SS Reina del Mar (1955)

Arthur Fleischmann, Birth of Aphrodite, was displayed in the Embarcation Hall

Launched on June 7, 1955, it offered modern amenities, like private plumbing in passenger cabins and air-conditioning throughout the ship. It was designed to carry freight and passengers, with first, cabin and tourist class accommodations.[1] A perspex statue of Aphrodite, Birth of Aphrodite, which was carved by Arthur Fleischmann stood in the Embarcation Hall.[4]

Pacific Steam operated it as a liner between the United Kingdom and the west coast of South America,[2] making stops at ports in France, Spain, the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and along the western coast of South America.[1] Some passengers were on the ship from one port to another, which may have been as few as a day or two, while others traveled several weeks for the entire trip between Liverpool to Valparaíso, Chile.[1]

Due to the advent of international travel by jet aircraft about 1960, fewer passengers traveled extended distances by passenger liner.[1]

It operated as a cruise ship—carrying up to 1,047 passengers—by Union-Castle Line, who chartered it to the Travel Savings Association (TSA) beginning in 1963.[2][3] Based in Southampton, the liner travelled to ports in Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, Canary Islands, West Africa between April and October. Chartered service, called "positioning voyages", ran the other months to South Africa, and then to ports in the Indian Ocean, and South America.[1]

Union-Castle purchased the ship outright in 1973.[2][3] As was the case for many of the older liners, its business suffered due to the oil crisis of 1973–1974,[3] and it was retired in April 1975[1] and sold that year to Tung Cheng Steel of Taiwan.[3] It was then scrapped.[1]