kludas. Some websites. http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/tahitien_1953.htm

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