As fate would have it, the Second World War
was declared on 3rd September 1939 before the new service was
able to settle down and become established. All the mailships
were conscripted into government service as either armed merchant
cruisers or troopships. The mail run, in the meantime, was serviced
by smaller, older passenger ships, namely the "Dunbar Castle",
the "Llandovery Castle", the "Llandaff Castle",
the "Llanstephan Castle" and the ageing "Gloucester
Castle".
The fleet suffered quite extensively and most
of the surviving vessels required a lot of work done to them
before they could be returned to commercial operations. The
"Pretoria Castle", completed in 1939, was converted
by the navy into an aircraft carrier and it took until March
1947 to restore her to passenger ship status with a new name,
the "Warwick Castle". New buildings were resumed and
in 1948 two 28705-ton steam turbined mailships entered service,
the "Pretoria Castle" and the third "Edinburgh
Castle". These were followed in 1950 by the 18400-ton "Bloemfontein
Castle" which was intended to provide a reasonably priced
passage for emigrants to South Africa and Rhodesia. The need
never arose and the vessel was, consequently, re-deployed on
a one-ship, economy class only, intermediate service from London
to Beira via the Cape. The 17 knot ship was always the 'odd
one out' and in 1959 she was sold to the Greek-owned Chandris
Line.
During 1950/51 smaller steam-turbined vessels,
the "Rhodesia Castle", the "Kenya Castle"
and the "Braemar Castle" were completed for the round
Africa service to join the pre-war built motor ships "Dunnottar
Castle", the "Durban Castle" and the "Warwick
Castle", all built between 1936 and 1939. The round Africa
service was operated alternately via the Cape and via the Suez
Canal from London, the journey time being approximately 6 weeks.
The company was also trading with refrigerated
fruit ships and general cargo vessels but after the war it faced
fierce competition for freight from old established companies
including Sir Nicholas Cayzer's Clan Line and Lord Vestey's
Blue Star Line. Common-sense prevailed to prevent counter-productive
rivalry and in 1956 the Union-Castle Line and Clan Line merged
under the umbrella of the British and Commonwealth Shipping
Co. However, the companies maintained their individual identities
with only a double house flag to notify a change of ownership.
By the end of the 1950's the passage time
to Cape Town was down to 13 days but an 11 day service was envisaged
and in 1957 construction of the 28582-ton, steam turbined "Pendennis
Castle" was commenced. With accommodation for 187 first-class
and 475 tourist-class passengers she entered service in 1959
and was quickly followed in 1960 and 1961 by the "Windsor
Castle" and the "Pretoria Castle".
Also by the end of the 1950's the Union-Castle
Line was co-operating very closely with the South African Marine
Corporation (Safmarine)} and already one of the general cargo
ships the "Drakensberg Castle" was sailing under the
South African flag. In 1966, however, it was the turn of the
passenger liners and the "Pretoria Castle" and the
"Transvaal Castle" were renamed "SA Oranje"
and the "SA Vaal" and eventually re-registered in
the Republic of South Africa.
The "Llandaff Castle" The " Pendennis Castle"
In 1965 the fleet of seven mail
ships necessary for the 11 day, weekly service was completed
with the construction of the fast cargo liners the "Good
Hope Castle" and the "Southampton Castle. These vessels
had accommodation for 12 first-class passengers mainly for people
wishing to travel to St Helena and the Ascension Island.
The Union-Castle Line had never been interested
in holiday cruising, that is, until 1964 when the company took
over the operation of the former Pacific Steam Navigation Co's
"Reina del Mar" which was operating out of Southampton.
but she did not officially join the fleet, without a name change,
until her purchase had been negotiated in 1973.
However, the face of British shipping was
about to change, due mainly to the invention of the jet engine
and the building of faster, safer aircraft. When the De Havilland
"Comet" took to the air, mail could be delivered around
the world far quicker than by sea. The Boeing 747 "Jumbo
Jet" enabled the mass transportation of people by air.
The days of the passenger liner and the regular mail services
by sea were numbered. Consequently, in 1977 the passenger/cargo
vessel "Southampton Castle" made the last Cape mail
run from Southampton to Cape Town. However, the last ship to
fly the mail pennant for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co
was the "Kinpurnie Castle" (ex Clan Ross) . She carried
the mail on a voyage from Southampton to Durban calling at the
Ascension Islands, St Helena, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and
East London.
Also in 1977, on 19th September, the "Windsor
Castle" returned to Southampton at the conclusion of the
last mail run, 120 years and 4 days after the "Dane"
set sail on the first epic voyage. The Union-Castle mailships
would no longer depart from Southampton meticulously at 4 o'clock
on a Thursday afternoon, a sailing which was only delayed once
when the vessel waited one hour for Sir Winston Churchill to
board.
During the 1980's a new breed
of cargo carrier, the container ship, was introduced which made
the operation of small cargo vessels un-competitive. As a result,
the British and Commonwealth Shipping Group abandoned it's shipping
operations and the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co. ceased to
operate.
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