THE second liner ordered by the Orient line for its Australian service after the Second World War was the 28,000 ton Oronsay, which entered service in 1951.

She was built by Vickers Armstrongs at Barrow at a cost of more than £4m and was a sister ship to Orcades, which came out three years earlier.

This was the second Oronsay in Orient Line history, the first being a liner of 20,000 tons that saw service during the 1920's.

The new Oronsay was launched on June 30, 1950, the ship, like her predecessor,

was named after one of Scotland's western isle.

Oronsay had accommodation for nearly 1,500 passengers and, like her sister was a speedy liner. The maiden departure from London took place on May 10, 1951, and within a year or two Oronsay had established a new record time of 24 hours for the 515 miles from Sydney to Brisbane.

The liner could carry 668 first class and 833 tourist-class passengers. One of the show pieces was a suite of rooms known as The Flat, which cost £28 a day, a great deal of money in those days, and was booked up for months.

One of the most pleasant rooms aboard was the Verandah Bar, which had as its centrepiece a model of the clipper ship, Orient of 1853 from which the company took its name.

Oronsay's career was similar to that of Orcades. She made line voyages to Australia and cruises from Southampton to Sydney.

The ship was to have been withdrawn from service in 1972 along with Chusan and Orcades, but she was granted a reprieve and continued in service for three years before being scrapped in Taiwan.