Glasgow And Ships Of The Clyde

Cunard liner QUEEN MARY leaves Southampton for New York

   The Cunard 20,175-gross ton passenger liner FRANCONIA arrived in Southampton today, having turned back when off the south of Ireland after experiencing turbine engine problems.

   The ship had left Southampton and Le Havre on Thursday 29 March with 669 passengers bound for Halifax (Nova Scotia) and New York.

   Another Cunard ship, the cargo/passenger liner ASIA, which was on passage from New York to U.K. stood by FRANCONIA and accompanied her on her way back to Southampton.

   A Cunard spokesman said that “the trouble arose from a failure of the oil supply to the bearings in the turbine which powers the port propeller.   At sea the ship’s engineers made some progress towards a temporary repair and the propeller began to turn again but a thorough overhaul of the port turbine will be necessary.”

   The spokesman also said that all passengers would be found alternative transport as quickly as possible.   Urgent travellers would be flown and others would go in the QUEEN MARY, which leaves next Thursday, or in the liner SAXONIA which leaves Liverpool for Canadian Ports on 10 April.   All of the 79 passengers who embarked at Le Havre would be accommodated in British Hotels.

   FRANCONIA was built by John Brown & Company at Clydebank and completed in May 1923.   She is 601 feet long and 74 feet breadth, has a capacity for 1,700 passengers and is powered by two sets of geared steam turbine engines which drive twin propellers giving a service speed of 16 ½ knots.

   During the Second World War she was requisitioned by the British Government and refitted as a Troopship, and she saw much active service including Allied landings in Madagascar, North Africa, Italy and the Azores and repatriated British Troops, including freed Prisoners of War from India.