Skaugen Line ~ M/S Skaubryn - 1951
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With Reuben
Goossens
Maritime Historian, Cruise‘n’Ship
Reviewer, Author & Maritime Lecturer
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has been in the passenger shipping industry since 1960, although is now retired
but having completed around 690 Classic Liners and Cargo-Passengers Ships features I trust these will
continue to provide classic ship enthusiasts the information the are seeking, but above all a
great deal of pleasure!
MS
Skaubryn the cargo ship that became a very popular, but eventually an ill-fated
passenger liner
Photograph from the
author’s private collection
Ship owner, Mr. Isak Skaugen, intended the Skaubryn
to be a shelter deck cargo ship for one of his companies, Eikland
Co. She was built by Oresundsvarvet A/B, Landskrona
Unknown to most, MS
Skaubryn also had eight twin bedded cabins accommodating 16 First Class
passengers located up on Bridge Deck. The privileged few could enjoy a
delightful lounge and bar, and an intimate dinning room.
First
Class Lounge and Bar
Of the tourist class
accommodations, 50% of the cabins were two to eight berth cabins, the balance
were dormitories, with varies numbers of berths in each.
Tourist class offered
several tourist class lounges, a cinema, two dinning rooms as well as a
separate dining room for children and a large play room. She had a remarkably
large hospital with room for over 70 patients. There was ample deck space for
both sport activities and sunbathing and an open air swimming pool. Compared to
many other migrant ships of her day, she was well fitted out and she was mostly
well liked by her passengers.
Above and below: The Aft Tourist Class Lounge and Bar
Forward
Tourist class Lounge and Bar
Skaubryn
arrives in Fremantle
Photograph © West
She departed Nordenham near
Interestingly the
Skaubryn departed Melbourne without any passengers as she had a special charter
arranged and thus she headed north bound for Indonesia where she was to be
loaded with Dutch ex patriot’s and Indonesian citizens’ who desired
to leave the country as it had become such a troublesome place, and go and live
in the Netherlands. Skaubryn departed Tandjoeng Priok
(a port just north of the city of
From
Although the
Menu
cover
Her main service now being from European ports to
In 1956 the Dutch Government used her for a single voyage from
The Greek Line chartered her in 1957 for four round trips from Europe
and the
Skaubryn at anchor in Valletta Malta
Photographer unknown
- *See Photo notes at bottom of page
Due to her rather short lifespan the Skaubryn never became one of the
better known passenger ships that sailed to
However, I never cease to be amazed the amount of email I receive
regarding this, what would appear to be such a little known ship in general,
however her past passengers really love this ship and her crew. I thank all
those who have written, be they actual passengers or family members and I
appreciate your input! Below are just a few personal stories and then of course
was the voyage that ended it all when she caught fire in 1958. This story is
well covered by using the links on the index below.
MS
Skaubryn arrives in
Photographer unknown
- *See Photo notes at bottom of page
Skaubryn
ready to depart Fremantle - A fine view of her stern
Photograph © West
Specifications
Length: 458ft
– 139.6m
Width: 57ft – 17.3.
Engine: Gotaverken Diesel.
Screw: Single
Speed: 16
knots
Passengers: 16
First Class
Passengers: 1,205
Tourist Class (mostly migrants)
A postcard written aboard Skaubryn on July 21, 1953 and
sent when in
Name
and addresses on this card have been removed
I have just spent over an hour on this site reading some of the SS
Skaubryn history in which I had some personal involvement. Although I was not
on the ill-fated 1958 voyage, I still feel I am one of those who feel some
pride in the fact that this liner took me to
My experience is that this ship was a rather fast going liner and had
no problem dealing with mountainous seas whilst in the
I do have a special recollection of a couple of Scandinavian ladies, a
mother and her daughter Eva Sivertsen. It was so nice
of them to want me to join them and keeping company together at mealtimes and
during most of the journey to
Skaubryn
seen at Nordenham near
Photograph from the
author’s private collection
Apart from Mr Farruia’s story above, there are many other stories
from past passengers of the SS Skaubryn
and these are all on other pages with links as seen below. Mr.
Kjeld Andersen who was a passenger on the Skaubryn
from December 1957 to January 1958 provided the delightful interior postcards
as well as a menu cover.
Another passenger, Mr. Harold Woering and his
family arrived in the
Page three covers the events of this fine ship when she caught fire in
1958. A passenger on that voyage provided me two graphic photographs of her
ablaze. And then there is the 1957 Lerche’s
Family story on page 5.
Page 2 … The Woering family at sea
Page 4
… Ingeburg Dammasch (she later married in
Page 5 … The Lerche Family
sails for
I watched them come, I watched them go and I watched them die.”
****************************
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Photographs on ssmaritime and associate pages are either by the author or from the author’s
private collection. In addition there are some images and photographs that have
been provided by Shipping Companies or private photographers or collectors.
Credit is given to all contributors, however, there are some photographs
provided to me without details regarding the photographer or owner concerned.
Therefore, I hereby invite if owners of these images would be so kind to make
them-selves known to me (my email address can be found at the bottom of the
page on www.ssmaritime.com), in order
that due credit may be given.
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