Ship for millionaires was liner of the old school When I did my national service in 1953/54 I travelled to Ceylon, as it was then, on the SS New Australia and can sympathise with all the June said. Mark Tolson Monarch of Bermuda, which served during the 1930's out of New York, later carried emigrants to Sydney as New Australia and was then renamed Arkadia by the Greek Line.
Vickers Armstrong of Newcastle built the vessel, and she entered service in November, 1931, flying the Furness Withy flag.
Most of her passengers were wealthy Americans and she and her sister ship, Queen of Bermuda, quickly became known as the "millionaires ships'' and were great rivals.
With her three funnels and two masts, Monarch was a graceful looking liner of the old school.
Monarch was one of the rescue ships when the American liner, Morro Castle caught fire off the New Jersey coast, and 134 of her passengers and crew lost their lives.
During the Second World War she carried troops to many parts of the world and although she came through unscathed she was destroyed by fire in 1947 while being refitted.
At first she was regarded as a total loss but a later survey showed that the hull and most of the main machinery could still be used.
At the time there was a desperate shortage of liners for the emigrant trade so the ship was rebuilt by Thornycrofts at Southampton as New Australia.
The work cost £3m and took two years to complete but on August 15, 1950 she left the docks for the first time in her new career. After seven years the liner was offered for sale and bought by the Greek Line, who spent £750,000 refitting the vessel, and renamed her Arkadia.
Her main service under their flag was from Bremerhaven to Montreal, with regular calls at Southampton. Later she was used for cruising from the port to the Atlantic Islands, Morocco and Portugal.
The Greek Line ran into problems, eight years later, and Arkadia was withdrawn and laid up on the River Fal. She was broken up in Spain.
Mark Tolson 2004	Back to June's article
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