This page carries a selection of photographs sent in to me of various artefacts purchased at the sale held at Pier 54, New York PST in 1974. As Rob Mason has described, this was held some time after the Caronia / Caribia had been towed away for breaking.
I'm indebted mainly to Rob Mason and Brad Newell for the photographs on this page. It's possible that more photographs from other sources will appear here too.
This section begins with photographs of small fittings rescued from the Caribia.
[Left:]
The standard square Mercer stateroom clock
[Photo:
Courtesy of Brad Newell]
[Below:]
A stateroom telephone, with close-up of the dial which carries the legend “You can telephone
to any part of the World whilst at sea”
[Photos: Courtesy of Brad Newell]
Not everything that was put aboard Caronia when she was first built was brand new! Although the fixtures were mostly hand-built in place, quite a number of portable items, including galley cooking pots, would have come from Cunard's shore-stores. Up to the late 1950s, when a ship was taken out of service, all the serviceable equipment would be gathered up and recycled among existing ships.
With so many ships being removed from service by the time that Caronia had been put up for sale, there would have been a surplus of these items, so they remained on board and were passed with the ship to her new owners. Many items were marked with “Cunard White Star” as the photographs below testify.
[Above:]
A “Cunard White Star” cooking pot
[Photos: Courtesy of Brad Newell]
[Below:]
A even earlier “White Star Line” silver-plated steamer
As Rob Mason has described, a number of the wooden items involved matching drawers with their units. He'll probably be pleased that someone else was able to do some matching.
[Left:]
A stateroom drawer unit
[Photo:
Courtesy of Brad Newell]
Judging from its top surface, this drawer unit would probably have come from a Cabin Class stateroom. Crew access areas, including pantries, would have steel or stainless steel fixtures, whereas in 1st Class the tops would all be in polished wood.
[Right:]
A pair of armchairs from the 1st Class Lounge
[Photo:
Courtesy of April Summer]
The story continues with…
If you can contribute any information, do please get in touch…
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Page last updated on Thu, 27 Mar 2025
