ORIANA TOW TO JAPAN

The liner Oriana finished up and was sold to become a hotel in Japan. We got the job to tow it from Sydney to Osaka with Lady Lorraine. Same company: P&O.

Got a bit of a send-off leaving Sydney.

Lady Lorraine was a mighty ship - did the round trip Sydney/Japan and back on one load of fuel.

25 days Sydney to Osaka at 7 knots, 20t diesel/day

Easy job compared to towing oil rigs!

The hotel idea in Japan failed and she was sold of to the Chinese. Eventually rolled over alongside the wharf and was cut up for scrap. A sad end for such a nice looking ship - compared to the horrible floating apartment blocks they make now!

Beautiful looking ship. everything above the main deck was alloy - pretty innovative for the day.

Very handsome ship, compared to the horrible things they churn out nowadays!

Nice model I have

Lady Lorraine, a UT704 - nice ship-old fashioned design by todays standards - but state-of-the-art back then !!

Connecting up our tow gear

Harbour tugs dragged her out of her berth and turned her around for us to hook up. Easy work for us in a nice calm,

Full of fuel and sitting on her loadline - ready to go!

Off we go - 25 days to go, actually!

Any sort of breeze and Oriana 'sailed' up wind - rarely in-line astern..

Lady Lorraine was a lovely ship except for those big funnels which restricted vision astern so much - GRRRRR!

Strong squall hit us off the Marianas and the old lady weathercocked

Approaching ships were always confused when they saw us coming!

The importation cargo 'Boat Note' into Japan - "One Used Vessel" !

Oriana death roll in China !

chopping her up

The once beautiful Bridge