AUREOL passenger ship 1951.

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard No. 629 by Alex Stephen & Sons, Glasgow for the Elder Dempster Lines Ltd., Liverpool.
17 November 1949 keel laid down.
28 March 1951 launched under the name AUREOL, named after the mountain behind Freetown in Sierra Leone.
Tonnage 14.083 grt., 7.718 net, 6.827 dwt., dim. 163.68 x 21.38 x 9.8m. (draught), length bpp. 153m.
Powered by two 4-cyl. Doxford 2S SA oil engines manufactured by builders, 10.800 bhp., twin screws, speed 16 knots.
Passenger accommodation 253 first class, 100 cabin class passengers, crew 145.
12 October 1951 delivered.

Special built for the service between Liverpool and west coast Africa, she was the largest passenger ship built for the Elder Dempster Line.
03 November she left Liverpool for her maiden voyage to Lagos, a roundtrip took around one month.
01 May 1954 she officially inaugurated the Queen Elizabeth II Quay at Freetown.
24 August 1964 she was the first mail liner to berth at Takoradi Passenger Terminal.
1968 Converted in a one class passenger ship with 451 berths.
16 March 1972 made the last passenger sailing out of Liverpool, thereafter she sailed from Southampton.
26 April 1972 made her first sailing from Southampton, and 10 voyages were planned yearly’s from this port.
During the 1970s air travel took over, and passenger trade by ship became uneconomical.
21 October 1974 laid up at Southampton, after 230 round trips.

15 November 1974 sold to Marianna Shipping & Trading Co. Panama (Latsis family, Greece).
January 1975 renamed in MARIANNA VI.
March 1975 arrived at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for use as an office and leisure centre for Petrola Int. S.A. Construction Company.
February1979 replaced by MARGARITA L ex WINDSOR CASTLE.
She was towed to Piraeus for a refit and overhaul.
1980 Towed to Rabegh, 125 miles north of Jeddah as an accommodation ship.
1985 Operated and managed by Biliander Marine Corp. S.A. Piraeus.
01 July 1990 Laid up Eleusis Bay, Greece, till she was sold for scrap in 2001to Indian breakers.
05 June 2001 arrived at Alang, for breaking up.

Liberia 1974 2c sg1187, scott663.
Sierra Leone 1980 50c sg642

Source: Marine News Elder Dempster Lines by Duncan Haws. .

[Arturo]

Aureol

Sierra Leone, 1988, S.G.?, Scott; 985.