"MARCONI" at Lisbon in 1976,
copyright Luis Miguel Correia
My trip on "MARCONI" is something I will never forget, I was only 18 back in 1976 already a ships enthusiast, well more than that really, she represented everything a passenger ship meant to me, beautiful, sleek, fast, cosmopolitan and romantic, my passion for ships and the sea in just one word "MARCONI". We left Lisbon 10.5.1976 late evening, the ship had a late arrival in the Portuguese Capital due to bad weather, "MARCONI" being a fast ship recovered travelling at 22.5 knots so our arrival to Barcelona was on time on the 12.5.1976. I went ashore, this was my first visit to Barcelona, remember falling in love with this incredible city, the weather was perfect, the passenger ships in those days docked a lot closer to the city centre so my home away from home was always in sight and what a spectacle she was sparkling in the sunshine. We departed on time, the weather changed during the night strong winds hit the ship, officers on the bridge commented how stable she was at sea, we anchored at Cannes the following morning on time, this time I stayed on the bridge and paid my first visit to the engine room, those massive turbines could be kept working for an year, they could last forever on the other end boilers could become an issue any time. Genoa was the next port of call, we steamed at 22 knots it only took about six hours for the ship to get to the first of the two Italian ports scheduled for these ITALY/SOUTH AMERICAN trips, we stayed for nearly 48 hours, Genoa was beautiful and very warm, our home always there with excellent food to be savoured during various times during the day. After Genoa, Naples would be the final port of call the next day, the ship was late due to boiler problems, as if they were expected we only managed 17/18 knots, I remember a lot of black smoke coming out of her beautiful funnel, for me the most beautiful I have ever seen to this day, strong competition from the FRANCE's though. We stayed for five days, plenty of time to visit Naples, I was invited to visit Rome by some new friends met on board, this would be my first visit to the Italian Capital. I went back to Lisbon via the same ports of call spending most of the time on the bridge, engine room and with officers and crew, talking about my favourite ship and subject, Ocean Liners. All photos my collection apart from the one highlighted
Thanks for this blog - it brought back a raft of memories from when I was a young boy. We emigrated from Australia to the USA for 3 years when I was a kid and we sailed across the South Pacific on the Marconi over 3 weeks from late November to mid December 1975. In fact, as my birthday was on 7/12 I had my 8th birthday just as we crossed the international date line. I recall embarking in Melbourne, sailing to Sydney for 3 days and listening to a cassette of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Green River" on the fantail as we sailed out of Sydney Heads, then on to Auckland for 3 days, then to Fiji, then to Tahiti before sailing over to Acapulco, where we disembarked. I can remember having to leave via a tender because Acapulco's harbour was a volcano. Very fond memories.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog and photographs. I am currently completing a book about the Marconi (also including Galileo Galilei, Oceanic and Eugenio C. Just wondering if there is a chance I could use the photo of GM at Genoa with extracts from your blog as a caption?
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