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| The remaining Union-Castle Line ships, The Last of the Line. |
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The Dunottar Castle.
The Dunottar Castle was one of the older ships still afloat and spent most of her life as a cruise ship. She was built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, and launched on 25 January 1936. She was primarily used on the London (Tilbury) - round Africa service until the outbreak of WW2, when she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser, and later to a troop transport. In 1949 she resumed her London - round Africa service. In 1958 she was sold to Incres SS Co, who renamed her Victoria and substantially rebuilt her in Rotterdam. She entered service in 1960 on New York-West Indies cruises.
 The Kenya Castle.
Launched on 21 June 1951, the Kenya Castle was built for the Africa service of the Union-Castle Line. She was the second of three sisters built in 1951-52, the others being Rhodesia and Braemar Castle. She continued in this role until 1967 when she was purchased by Chandris and renamed Amerikanis who intended her for summer Atlantic service. However, this was a dwindling market due to competition from the jet aircraft, although in 1968 she entered service for Chandris, initially on cruising from New York, and later sailing in Europe and the Caribbean. She was briefly chartered to Costa Line in the early 1980's but reverted back to Chandris in 1984. She was supposed to be brought to South Africa for a series of cruises in 1994, however, this never happened. An attempt was even made to market the ship as a time share in South Africa in 1995, fortunately sanity prevailed and this too never came to pass. She was laid up in 1999 and finally in early June of 2001 she arrived at Alang for breaking up.
The Transvaal Castle.
The Transvaal Castle was launched on the 23rd of June 1959, she was the second largest mailship built for the Cape Mail run. In 1966 she was sold to Safmarine and renamed SA Vaal. She continued with Safmarine on the mail run until withdrawn from service in 1977 and sold to the fledgling Carnival Cruise Lines. She was sent to Japan for a refit, emerging as Festivale. She sailed in the Miami/Caribbean market until 1996 when she was purchased by Dolphin Cruise Lines and operated under the name IslandBreeze. She was then acquired by Premier Cruise Line following their merger with Dolphin. She was renamed Big Red Boat III. The demise of Premier in 2000 saw her sent for layup at Freeport in the Bahamas, rafted with the Rembrandt (Ex Rotterdam), for a period the future looked bleak for her and a reprieve was in the offing as she was due to enter service with Thomson Cruises. Sadly this did not materialise and she remained laid up at Freeport. In November 2002, an Australian cruise operator, Megawest Cruises wanted to fund a new cruise venture that would involve basing the Big Red Boat III in Freemantle to tap the West Australian cruise market. They needed to raise approx AUD 4.2m ($2.35m) to fund the venture. Nothing came to pass of this venture and in April 2003 it seems as if the end was near and she commenced her final voyage to the breakers in May. She was finally beached at Alang on July 13th 2003. Another one gone.
The Windsor Castle.
The Windsor Castle was the largest of the mailships, launched on 23 June 1959 at Cammel, Laird. Birkenhead. She was in service till 1977 when she was withdrawn and put up for sale. She was purchased by the Latsis Group and renamed Margarita L and used as a moored accomodation ship in Jeddah. When this service was completed she was withdrawn to Greece where she was laid up at Eleusis. She has been there since. She was eventually put up for sale but attracted no buyers. By 2003 it was obvious that interest in one of the last of the British built liners was being kindled with the formation of the "RMS Windsor Castle Preservation Society" who intended raising funds, interest and support to bring the ship back to Britain to be berthed at a UK port. It was intended that she be used as a museum / education centre / restaurants / conference venue / tourist attraction etc and possible locations under consideration for an eventual permanent berth include Southampton, Plymouth, Falmouth, Liverpool or London. While in South Africa a movement was underway to return the mailship to Cape Town for inclusion at the V & A Waterfront. However, given that ship preservation is a costly business and often results in the ship being broken up, the future of the Windsor still hung in the balance. The Windsor was the last of the line and when she made that final trip there would be no more Union-Castle Line ships afloat.
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