Cunard Line, 1948 - 1961
later renamed Remuera II and Aramac

Above: "Cunard White Star Passenger Cargo Liner RMS Parthia
Passing the Mersey Bar Lightvessel, Liverpool Bound" (by Arthur L. Hudson)

• Gross Tonnage - 13,362
• Dimensions - 531.4 x 70.3 x 46 feet
• Number of funnels - 1
• Construction - Iron
• Propulsion - twin screws
• Engines - Two sets of double reduction geared Parsons steam turbines, 15,000 shp
• Boilers - Foster Wheeler watertube oil fired, working pressure of 450 lbs/sq in and superheated to 750 F.
• Service speed - 17 knots
• Builder - Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast
• Launch date - 25 February 1947
• Passenger accommodation - RMS Parthia carried 250 first class passengers. After refitting, the Remuera accommodated 350 one class passengers

This Parthia, the second Cunarder of that name, was the sister of Media. Unlike Media, Parthia was built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast. She was the only ship Harland & Wolff ever built specifically for Cunard.

Launched in 1947, Parthia made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 10 April 1948. In November, 1950, the original bell from the steamer Parthia (I) was presented to the Cunard Steamship Company and installed on Parthia (II). Both Parthia and Media were used on intermediate Liverpool-New York or Canada services. In 1953, she was fitted with the same Denny-Brown stabilizers which her sister had pioneered a year earlier.

Parthia made her final sailing for Cunard, from Liverpool to New York, on 23 September 1961. The ship was uneconomic and sold to the P&O Group company New Zealand Shipping Co, renamed Remuera (II).¹ She re-entered service in June 1962, following rebuild of upper works aft by Alex Stephens, passenger complement now 350 one class. On 1 June 1962 her first sailing London - New Zealand.

In January 1965, she was transferred within P&O to the Eastern & Australian S.S. Co. for their Hong Kong-Melbourne service renamed Aramac. On 22 November 1969, she arrived Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for breaking up.

There is also an English locomotive bearing the name Parthia and the Cunard flag. See the Locomotive "Parthia" page.

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Notes:
1. Renamed after the twin screw, 11,445 gross tons Remuera I, built by Wm Denny & Bros, Dumbarton for the New Zealand Shipping Co in 1911. Remuera I was reconditioned after World War I service, converted from coal to oil fuel. On 26 Aug 1940 she was sunk by torpedo bombers off the northeast coast of Scotland with no loss of life.

2. The South African Maritime Museum, John H Marsh Maritime Collection lists a cross-reference from Parthia to Hesperides, a freighter of 3,922 tons displacement, launched in 1919, photographed in early 1930s, and citing it as a 1939 war loss.

Pictures:
Aramac
Baty, Scott. Ships that passed (French's Forest: Reed, 1984), p. 79
- Plowman, Peter. Emigrant ships to luxury liners : passenger ships to Australia and New Zealand 1945-1990 (Kensington, N.S.W.: New South Wales University Press, 1992), p. 209
- Olson, William. Lion of the China Sea : a history of the Eastern and Australian Steamship Limited (Sydney P&O Australia Ltd, 1976), p. 71
Parthia II
- Cairis, Nicholas T. North Atlantic passenger liners since 1900 (London : Allan, 1972), p. 47
- Gibbs, Charles Robert Vernon. British passenger liners of the five oceans: a record of the British passenger lines and their liners from 1838 to the present day (London: Putnam, 1963), p. 209
- Dunn, Laurence. Passenger liners. 2nd rev. ed. (London: Allard Coles, 1965). p. 57
Remuera II
- Maber, John. North Star to Southern Cross (Prescott, Lancs: Stephenson, 1967), ph. 47
- Plowman, Peter. Passenger ships of Australia and New Zealand. Vol. 2. (Sydney: Doubleday, 1981), p. 183

This page last updated 23 Feb 2021