THE name of Arcadia is a familiar one to the port of Southampton and P&O Cruises' latest superliner is the fourth vessel to be called after the mythological land of paradise.

It was in 1887 as Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee that P&O built the first Arcadia together with three other 6,000-ton ships - Oceania, Britannia and of course Victoria.

The company was able to make this patriotic, and ultimately profitable, gesture because of its success in meeting the challenge that the opening of the Suez Canal had presented.

By this time the nature of P&O's trade had altered radically. In the early days revenue had been derived from the mail contracts, and the carriage of passengers and a small quantity of luxury cargoes.

When the first Arcadia was built ships were being constructed with steel, equipped with the compound engine and, above all, becoming larger and faster.

The average tonnage of the ships was about 4,000 tons, twice the size of those afloat 20 years earlier. Consequently, cargo spaces were larger and cargo-carrying became the main source of revenue while the size of the fleet had, by 1887, increased from 80,000 tons to 200,000 tons and the run to Bombay had been reduced by more than a week.

The second ship to bear the name Arcadia was built by John Brown & Co at Clydebank and was launched in May 1953.

During her 25 years' service the 29,000-ton Arcadia carried 430,000 passengers and steamed 2,650,000 miles, equivalent to 100 times around the world.

Arcadia was P&O's biggest passenger ship until the arrival of the 44,807-ton Canberra in the early 1960s.

With a white hull, a buff funnel and two masts Arcadia was a fine-looking ship.

She had a rounded, streamlined bridge and her name shone in lights at the base of her funnel.

She had been designed for line voyaging and cruising, and her first programme from Southampton began in June 1954.

It was a great success and it was decided that Arcadia should regularly sail to Australia in the winter and cruise from Southampton in the summer.

Later in her career Arcadia became a more permanent cruise ship, operating not only from Southampton, but also from Australia and around Alaska.

For the Alaska cruises the liner lost her main mast and 30 foot of her foremast to enable her to pass beneath power lines.

From 1976 the liner was based in Sydney and her last cruise took place in February 1979. Once it was over the splendid old ship headed for the breakers yard in Taiwan.

The third Arcadia is now leading a different life as Ocean Village, spending her time either in the Mediter-ranean or the Caribbean.

Originally part of the Princess Cruises fleet, the 63,524-ton vessel was built in France and named Star Princess in 1989 by the film star Audrey Hepburn.

It was the beginning of a successful career as a cruise ship mainly in the US market. Her schedule consisted of winter Caribbean cruises from Fort Lauderdale and summers in Alaska. In between she did trans-canal positioning cruises.

In December 1997 the ship was refitted to become Arcadia and joined the P&O Cruises fleet in Southampton where she quickly built a loyal following and became one of the company's most successful vessels, however another career lay in wait for the vessel.

After a major refit, targeting younger more active passengers, the ship was renamed Ocean Village in a glittering dockside ceremony in Southampton.

Since then Ocean Village has established herself and is one of the leading vessels in this sector of the cruise industry.

Article taken from our 36-page Arcadia supplement published in the Daily Echo on Wednesday, April 6, celebrating the arrival of P&O's newest cruise ship in her home port of Southampton.