Great start to a three part series Peter! Achille Lauro was an amazing vessel according to the people whom I have had the pleasure of speaking to. A friend of mine, Robin Boltman, who sadly passed away recently, worked on Achille Lauro before being sent by TFC to the MTS Oceanos in 1991. However, after the sinking, he, along with Moss Hills, another MTS Oceanos entertainer, spent most of their cruising time up until 1994 on the Achille Lauro, and were on during the sinking as well. Fortunately I was able to speak with both Moss Hills and Robin Boltman for my upcoming MTS Oceanos documentary. But I can’t wait to see the full three parts! Amazing work!
@@midshipcinema Robin was a delight to speak to, incredibly kind. And his book is highly recommended for any ship enthusiast. I was able to get a digital copy of it and its also available on Amazon.
@@JesseGillett I'll definitely check Amazon. It appeared that he was selling them directly on line but since he passed, I would imagine that not to be possible anymore.
@@midshipcinema Yes, please do. I am hoping his sister or one of his relatives may take his place when it comes to selling the book, however, probably after some time.
I vividly recall my 14 night cruise on the Achille Lauro in the mid 1970's, but it didn't end well. I was one of only a handful of English speaking guests and we were "cared for" by a representative of the Swiss travel company, Kuoni. The cruise had been recommended by a Partner in the executive search firm (which I had retained at the New York Times to fill business side positions) who had been President of the short lived Time Life Travel. I should have known the cruise would go downhill when at the first meeting with the Kuoni representative she advised us of the importance of never leaving valuables in the cabin, due to widespread theft by crew members. However, at the time, I was looking forward to the two day call at the port of Beirut, which allowed me to tour Balbeek, do some shopping and tour the beautiful city just as fighting and bombing was about to break out. I recall, too, the guests expressing some concern over the ancient fire safety conditions, with which even the Hotel Director recognized when he introduced himself to me on the second day out of Genoa, from which the cruise embarked (rather than from Naples, the company headquarters). The cabin drinking water was, of course, not potable and each cabin was supplied with a pitcher containing potable water. On the last morning of the cruise, as I drank from this pitcher, nearly emptying it, I noticed that the bottom of the pitcher was filled with curly, black human hair. I nearly threw up, but disgusted (and concerned for my health) I took the pitcher down to the Hotel Director's office and dumped the remaining contents on his desk (while he knew I was working, albeit as an advertising department executive, for the New York Times, I had paid full fare for the cruise). About 15-20 minutes later when I returned to my cabin to pick up the remaining belongings before disembarkation, I had to step over my cabin steward who was writhing on the floor of the corridor outside the pantry, having been seriously beaten up. One of Lauro lines officers/crew had clearly taken justice into their own hands. I often wondered whether Lauro Lines ownership had some connection with organized crime, particularly many years later as I was working at V. Ships.
We had two fantastic coastal cruises aboard her; Durban to Cape Town 1986 and Durban to Cape Town, Cape Town to Durban 1988. If I remember correctly, her voyage to South Africa in 1986 was directly after that dreadful hijacking incident!!
Love how you talk about this classic Dutch girl and what she meant to you personally. Anyone can sum up historical facts, but a ship has a soul, it connects to the individual and that experience is unieke, Bravo!
Thank you, Onno! She was such a fantastic ship. You really could tap into something special while aboard. So much history, character and architectural beauty.
I saw this ship when it visited Hobart in the 1980s, probably around 1982 or 1983 in either January or February. I watched it leave Hobart from OPossum Bay Beach as a small child, and recall it had a structure on its top rear decks, which I thought at the time was a little house but I can see in other photos it was actually an outdoor tent structure. It was prior to the high jacking incident in 1986. Nice original photos of the ship in LA in 1978 and of the ship sailing in Turkey in 1992.
I remember her heading out each day during the America's Cup from Fremantle, Western Australia as a floating observation platform to watch the yacht race. I never knew her history. Thank you for producing this video.
Hi petter...i when as employee 1991..joining as a laundry host on that time....ooo my god ...very beautiful on that time....my name is avianto...from jakarta indonesia ....bravo italian 🇲🇨
Thanks for the great video. I got a guided tour in 1966 which I've spoken about. But I have to add that this is probably the most good looking ship I've ever had the privilege of boarding. As a bonus, this week I came into possession of a rare souvenir. A silver mustard spoon with a superb relief of the ship including the name (Willem Ruys) on the stem.
Not mentioned here, but well known with the people of Flushing/Vlissingen, is that the ship barely survived WW2. And that the ship delivered power to the town, when all power was lost because of bombing. The generators, before the ship was even finished, were started up for that purpose. Her hull towered above cranes and rooftops for several years, until she was finished.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! (She's my favorite ship of all time...it makes me so sad that she had to be remembered really only for a terror attack and her fire...she was such a "perfect" ship to me...at least she wasn't turned into tincans and razorblades)
Wow a fantastic series. i never thought I would ever see her like this again. Travelled from england to Australia, back again and back yet again to Australia in my childhood. This is wonderful st see again.
What a troubled ship honestly. So many fires... and refittings but it just kept going and going . Instead of the little engine that could the mighty Lauro that could:)). Yes the famous ship made notorious/famous by the PLO hijacking( or shipjacking) in 1985. The only thing wrong about this ship was that it was bought from the Dutch other than that the Italians did a good job in maintaining it.
To me, one of the most beautiful passenger ships ever, especially as ACHILLE LAURO. To some, a hero and to others, the "ship of doom". Either way, she was fascinating. :)
Achille Lauro! One of my favorite ships and the subject of one of more than sixty ship models in 1:150 scale I've made over the years! I thank very much Peter Knego, whose business I've been following for years! We share a love for golden age passengers liners, born in me since I was child living in Mombasa due to my father's job for an important Italian shipping company (mom American born from Maine and grandpa, employed at Bethlehem Steel-Quincy-Mass in the Forties till Sixties , was one of the draftsmen in the Queen Mary building when very young). Now I write for some nautical Italian magazines even though I'm an aeronautical engineer! Thanks again, Peter, precious friend even if we don't know each other directly and good work!! Now and always! Francesco Pittaluga from Genoa-Italy
What a wonderful and kind post, Francesco! Thank you so much, fellow ship lover. Please give my best to La Superba, one of my favorite cities on the planet. And that goes for all of Liguria. Hope to meet you one day. :)
One of my cherished memories is looking out the window of my hotel while visiting San Francisco in March 1978 and seeing the Achille Lauro sailing by. I had to get a better look so I ran out and ran down to Crissy Field which was not too far from where I was standing lucky for me. I stood totally transfixed as she sailed past me. She was incredibly beautiful as I had imagined she would be. I vowed to myself that one day that I would sail on her but fate intervened and I never got the chance. But, Lucky you.
Came to Australia on this ship in 1971 sailing from Genoa ,Italy to Melbourne.Australia. Five weeks long trip because the Suez Canal was closed due to an ongoing war in the region. I was an immigrant from France and shared a four bunks cabin with three other men from different European countries. I was 24 and I am now 75 and still remember the excellent time we all had on this"cruise"....the ship was super stable ,well kept and the crew ,mainly Italian absolutely up to the task of making sure that all passengers from 1st class to "immigrant"class were treated with the utmost care.
My mum was born in 1932 and when a child used to come back to the UK from Singapore/Malaya (before it was Malaysia) on the Willem Ruys several times. Very interesting to see this documentary about the ship, and what a sad end it had. Now you can do the journey by plane in around 13 hours instead of the 4 to 6 weeks it used to take; mum's father worked in the Far East and used to work for 2 1/2 years then get 6 months leave, half of which was the sea travel time back to the UK then back out to the Far East. How times have changed
I was privileged to travel as a passenger in the Achille Lauro in 1969, first to the UK from Australia and later that year from the UK back to Australia. She was my first international sea travel. on which I was also introduced to a Force 8 gale in the Great Australian Bight. Great fun also crossing the Equator for the first time, a little later after rounding the Cape of Good Hope. In that year, she must have been very new, so shortly after 1966. I remember especially the "wings" on her funnels, that lifted away any residue from the engines and their smoke stacks, that might have otherwise fallen on the open decks. The meals (not in First Class, of course) were quite acceptable, especially as I did not have to prepare any ! A wharf-side feature in those days (in both Australia and the UK) was throwing paper streamers from the boat, hoping your friends on those wharves would catch them and hold onto them, until the departing vessel pulled them apart. On my voyage home later in 1969, I especially remembered the many excited migrants travelling out to Australia. In the days when Australia still encouraged many migrants and they travelled by boat, like the Patris and Ellinis (and the Angelina Lauro). I have strong memories of those migrant vessels, having been in the Customs Department in Sydney in the 1960s and had helped to examine and clear their baggage at Circular Quay. Thanks for the interior photos and the publicity material of her in the 1960s - brought back great memories of two fascinating trips.
Fantastic memories! Thank you so much for sharing them here. You have enriched this project by doing so and I appreciate it very much. ACHILLE LAURO touched many lives during her long and varied career.
Hopefully this channel gets more attention now that BSF covered the Blue Lady as well. Midshipcentury is one of my all time favorite RU-vid channels, love your videos!
I sailed on the Achille Lauro 50 years ago, from Singapore to Cape Town with my mother. We were returning to Rhodesia after a wonderful two years in Singapore, where my father had been working for Lockheed. Many of my school friends were also on board, service families returning to the UK, which really made the trip a hoot.
A wonderful biography about a wonderful ship - thank you! Both WILLEM RUYS / ACHILLE LAURO and ORANJE / ANGELINA LAURO were very popular ships until their sadly sad end in 1994/1979 and were well booked in the Netherlands.
This is a fantastic video, the ship really had a lot of mishaps. We were on the ROYAL MAJESTY in Miami having buffet lunch when the news flash came up about her being on fire. What a sad thing to lose her. Loved the interiors so far, she was really gorgeous. Thank you so much for part 1, can't wait for part 2.
I loved your description with its sister ship " The Angelina Lauro" that they collided in the Suez years earlier under a different registry. Achille & Angelina Lauro.. what a lovely couple:))
Great documentary - I loved all of the pictures and the sprinkling of personal stories really made it stand out from other documentaries. The explaining of its' building and early life was appreciated, as well.
I never knew she had so many troubles through her lifetime. That song was quite a bit different from the song they played while we travelled on her. Interesting to find out that she was only just re-fitted when we went from England to Australia in 1966. We were one of the last ships through Suez before it was blocked.
Im Sommer 1976 sind meine Frau und ich mit der Achille Lauro 2 Wochen lang auf einer Kreuzfahrt durchs östliche Mittelmeer, von Genua, Neapel, Alexandria, Haifa, Izmir, Istanbul, Athen/Piräus, Messina, Palermo, Neapel und Genua gefahren. Es war eine sehr schöne Reise und wir schauen hin und wieder das Foto - Album an. Herzlichen Dank für diese schönen Filme ! Mit freundlichen Grüssen Rudolf Hürlimann
I took photos of her on several occasions as EMERALD SEAS but no video until she was OCEAN EXPLORER I. Spent two days on board on separate occasions in Greece and boarded her in India when she was half demolished. I cover her career and her demise in India in "The Sands Of Alang", which is available on the MidShipCentury.com website.
Achille Lauro made substantial money from the arms trade linked to the colonial expansion of Italian Fascism, which culminated in the conquest of Ethiopia in 1933. Flotta Lauro and the Lauro businesses blossomed with the help of influential members of the Fascist National Party, which Achille Lauro also formally joined in 1933. He had the support for many years in the 1920s and 1930s of the Ciano shipowning family, and became national counsellor to the Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni. Galeazzo Ciano was none other than the son-in-law of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
Everyone is commenting about how beautiful the ship is, how about how absolutely incompetent the management and crew were!!! Collisions, multiple fires, grounding, crime and more. I wonder if Schettino had any mentors onboard.
What would be needed for a search for the wreck: 2 warships (the waters are plagued by pirates) 1 Oceanographer (Robert Ballard will do) 1 deep water submarine...
She was built before the 2nd World War she was already a very old ship backwin she was hijacked in 85 by the PLO and I do remember that was all over the news and then when she sank and when she sank in 94 or 96 I forget which year it was And I sort of realized the ship was cursed was a beautiful ship I've seen pictures of it before before and it was sadging on the way she did
I can still remember as a kid of around 10 watching the Wilhelm Ruys arriving in Sydney Harbour it was an amazing sight she looked so beautiful unlike today's toads.
Peter, this is great! Since this video is about an ocean liner, instead of giving it a four-star rating I'm giving it four funnels! There is so much information to enjoy here, both spoken and seen and so well presented. For the first time I heard how the names of some ships are pronounced rather than just seeing the names on a page. I knew the Willem Ruys/Achille Lauro was a fine ship but I didn't know how excellent she was and under both flags. I was aware of some of the unfortunate and even tragic events of the Achille Lauro's history but I hadn't known there were so many. As you said, it's a matter of interpretation as to whether the liner was cursed or blessed. I agree with you about the later paint scheme: the bright blue was better. I'm glad you were able to not only board the Achille Lauro but to be a passenger. I recall how Frank O. Braynard who wrote the six-volume series about that ship never boarded or sailed on the Leviathan. Thank you for all the research and work that went into making this video. It really is an example of something worth doing being done very well.
Hi Peter, I have vivid memories of an approximately 6-week sailing on the ss Willem Ruys (on half of her world cruise) from Singapore to Rotterdam back in 1959 (via Melbourne, Sydney, Pitcairn Island, Balboa and through the old Panama Canal, Ft. Lauderdale, and New York, before crossing the Atlantic). We had lived in Singapore when my father got his once-every-six-or-so-years vacation and took my mom and me on this sailing for an extended stay in Holland. A number of their friends plus their children (friends of mine) were on board as well. The children were "home/ship schooled" since we left before the school year was over. My mother was a great photographer and I'm sure that her photos/slides are still somewhere in the storage room that houses much of her belongings from when she finally moved to Florida (and later passed away here). I think that if I ever get to dig out those photo/slide files, much will pop up in my memory bank. I also sailed on the ss Oranje from Jakarta to Amsterdam, but that was back in 1952 and I really do not remember much of that sailing (except that I got a "fez", which I hung onto for years and years! ;-)
Rose, what incredible memories! I hope you do find those images your mom took. They would be wonderful records of the ship and the WILLEM RUYS experience. You sailed in her after her big refit, which would have made her very much the contemporary of SS ROTTERDAM in ways. How cool that you were on ORANJE, too! Those two ships really paralleled each other and sadly met the same fate.
Once again another brilliant video Peter. There's no denying that she had an eventful life but one has to admit that she was certainly blessed with remarkable good luck to have survived time after time. Sadly, I never sailed on her but I did at least get to spend an afternoon aboard her on an occasion when she was alongside the Tilbury Landing Stage..
@@TheClive1949 Guaranteed, Clive! She had style, history and personality and all sorts of beautiful nooks, both inside and on deck. The food was fantastic and the staff were great. I'm just sorry we only got to sail in her once.
What a tragic end to a very pretty looking ship. Does not say much for the various owners of the ship that she had four major fires on board over her long lifetime. Obvious carelessness by the owners and crew led to her demise.
Thanks Peter, it was a privilege to have her. The fiery end was heartbreaking. Here is a series of views from 1992- maybe you can name the Captain? Forgot to record his name. www.flickr.com/photos/113687843@N02/albums/72157691241660903
