RMS ORTONA, Orient - Pacific Line
Maker
Orient - Pacific Line
(British, 1900 - 1906)
Maker
Orient Line
(1878 - 1966)
Date1904
Object number00003147
NamePostcard
MediumPhotographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 89 x 138 mm
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionPostcard depicting the Orient - Pacific Line RMS ORTONA.The image shows the starboard bow side of the vessel with heavy smoke being emitted from its two funnels.
Below the title there also is a handwritten inscription reading:
'Have had a very rough run down channel & it looks bad for Tom. All well'.
On the reverse is a green half penny postage stamp, postmarked in Plymouth, 30 January 1904. There is an address handwritten in black ink:
'Miss Orwell
7 [?] Hill Mansions
Herne Hill
London.'
The Orient - Pacific Line consisted of the Orient Line and the Pacific Steam Navigation Service.HistoryFirst voyage : London 24th Nov1899 for Suez, Melbourne and Sydney for the joint Orient Line - Pacific Steam Navigation Company service. Troopship for Boer War in June 1902. Returned to Australia service 9 Oct 1903. Acquired by Royal Mail Steam Packet Company together with the rest of the PSNC Australian fleet Feb 1906. 30 Apr 1909 last Australia voyage. Converted to a cruise ship with accommodation for 320-single class passengers in 1910 and renamed ARCADIAN. Converted to a troopship in 1915 during WWI. Used as a headquarters for Sir Ian Hamilton at Gallipoli, and on 15th Apr.1917 torpedoed in the Eastern
Mediterranean while en-route from Salonika to Alexandria with troops. Out of 1,335 aboard, 279 were lost.
