Special: SITMAR!

What is the link between National Geographic in February 1956, 2 cruises I did in 2018 and 2019, and a drone shoot that I did in 2024 in Ijmuiden?

SITMAR

Sitmar was an Italian shipping line that started way back in 1937 and somehow survived Facism, World War 2 and the post-war merging of various shipping lines in Italy into the Italian Line. Initially the company started with cargo and gradually started replacing the cargo vessels with passenger ships from 1947. The line was popular and ran some very good serviced line voyages and cruises. Traditionally the line had taken over older ships from other lines to convert them for their own use, like the Cunard 1950's sisters Sylvania and Carinthia, respectively becoming Fairwind and Fairland after an extensive rebuild, altering their appearance significantly. Both these ships survived well into the early 21^st century before being scrapped.

Fairsea:

The earliest passenger ship would be the Fairsea, she was a special case if you look into her career! This ship was designed as a C3 passenger and cargo design to run for the Moore-McCormack Company as the Rio de la Plata. War however would see her being taken over for military use, and that is a big understatement! She was rebuilt to become the USS Charger, she was converted into an escort carrier (a type of smaller aircraft carrier), she would also sail under the British Royal Navy during the war as HMS Charger before being returned to the US. In 1947 she was sold as she had been decommissioned, she was converted into the passenger ship Fairsea for Sitmar and became a very well known sight in Australian waters.

This is where National Geographic comes in! In this article titled “The Making of a New Australia” in the February 1956 issue on National Geographic, we can see fantastic shot of her arriving in Melbourne with 1500 immigrants onboard.

In 1984 the line built its first newbuild called the Fairsky, this was a major step forward and this ship would also survive well into the 21^st century before finally being scrapped in 2013. The next ship would be built in 1988, she would be the Sitmar FairMajesty and was launched but still being fitted out when Sitmar was sold to P&O, in the meantime 2 more ships had been ordered and construction had already started although they were not named yet. All 3 of these ships would be taken over by P&O and transferred to their Princess Cruises fleet to become Star Princess, Crown Princess and Regal Princess.

Sitmar FairMajesty:

She would become the Star Princess for Princess Cruises but later became the Arcadia for P&O in 1997 to replace the famous Canberra. In 2003 she was transferred to become the Ocean Village, in 2010 she was yet again transferred to P&O Cruises Australia to become their Pacific Pearl. In 2017 she was sold to Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), a British cruise line that made her their new flagship called Columbus.

This is where JGADV comes in, I had photographed ships of this cruise line before but by 2018 I had finally booked a cruise again after sailing Caronia and QE2 in 2004, it would be on CMV's Marco Polo (more about her can be seen in other blogs and albums), this was such a good experience that I booked Columbus in winter 2018 and again in 2019, photographing CMV ships whenever possible was high on my list in those days. And then … Covid happened! This spelled the end of CMV and eventually Columbus would be scrapped in 2021.

Crown Princess:

This ship was finished by 1990 and sailed for Princess Cruises until 2002 when she would be transferred to A'Rosa Cruises as the A'Rosa Blu, she was the only seagoing ship for A'Rosa and by now the company operated an impressive fleet of river cruise ships but no seagoing ships. In 2004 she would again be transferred, this time to AIDA cruises to become the AIDAblu. Another transfer in 2007 saw her serving as Ocean Village Two for Ocean Village before transferring yet again to P&O Australia as the Pacific Jewel, she was eventually sold off to Indian newly formed Jalesh Cruises as the Karnika. Covid saw her eventually being scrapped in 2021. Somehow this ship never appeared on my radar so I never photographed her.

Regal Princess:

The last ship in this story saw similar service at first as the Regal Princess for Princess Cruises, being finished in 1991 she saw service as such until 2007 when she was also transferred to P&O Australia as the Pacific Dawn. She would serve alongside her sister and other fleetmate until she was supposed to go to CMV to become the Amy Johnson in 2020, Covid however cancelled these plans and because CMV went bankrupt in this crisis, she was sold again to a dubious company that planned to use her as a bitcoin ship called Satoshi, seeing that these people didn't have any clue about how to run a company, let alone a full cruise ship and couldn't get any proper insurance and operational standards, this plan failed as well and the ship remained in Panama although she was supposedly sold for scrap like her sister. A miracle happened and she was taken over by a new European startup that would become Ambassador Cruise Line. In 2022 she was refurbished as the Ambience.

Again this is where JGADV comes in! I was originally booked on her maiden voyage as Ambience, however this cruise line also had its problems in the beginning and her maiden voyage was delayed, for this reason I could not make it to the cruise and changed my plans for that period. She proved to be highly popular and is now (December 2025) still sailing successfully as it seems. By now I have finally been able to photograph her and even made it to perform a drone flight for her departure in Ijmuiden in 2024. She is now the last surviving ship linked to Sitmar, although she never actually sailed as intended, she was ordered for Sitmar and one can only guess what her name was intended to be. I will still try to sail on her in the near future and if I make it, the story will of course follow here.