On the Stocks - September 2019
LINER DESIGNS’ NEW & UPCOMING PROJECTS
Michael Brady
We’re back with another update on Liner Designs’ new and exciting projects! It has been a very busy few months and unfortunately, real-life things have prevented me from drawing much and updating you all on my progress. That said, I found the time to complete a selection of interesting and unusual ships - some well-known and other not-so! Below is a list of brand new ships - these will be added to the website in the coming days so you can get a better look at them.
NEW TO THE FLEET
SS NEW AUSTRALIA
Look, not every ship can be as pretty as the Titanic or as elegant as the Queen Mary and I quite enjoy drawing some of the more ‘oddball’ designs. New Australia is one such ‘ugly duckling’ - although she wasn’t always this way! The ship began life as the glamorous Furness-Bermuda liner ‘Monarch of Bermuda’ before she was gutted by fire. Rather than begin scrapped, the vessel was completely re-built as the squat, utilitarian immigrant ship ‘New Australia’. Eventually she was sold to Greek Lines and refurbished, surprisingly, as ‘Arkadia’, - a successful luxury cruise ship.
SS PRETORIA CASTLE
I am quite pleased to present Liner Designs’ first Union-Castle liner, the Pretoria Castle. The Line’s distinctive ships resembled private motor yachts more than traditional liners and this is evident in Pretoria Castle’s sleek external appearance and gentle lavender hull. Pretoria Castle had a rather quiet 20-year career but had one moment of glory in 1953 when she formed part of the Corronation Fleet Review at Spithead.
M/N BEGOÑA
Begoña, originally a Victory Ship, was a humble passenger-freighter which, in 1957, delivered a load of Greek and European brides to Australian shores. She was sold a number of times and is probably best-known as SITMAR Lines’ ‘Castel Bianco’. Interestingly, she was well-known as a ‘roller’; her superstructure was built far too high!
M/S NELLY
M/S Nelly is one of those ships with a curious career spanning decades and a variety of roles. She began life as a cargo freighter before she was converted to escort carrier duties as USS Long Island. After the war she was sold, like so many others, and re-built as a modest passenger vessel. She is perhaps most well-known as the vessel ‘Seven Seas’ and her student travel voyages between Canada, Europe and the U.S. This is how the ship looked immediately post-war although depictions of her years as ‘Seven Seas’ are on the way!
UPCOMING PROJECTS
RMS Queen Mary
Yes - the Queen is still in the works. This has been months in the making - but she is getting there! I am going to great lengths to ensure accuracy in the detail of her plating, rivets and superstructure. I am pleased to say that, as you can see, she is finally wearing her Cunard funnels with pride! Stay tuned…
