I should like to thank all of the eBay sellers who, over the past 3 or 4 years, have made much information available upon which the basis of the Timeline stands. Many of these items could have been lost forever so, I express my appreciation for their time and patience.

2004 Entries

18 Jan 2004
I'm hugely indebted to Rich Rabbett from Boston who has made a number of images and other sailing information available. These have been added and accredited to the Rich Rabbett Collection.

Download free Caronia wallpaper.

06 Feb 2004
I'm almost completely overwhelmed with the feedback that I'm getting for the Timeline. The picture near the bottom of this page is a case in point. This is a scan of a painting by Stephen Card, sent to me by Stephen. This depicts Caronia sailing through Cook Strait on her 1st World Cruise in 1951. The picture is Copyright © Stephen Card - QM2 Collection. The original is on display aboard RMS Queen Mary 2.

07 February 2004
The first set of Caronia sailing information has been received from Michael Kenyon in Australia. This has helped me to build the pages where I previously had major gaps. In fact, I'm hoping that within the next few days there won't be any year without some information added. This takes me very much further than I had anticipated by this stage. Many thanks Michael!

13 February 2004
I've also had John McFarlane, a former Cunard employee of 40 years in New York, get in touch. The first of hopefully several of his photographs appears on the August 1953 page. John was the webmaster of the Port of New York branch of The World Ship Society .

14 March 2004
Ken Mugridge from Canada, a former Caronia Radio Officer has supplied some useful information to help fill in the early 1960s gaps. For the benefit of those into radio call-signs, Caronia was - GYKS.

29 March 2004
Some really interesting pictures have come to me from Alex Bulloch who was 3rd Baker on the Caronia in the 1957 - 1958 period. The first of these appear in the page devoted to “The Plonkies”, a football and cricket team formed from the various parts of the galley and the “glory hole” stewards. More pictures from Alex now appear in the Crew Profiles Pages. Another is in the special feature on the Yokohama Accident in 1958.

15 April 2004
Ave (Stretch) Quin, former Glory-Hole Steward has submitted several of his own pictures, some of which can be seen in the Crew Profiles pages, others appear in the Yokohama Accident feature. Special thanks to Alex and Ave for their first-hand feedback on this rather scary event!

29 April 2004
Jonathan Allen has supplied an early baggage label image and also confirmed an October 1949 arrival date in New York which has helped me to map out at least three transatlantic crossings. This kind of feedback is so useful - thanks!

01 May 2004
Peter Jelley, a former crew member who joined Caronia right at the start of her career, has been furnishing snippets of information over several weeks. The first of these appears on the February 1953 page. There's more to add, and Peter's recollections make fascinating reading.

14 May 2004
Following an eBay purchase Reiner Pachauer has provided brochure details of the 1960 January W.Indies cruise and 1961 North Cape cruise. Also added was the 1955 North Cape Cruise brochure lent to me by Peter Roach, another former crew member in the early days. My grateful thanks to both these gents.

01 July 2004
Through the good offices of an eBay seller I have managed to acquire either scans or the actual documents from the collection of the late Joseph F. Braun and Richard T. Braun of Richmond Hill, New York. All the scans placed on the Timeline from these items will be accredited to the “Braun Bros. Collection”. Following the acquisition of more material, I have now compiled a preliminary list of the Braun Bros. Collection Items.

28 September 2004
I'm indebted to Ron Baker from Hythe, Kent who has provided me with some scans and pictures of Caronia at Southampton and at Liverpool taken by his late uncle Bill Vasey. I'm still keen to hear of any sources of information covering the times when Caronia went into her annual overhauls at both of these ports.

04 November 2004
Peter Jelley, one of Caronia's maiden voyage tripper's has provided me with over 30 new photographs that will mostly be added to the Crew Photographs section. Several of these were given to him by “Red Doran”, one of the members of the Caronia Boxing Team in the early days.

Whilst Peter has been able to identify several people, there are others who remain unidentified. My thanks to Peter for this valuable addition to the Timeline.

18 November 2004
Photo taken by Jim Gallacher from the Shell Tanker MV Limatula of Caronia leaving Naples in March 1952 added. Thanks.