Cunard Ambassador

"Cunard Ambassador" was a cruise ship intended for the use of a company by the name of Overseas National Airways which was a charter airline. Along with this ship, Overseas National Airways planned seven other ships as well. At the same time, the well known Cunard Line saw the cruise market as a positive investment in the early 1960’s. How they were planning for this however was very difficult. Because of the mass popularity with cheaper and faster airplanes, this spelled the doom for transatlantic ships which was the only way of transportation over water for years. Now these services were gone and Cunard had to enter the cruise market, or face financial bankruptcy, like many other passenger lines had done before.

A New Ship for A New Era

Because of the vast amount of money being put into this project with so many ships, Overseas National Airways soon ran into financial troubles, and had to abort their project. Cunard saw the opportunity and quickly took over the project. The eight cruise ships were soon reduced to only two. Cunard Commissioned the two new ships the "Cunard Adventurer" of 1971 and "Cunard Ambassador" of 1972. "Cunard Ambassador" along with her twin sister, didn’t last for very long.

Both ships were intended for the popular seven-day cruises to exotic cruises. Some of these cruises included New York to Bermuda, San Juan to other Caribbean ports, and Vancouver to Alaska during the summer seasons.

Disaster 1

The "Cunard Ambassador", along with the "Adventurer", were actually less successful than intended. Unlike the "Adventurer", which was shortly sold to become the 'Sunward II' and later the 'Triton', the "Adventurer" was pulled out of Cunard service on September 12, 1974 after a fire on a positioning trip. There were no passengers on this trip, and had no fatalities involving the crew. After being towed to Key West, she was declared a total loss.

Other Ideas, Other Lines

Although the Cunard line declared her a total loss, the Danish didn’t think so. She was purchased as a gutted hull, and was refitted to become the Danish sheep carrier, Linda Clausen later the same year. After serving as the Linda Clausen for about six years, she was transferred again. In 1980, the Linda Clausen became the Procyn, and then in 1983, she became the Raslan.

Disaster 2

In 1984, only a year after being rechristened Raslan, she suffered another devastating fire. This time, it happened in the Indian Ocean and the former "Cunard Ambassador" was beyond economic repair. After only thirteen years of service, and only two of which were with Cunard, she was sold to Taiwanese ship breakers and was later scrapped.

Influence

The "Cunard Ambassador" was born into a time when the cruise industry was very undecided about the future. Airplanes had just taken over, and left no time for designers to really consider what a cruise ship even was. They just designed a 14,000 ton ship and hoped for the best. As with many designs, this design turned out to be less than successful for its time.

Shortly after the selling of the "Cunard Adventurer" and the burning of the "Cunard Ambassador", Cunard planned two new ships, the Cunard Countess and the Cunard Conquest, later changed to Cunard Princess. Incorporated in these new designs were many features of those on the previous “failures” of the "Adventurer" and "Ambassador". A similar sleek profile, a similar sleek angular funnel, and the same white hull were incorporated into the design. Cunard also learned from its mistakes. The new sisters were larger than the previous ones, and because of the completion dates being well into the cruise ship era, their amenities were better planned as well. The "Cunard Ambassador" was actually an important symbol of the era in which it was born. With little success and a horrible fate, it is sad that she is no longer with us, but as with all ships on the sea, they are at the mercy of nature.

pecifications

Built by Rotterdam Dry Dock Company, Rotterdam, Holland, 1972. 14,155 gross tons; convert|484|ft|m long; convert|71|ft|m wide. Diesel powered engines turning two propellers. Service speed convert|20.5|kn|km/h. 806 all-one-class passengers.

References and Suggested Readings

* “Picture History of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth”, William H. Miller Jr., Dover Publications Inc., 2004
* “Picture History of the Cunard Line 1840 – 1990”, Frank O. Braynard and William H. Miller Jr., Dover Publications Inc., 1990
* “Doomed Ships; Great Ocean Liner Disasters”, William H. Miller Jr., Dover Publications Inc., 2006