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All text and photographs (unless stated otherwise) © Paul Timmerman; photographs on this page made during a cruise in 1988 when she sailed as Romanza for Chandris Cruises. She was
built in 1939, at the Blohm & Voss shipyards in Hamburg for the Hamburg
Amerika Line and started her career as Huascaran, carrying both freight and only
about 30 passengers. Before
the outbreak of World War 2, she and her sister the Orsono sailed on the route from Hamburg to the Caribbean. Then through the Panama Canal
along the west coast of South America
and back again.
During
the war she was used as
a
submarine depot ship and stayed in Germany for the
first part of the war. Later, she headed for Norway where she served as a supply
ship for German war ships. Miraculously she survived the
allied
bombings. After the war she was handed over to the Canadians.
The
Canadian government sold her to Canadian Pacific Steamships.
Ballroom, Promenade deck After having been rebuilt, her passenger capacity had grown to 773 passengers. She sailed between Bremerhaven and Saint John, New Brunswick carrying many emigrants to Canada, under her new name Beaverbrae. She still had considerable cargo space. In fact part of her cargo holds was used as passenger dormitories on the outbound voyage to Canada, and after removal of beds and furniture she carried freight on her homebound voyage in exact the same holds. A clever way to use cargo space indeed! She made
51 of these voyages.
Click on thumbnail for larger image
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