From the Crow's Nest
Regrettably, as a member of Caronia's camera club on the 1966 Great World Cruise, there was much more of an emphasis on taking photographs ashore, rather than of the “Green Goddess” itself. Even though there was an underlying fear that “this life couldn't go on for ever” it was very rarely expressed.
This attitude perhaps needs some explaining. Up to that time, certainly up to the late 1950s, everything was made or built to last. The idea of making things with planned obsolescence was completely alien to us. For example, bringing aboard chairs with plastic seats that would probably be thrown away within a few years didn't fit the mould. It was widely viewed as an atrocity!
With this mindset, the importance of recording the ship's details then and there didn't occur to us. There was always tomorrow. Perhaps the only mitigation being that I don't think anyone could have foreseen the speed with which the end did come. Of course, all these years later, I definitely rue all those missed opportunities.
This was brought home to me when I received this photograph from Robin Almond, of the view aft from the Caronia's Crow's Nest. It was taken in the Pacific the day before arriving in Honolulu on 21 April 1960.
Caronia's funnel and general view aft from the Crow's Nest
[Photo: © 1960 Robin Almond]
The camera club's darkroom was situated on the starboard side of the Sports Deck, near the base of the funnel. It's deckhead can just be glimpsed at the bottom between the lifeboat and funnel base.
As can be seen, it wasn't so far from the base of the Crow's Nest. With all my regrets, you can probably also imagine my absolute delight in receiving this photograph.
An Important Detail
Elsewhere I have discussed the Caronia's open deck cladding being of larch rather than teak. What this photograph shows is that the gunwale and cross-seating of the open lifeboats, aft of the covered launches, is all made from teak. The colour contrast is clear.
We can only presume that it was its purpose in lifeboat construction that teak was able to be used here. Quite apart from its weather-hardiness, resistance to splintering would also be a key factor.
Use restrictions and rationing dramatically drove up purchase costs. By comparison, in the latter stages of a build already well over-budget, lining of a ship's decks was probably viewed as being purely decorative. European Larch became the perfect alternative.
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