Cruising The Past Cruise News Cruise History: Cunard Line’s RMS CARONIA was the cruise ship of millionaires. The Caronia was called the “Green Goddess” – and probably is the most famous cruise ship of all time.
A Cunard Line advertising film, the cruise of the ship Coronia thru the Mediterranean with stops and side trips to many of the major cities with quick shots of interesting sights and maps showing route as the tour progresses.
The Caronia arriving in Long Beach, California, on her 1955 World Cruise.
RMS Caronia was a 34,183 gross register tons (GRT) passenger ship of the Cunard Line (then Cunard White Star Line). Launched on 30 October 1947, she served with Cunard until 1967. She was nicknamed the “Green Goddess” by the people of Liverpool because her livery resembled that of the local trams, also known as “Green Goddesses”.
She is credited as one of the first “dual-purpose” built ships. After leaving Cunard she briefly served as SS Caribia in 1969, after which she was laid up in New York until 1974 when she was sold for scrap. While being towed to Taiwan for scrapping, she was caught in a storm on 12 August. After her tow lines were cut, she repeatedly crashed on the rocky breakwater outside Apra Harbor, Guam subsequently breaking into three.
“The Green Goddess”
At 715 feet in length, “R.M.S. Caronia”– a name long popular in Cunard’s history– was the first and largest ship built in the post-war period with the exclusive purpose of “cruising”.
Her maiden voyage was in 1949 and her profile was distinguished by her clipper-like bow, single mast and impresive funnel as well as her cruiser stern and absence of rigging.
Caronia’s sleek design and air-condiitoning, offered supreme comfort; and as a result she was referred to as the “Millionaire’s ship”.
Rather than the traditional black and white livery of CUNARD, Caronia was painted in a pale green livery of varying shades, earning her the nickname of the “Green Goddess”.
