"Well... you wanted a cheap ship and now you've got it!"

That's what the Ateliers et Chantiers de France were reported to have said to the officials of the French Line regarding the Flandre.  The Flandre was France's first new liner after World War II (Liberté was a German war prize), and certainly did not start on a good note.  Her maiden voyage, to put it nicely, was a mortifying flop.  She arrived in New York twenty-three hours late, after a series of problems on her maiden voyage.

The first problem was when she was out in the Atlantic after stopping at Southampton.  Her fuel line filters became clogged, due to impurities in the oil that she was carrying.  This caused her to become essentially "dead in the water" for four hours while her fuel filters were cleaned out, and her boilers restored to normal operation.  The second problem was a repeat of the first time, after which the Flandre's captain decided to reduce speed for the remainder of the voyage.  Upon arrival at the Quarantine Station at New York, she had a short circuit on her main electrical switchboard, and lost almost all of her power.  Almost three hours later, she had sufficient power restored to raise the port anchor.  Three hours after that, they finally raised her starboard anchor.

She was towed into New York Harbor by four Moran tugs, as well as running one propeller of her own.  Her funnel put out thick clouds of smoke, seeming to almost be straining as it was doing so.  She was initially also blowing her whistle, but this soon died because of her limited power, and thus the ship's siren was substituted.

Thankfully, everyone took it good-naturedly, including the passengers, the French Line, and city officials.  The fire department's own band boarded the liner and entertained, and all drinks were on the house.  In fact, one passenger, Julie Wilson, even put on a swimsuit, and entertained other passengers with diving and the like in the pool.

However, this voyage would be her last for some time.  Her beautiful interiors would be seen only once westbound and once eastbound before returning to Dunkirk.  In fact, her eastbound voyage was delayed so that engineers could go over the ship's engines, and fix whatever was wrong.  Upon her arrival in Le Havre, she immediately returned to her builder's yard, and went in for repairs.  These repairs would take six months, and as a result, all of her 1952 sailings were cancelled.  Her passengers were switched to the Ile de France and the Liberté, which were already quite well-booked, as well as to other lines' ships.  The Flandre reappeared in the spring of 1953, and it was back to business as usual, but she had earned herself the nickname of "The Flounder".

Her passenger configurations were changed several times, but she ended up working a balance of services.  She was a transatlantic liner for nine months out of the year, and a cruise ship with her near-sister Antilles for the remainder.  However, in the fall of 1962, Flandre was taken out of transatlantic service, painted all-white, and cruised in the Caribbean year-round.  The picture at right shows her near-sister, the Antilles, which is believed how Flandre looked serving in this role.

She only returned to the North Atlantic once, and that was for two crossings to Montreal, in conjunction with Expo '67.  Shortly after that, Flandre was completely withdrawn.

The Flandre was sold to the Costa Line, and after extensive refitting, which turned her into an all-first class ship, she was renamed the Carla C.  As such, her first assignment was not for Costa, but for Princess Cruises, who marketed her as the Princess Carla (one should note, however, that she was not renamed Princess Carla - only marketed under that name).  For Princess, she sailed to the Mexican Riviera, and from there, through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean.  It was the Carla C, in fact, that was the inspiration for "The Love Boat".

In 1970, Princess was through using the Carla C, and so she was returned to Costa.  Under Costa, she was assigned to a cruise service out of San Juan, where she went to Curacao, La Guaira, Grenada, Martinique, and St. Thomas.

In 1974 and 1975, the Carla C was converted to a motorliner.  With this, her steam equipment was removed, and more efficient Stork-Werkspor diesel engines were installed.

In 1986, Costa renamed her Carla Costa, instead of Carla C.  However, no other changes were made to her, and in 1992, she was sold again...

She was sold to the Epiritoki Line, under the Greek flag, and was renamed the Pallas Athena.  On this service, she ran seven-day cruises starting out of Athens, going through the Aegean Isles, as well as Turkey.

However, this service was short-lived.  While passengers were getting off the ship, a fire broke out in an empty stateroom on March 23, 1994.  Though all the passengers got off safely, there was still a fire to contend with.  The superstructure and funnel both caved in themselves, and after the fire was put out, she was declared a total loss.  On December 25, 1994, she arrived at the Aliaga Company's scrapyards in Turkey.  It was a very sad end for a liner with such a very long and diverse career.

Flandre Vital Statistics

Gross tonnage: 20,477 (1952); 19,975 (1968)

Length: 600 feet

Width: 80 feet

Machinery: Steam turbines, twin screw (1952); Stork-Werkspor Diesels (1975)

Speed: 22 knots

Capacity: 402 First, 389 Cabin, 97 Tourist (1952); 339 First, 285 Tourist, 100 interchangeable (1954); 232 First, 511 Tourist (1955); 754 First (1968)

Built: Ateliers et Chantiers de France, Dunkirk, France, 1952

Demise: Burned out on March 23, 1994, later scrapped in Turkey.

Thanks to The Great Ocean Liners for the picture of the Pallas Athena burned out.

The Classic Liners of Long Ago © 2000-2007 Nick Works, Inc.