Chandris Line was a
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
-based
shipping company
A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships.
Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo:
# Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that is ...
founded in 1960 by
Anthony Chandris to operate
ocean liner
An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships).
Ca ...
s between Greece and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
[ Plowman (2006–1). pp. 5–6.] Initially the company also traded under the names ''Greek Australian Line'', ''National Greek Australian Line'' and ''Europe-Australia Line''.
[ Maber. pp. 297–299.]
Following a period of expansion, in 1974 Chandris Line merged with Chandris Cruises
—a separate company founded in 1960 by Anthony Chandris' brother
Dimitri Chandris to operate cruises in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
[ Plowman (2006–1). p. 126.]—to form Chandris Line Chandris Cruises. After 1977 the company concentrated solely on cruising and was rebranded Chandris Cruises.
In 1985 Chandris Cruises acquired Fantasy Cruises, and subsequently their North American operations were rebranded as Chandris Fantasy Cruises.
[ Plowman (2006–1). p. 187.] The company ceased trading in 1996.
[ Plowman (2006–1). p. 214.] The funnels of all of their ships were emblazoned with the Greek letter
chi
Chi or CHI may refer to:
Greek
*Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ);
Chinese
*Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter
*Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon
*Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
, the first letter of the name Chandris in Greek (Χανδρή). The chi acted as a logo for both Chandris and their subsidiary and ultimate successor,
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 19 ...
.
History
1960–1974
Chandris Line
In 1959
Anthony J. Chandris, son of the Greek freight shipping company owner
John D. Chandris, decided to establish a new passenger shipping company to carry
migrants from Europe to Australia.
[ Plowman (2006–1). pp. 16–27.] Together with his brother
Dimitri Chandris, Anthony Chandris had previously been involved in
Charlton Steam Shipping Company's failed migrant service in the 1940s,
[ Plowman (2006–1). pp. 10–15.] but now wanted to attempt entering the migrant trade again. In October 1959 Anthony Chandris purchased from
Union-Castle Line
The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line.
It merged with ...
for
£1.5 million as the first ship of the new Chandris Line. Following delivery to Chandris Line on 19 November 1959 the ''Bloemfontein Castle'' was renamed ''Patris'' and rebuilt with increased passenger capacity for migrant service.
Anthony Chandris made two contracts to increase the profitability of the ship: with the
Intergovernmental Committee on European Migration to carry assisted migrants from Europe to Australia; and with the Greek Government to carry mail from Greece to Australia. As a result, the ''Patris'' gained the right to use the
Royal Hellenic Mail Ship (RHMS)
ship prefix
A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship that has historically served numerous purposes, such as identifying the vessel's mode of propulsion, purpose, or ownership/n ...
, therefore becoming known as . Following rebuilding the ''Patris'' first departed
Piraeus
Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...
with Captain Zannis X.Xenios, on 14 December 1959, arriving in
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
, Australia on 2 January 1960 and her final Australian destination,
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
on 9 January 1959.
NineMSN
Nine.com.au (formerly Ninemsn) is an Australian news and current events website, owned by ASX-listed company, Nine Entertainment Co. It was originally established as a 50:50 joint venture between Microsoft and PBL Media (now Nine Entertainment ...
Initially the ''Patris’s'' operator was marketed as Greek-Australian Line, later National Greek-Australian Line.
![Greek uc chi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Greek_uc_chi.svg)
The ''Patris'' proved highly popular on the Greece—Australia service, and in 1960 Chandris Line began looking for a second ship.
[ Miller. pp. 181–184.] In November 1960 Chandris Line chartered the from
Societe Generale de Transports Maritimes. During the
northern hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
summer seasons of 1961 and 1962 the ship was chartered to
Caribbean Cruise Line
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
for cruises out of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, spending the rest of the year in liner service between the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and Australia. In April 1962 the ''Bretagne'' was renamed , but she was destroyed by a fire while in drydock in April 1963.
[ Plowman (2006–1). pp. 30–40.] The ''Brittany''s UK-Australia version was marketed as Europe-Australia Line.
In September 1963 Chandris Line acquired the
Matson Line
Matson, Inc. is an American shipping and navigation services company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 1882, Matson, Inc.'s subsidiary Matson Navigation Company provides ocean shipping services across the Pacific to Hawaii, Alaska, G ...
ship as a replacement for the ''Brittany''. Renamed , the ship entered service with Chandris Line on the United Kingdom—Mediterranean—Australia -route in December 1963.
[ Plowman (2006–2). p. 134.] A second
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
-built liner joined the Chandris Line fleet in November 1964 when was purchased from the
United States Lines
United States Lines was the trade name of an organization of the United States Shipping Board (USSB), Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all ...
. Following rebuilding she entered service with Chandris Line in August 1965 as , joining ''Ellinis'' on the UK-Australia service.
[ Plowman (2006–2). p. 138.] The ''Australis'' particularly proved to be an extremely popular ship on the run from United Kingdom to Australia, usually operating at full capacity.
Chandris Line expanded further in 1965 when they acquired
National Hellenic American Line and their sole ship, , from
Home Lines
Home Lines was an Italian passenger shipping company that operated both ocean liners and cruise ships. The company was founded in 1946, and it ceased operations in 1988 when merged into Holland America Line. Although based in Genoa, Home Lines was ...
. Although the ''Queen Frederica'' was a relatively old ship, Anthony Chandris considered her to be well suited for the
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n cruise market. During the summer months she was used for cruising out of New York, while during the winters she was used in Piraeus—New York and Piraeus—Australia liner services.
[ Plowman (2006–1). pp. 69–72.] For some time the ''Queen Frederica'' was marketed as a Chandris Lines/National Hellenic American Line ship.
Boyle
Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include:
Disambiguation
*Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...
The ''Queen Frederica''s cruise service from New York proved short, as new legislation came in effect in the US at the end of 1967, aimed at improving safety standards on cruise ships. Bringing the ''Queen Frederica'' in-line with the new requirements would have been extremely costly, and as a result she was withdrawn from the North American cruise service in September 1967. As a replacement Chandris Line acquired the former Union-Castle liner , which was renamed and entered cruise service for Chandris Line in August 1968.
[ Plowman (2006–1). pp. 74–79.]
In 1970 Matson Line offered another of their ships—the second 1932-built ''Lurline'', originally named ''Matsonia'' and a sister ship to the ''Ellinis''—for sale in 1970, Chandris Line were quick to purchase the ship.
Given a large-scale refit in which particular attention was given to dual usage of the ship in both liner and cruise services, the former ''Lurline'' emerged in February 1971 as , joining ''Ellinis'' and ''Australis'' on the UK—Australia liner service.
''Patris'', which had served without interruption on the Greece—Australia service from 1959, was assigned to a new service in 1972 due to declining passenger numbers, offering a much-shortedned liner service from
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
to Australia, alongside occasional cruises from Australian ports.
A similar fate befell ''Ellinis'' in 1973, when she was taken off the declining UK-Australia liner service and reassigned for cruising on European waters.
Chandris Cruises
1974–1996: Chandris Cruises
With the number of liner passengers between Europe and Australia dwindling, the ''Britanis'' was taken off liner service and rerouted to full-time cruising in 1975. During the same year the north Australian city of
Darwin had been almost completely destroyed in a storm, and ''Patris'' found employment as a temporary accommodation ship for the residents of the destroyed city. This occupation lasted for only a year, after which a radically new use was found for the ship: she was converted into a
ro-ro
Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...
car/passenger ferry and used on services linking
Ancona
Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...
in Italy to Patras and Piraeus in Greece. In 1979 ''Patris'' was sold to
Karageorgis Lines who retained her in the same service.
The Chandris liner service to Australia was closed down in late 1977 when ''Australis'' arrived in Australia as the last ship carrying government-sponsored migrant. From there on all migrant transport was handled by airplanes.
''Ellinis'' was taken out of service in 1980 and laid up at
Perama Bay. She remained laid up for several years, being used as a source of spare parts for her sister ship ''Britanis''.
In 1988 Chandris founded a subsidiary,
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 19 ...
, transferring the ex Italian liner ''Galileo'' to this new line. Celebrity prospered, with four newbuilt cruise ships entering service for them during the remaining Chandris years. Soon the popularity of Chandris grew tremendously low, with more focused needed on Celebrity, so it was decided to dissolve all other assets. After almost 37 years, Chandris Lines began to stop all operations in 1996, this plan ending with the phasing out of their Fantasy Cruises branch and layup of the ''Britanis'' in 1998.
[http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Monterey 1932 History.html] To this date only one Chandris ship, the cruise ferry ''The Azur'', has not been scrapped.
Ships
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{refend
Defunct cruise lines
Defunct shipping companies
Transport companies established in 1960
Transport companies disestablished in 1996
Shipping companies of Greece
Defunct transport companies of Greece
1996 disestablishments in Greece
Greek companies established in 1960