MS Ellinis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Launched: | 1932 |
| Maiden Voyage: | 27 December 1932 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in Taiwan in 1997. |
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| Tonnage: | 24,251 gross tons |
| Beam: | (Unavailable) |
| Height: | (Unavailable) |
| Max Speed: | 20 knots |
| Cost: | (Unavailable) |
The Ellinis was one of the most important ships on Australian and New Zealand services. From the 1930s to the 1960s she served as a luxury cruise ship and as a troopship. From the 1960s to the 1980s she became famous as a migrant and cruise ship.
[edit] Lurline of the Matson Line
In 1932, the last of a trio of smart liners built for the Matson Lines’ Pacific services was launched, as the Lurline. On 27 December 1932, the Lurline left San Francisco on her maiden voyage, bound for Sydney and the Pacific, and she returned to the USA on 24 April. She then served on the express San Francisco to Honolulu service with her older sister, the Malolo.
Lurline was half way between Honolulu and San Francisco on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. She made her destination safely, travelling at maximum speed, and soon returned to Hawaii with her Matson sisters Mariposa and Monterey in a convoy laden with troops and supplies.
She spent the war providing similar services, often voyaging to Australia, and once transported Australian Prime Minister John Curtin to America to confer with President Roosevelt.
Lurline was returned to Matson Lines in mid 1946 and extensively refitted at Alameda in 1947 at the then huge cost of $US 20 million. She resumed her San Francisco to Honolulu service from 15 April 1948 and regained her pre-war status as the Pacific Ocean’s top liner.
Her high occupancy rates during the early 1950s caused Matson to also refit her sister ship Monterey (and rename her Matsonia) and the two liners provided a first class only service between Hawaii and the American mainland from June 1957 to September 1962, mixed with the occasional Pacific cruise. Serious competition from jet airliners caused passenger loads to fall in the early 1960s and Matsonia was laid up in late 1962.
Only a few months later, the Lurline arrived in Los Angeles with serious engine trouble in her port turbine and was laid up with the required repairs considered too expensive. Matson instead brought the Matsonia out of retirement and, characteristically, changed her name to Lurline. The original Lurline was sold to Chandris Lines in 1963.
[edit] Ellinis of the Chandris Line
The Lurline was bought by Chandris Lines in September 1963 to replace the Brittany, wrecked by fire, earlier in the year. The Lurline had her engines repaired in USA and was then refitted in North Shields, with increased accommodation for 1668 passengers in one class.
She looked very smart in her new Chandris livery and modernised superstructure with new funnels and embarked on her maiden voyage from Piraeus to Sydney on 30 December 1963. Her homeward voyages were alternately routed via the Panama Canal to Southampton from 1964 and the ship also took occasional cruises.
In April 74, cruising to Japan, Ellinis developed major problems in one engine. Fortunately Chandris were able to buy a surplus engine from her former Matson sister Mariposa (Homeric) who was being broken up in Taiwan at the time.
Ellinis provided mainly cruise services from 1975 and, in October 1980, Ellinis was finally laid up after providing passenger services for nearly fifty years. Despite various rumours concerning plans for the ship, she was finally sold in 1986 and scrapped in Taiwan in 1987.
