A Proud Old Lady Visits

Dateline: September 20, 1998

Tampa is working very hard to become a significant cruise port. Perhaps you have shipped out of here on Holland America's Noordam or the current major cruiser, Carnival’s Celebration or Tropicale. We have three or four ships making stops in the western Caribbean during the winter tourist season, and even had a Russian cruise ship, Gruziya, a few years ago.

One ship currently in port is a grand old ship, named S. S. Britanis. brit2 This is a current photograph. She dates from 1931, christened S. S. Monterey when launched in Quincy, Massachusetts. She is a ship that resembles the grand old dames of cruising — has lines similar to Titanic, with her nearly vertical bow, two stacks and old teak decks and railings, lovingly polished brass windows and portholes. Notice the name, prefaced by "S. S." She still cruised with steam power even when she entered Tampa’s port some months ago.

My wife and I first cruised on Britanis about five years ago, when her port was in Miami. brit3 She was still there when we booked a wonderful Christmas holiday cruise. We shot this photograph in Cozumel, Mexico on that cruise. We strolled the decks that we knew pretty well by then, confident of every nook and cranny and marveling all over again about her elegant sheen, the look of the 1970's decor reflecting a campy elegance of many years of loving care.

One of the activities for that cruise was a party for those who had sailed before on Britanis. We were happy to announce to everyone that we were SECOND TIME cruisers. Imagine our chagrin, when the winner was a couple who had cruised every year on Britanis since 1954, when she was called S. S. Matsonia and cruised the south Pacific.

We were hoping to book a third cruise, when she came to Tampa in 1995, no longer the proud oldest active cruising vessel, but destined for sale — or worse, for the scrap heap.

She’s in the port of Tampa now at berth 206. Some suggestions have been made to turn her into a floating hotel. It probably won’t happen. More likely, she will be towed to that little stretch of land in the Indian Ocean and stripped of every item of value before being cut apart and sold for scrap.

Perhaps that era of cruising is done — history, part of the past that will never come again. Some people hold on to the past like it was a touchstone that they can’t discard. I believe that those who say “the good old days were better” don’t really have a handle on reality.

Sure, much of the old days were good, but consider the alternatives. We didn’t have the internet, Mining Co.; we didn’t have blazing fast computers, cell phones, pagers, air conditioned homes and cars, and so on. Perhaps we are the ones who are the lesser because of this fast pace of life that we endure, as a result of all of the conveniences.

That’s where I see the value of a ship like Britanis. She exuded elegance, and imparted a lessening of our fast pace. When aboard, one felt that there was no hurry to move from deck to deck. Simply enjoy the pace of life at sea and let your cares fall away. Gaze at the brass work, the worn teak decks and the shiny, varnished railings. Compare this to the glitzy floating palaces that fuel the cruise industry today. They’re efficient and neat, but offer little in a change of pace from our hectic life. Instead, they reflect it.

It’s hard to say good bye to a lovely lady like this. Doesn’t somebody recognize the value of nostalgia cruises for a ship of this class?

Another story concerning ships in Tampa is about the USS Forrestal.

A sad footnote:
After this was published in 1998, the ship was indeed towed to that part of the world where old ships like Britanis go to be ripped apart for scrap iron. This happened in 1999.
Please note that the following links may or may not be active and that these links will take you to another browser window. These were verified in February 2010.
Your can see photos here.

Additional commentary courtesy of MARITIME MATTERS Ocean liner history and cruise ship news (from their website:)

BRITANIS sinking off Cape Town
October 20, 2000: BRITANIS under tow of IRBIS is approaching Cape Town having departed Salvador, Brazil for the trans ocean tow to the scrap beaches of India or Pakistan. However, a leak in her aft section that caused a delay at Forteleza remains and repairs were planned in CAPE TOWN. The problem has in the last hours become critical and BRITANIS has developed a list which has now increased to 30 degrees. Portholes are under water and the possibility that she will shortly founder is great. Currently BRITANIS is about 70 miles north west of Cape Town. It appears that repairs are now considered too costly and the focus of activity will be to let her sink in shallow water as an artificial reef in St Helena Bay or Saldanha Bay.
BRITANIS sinks
October 21, 2000: BRITANIS sank at 19:04 Cape Town time (17:04GMT) 50 miles west of Cape Town. South African maritime authorities ordered the tug Irbis to keep BRITANIS 50 nautical miles off the coast as they feared oil pollution should she have sank in coastal waters. There was no power on board Britanis and although the idea of landing generators and pumps onboard was discussed, it was felt that the ship was taking water too fast and could not be saved.

More from Maritime Matters, is this history of Britanis. Several photos throughout her life are shown, concluding with the wreckage of one of her lifeboats on the beach in Namibia, Africa.

Another very informative and poignant story is by Reuben Goossens . This includes a photo of Britanis sinking, provided by South African Media.

A five-minute video about Britanis is this from WTVT Fox 13, Tampa, broadcast before she was towed away from berth 206 in 2000.

Other features: Home Cigar City Spanish-American War Dog Days Small Parks Forrestal

Bailey has considerable historical knowledge of Tampa and is available for walking tours, guided tours via automobile, etc.
Please contact him for more information .