Letter of the month

摘要

Paul Barker has got it all wrong (Letters, SM, Jan). It is Britannia that is the traditional P&O name. The previous ship was completed by Caird & Co, Creenock for the Company in 1887. At 6,525gt, she was in the fleet until being sold to Italian shipbreakers in 1909. Far from being P&O names, Orcades and Oronsay were traditional Orient Line names, with Orcades having been used three times and Oronsay twice by that company. While it is true that Orient Line was a subsidiary of P&O from 1919, the line maintained its identity until 1960, when the fleets were merged. Orcades (1948) and her near-sister Oronsay (1951) then served in the combined fleet until being sold for breaking up in Taiwan in 1973 and 1975 respectively.