After a five year hiatus, it was time to add another installment to my ongoing video series, THE WORLD's PASSENGER FLEET. VOLUME SIX took a long time to arrive due to several factors, primarily my unforgiving schedule and a desire to incorporate the latest in computer video editing technology. Unfortunately, learning the basics of this program, Final Cut Pro, did not happen overnight.

Early this year, a revised version called Final Cut Express was released with an excellent tutorial. Suddenly, I "got" it and was off to the races! Now, it is only a matter of months, not years, before VOLUME SIX is joined by SEVEN and EIGHT. I will then begin to revise the first five as well as start a new series entitled "Let's Go Aboard", showcasing on board footage of select ships from my travels including ACHILLE LAURO, ALFERDOSS, and SHANGHAI to PRINCE GEORGE, LEONID SOBINOV, and dozens of other obscure and/or dearly departed classics.

To the audience that embraced the first five videos, little has changed as far as the content and structure are concerned. As with the others, the latest installment features exterior footage of fifty ships in one hour, presented in alphabetical order with basic titles, a background music soundtrack and my voice as narration.

A number of technical improvements have been made, however. With digital technology, some footage has been manipulated for a better presentation. Transitions are now abundant, and a multilayered soundtrack has enabled me to mix live sounds with music and the narration, allowing for an occasional ship's whistle to prevail.

The earliest footage dates from 1997 and continues all the way to 2003. All footage before December 1998 was transferred to digital, and all footage from December 1998 was originally shot on digital format.

Here is a detailed look at the story behind the ships and footage:

MV AKDENIZ: In June of 1998, I embarked on MARCO POLO for a cruise from Istanbul to Piraeus. AKDENIZ had just been taken over by the Istanbul Teknik University in nearby Tuzla. Her new owners were kind enough to fetch me from my hotel and take me via bus and boat to this graceful beauty, which was anchored off the sunny Turkish coast. I spent hours on board marveling at her pristine wood-paneled lounges and staterooms before I was allowed several passes around the ship from her launch in the late golden-hued afternoon.

MV AMBASSADOR II: This arrival footage of the Port Canaveral-based casino ship (ex PRINS OBERON) was shot from Premier's OCEANIC prior to one of the latter's three night cruises to Nassau in early 2000.

MV ARCADIA (P&O): Shot in 1999 on ARCADIA's maiden visit to Los Angeles from the harbor cruise boat. Unfortunately, the former STAR PRINCESS never seemed to arrive or depart from a west coast port in daylight.

MV ASTRA I (during conversion to ARION): This footage was shot in the fall of 1999 at Lisbon. I had just arrived on the ALBATROS during a positioning voyage from Dover to Genoa and was whisked away by famed maritime historian Luis Miguel Correia and his savvy daughter, Inis, for a tour of the port and its maritime attractions. Our first stop was the ASTRA I, which was undergoing a transformation to the ARION. At the time, her proposed new name was LA SIRENE. If you look closely, you will see new sponsons being welded to her stern and, among the pierside discards, a spiral staircase and much paneling.

MV BOLERO: Our fall 1999 visit Ajaccio, Corsica aboard ALBATROS was highlighted by the dawn arrival of Festival Cruises' BOLERO. The former STARWARD is shown here in the livery of her charterers, First Choice Cruises.

MV CALYPSO: In December of 1998, one of the ships I encountered near Piraeus was the laid up CALYPSO (former CANGURO VERDE), which had recently had her Regency Cruises livery painted out. She would soon be purchased by Louis Cruise Lines.

MV CAPTAIN OMAR (COLUMBUS CARAVELLE): In November of 1999, Martin Cox and I (and about three other fellow passengers) took Star Ferry's harbor cruise several times in order to get footage of the ships at anchor off Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport. The gaudiest of them all, the CAPTAIN OMAR, was once the chic expedition cruise vessel COLUMBUS CARAVELLE. Sadly, lack of patronage stopped Star from offering these great opportunities to photograph the overnight casino ships less than a year later.

MV CARNIVAL SPIRIT: Although I was frustrated to not be sailing on one of her inaugural offerings, I did get to L.A. harbor to photograph the brand new CARNIVAL SPIRIT on her maiden sailing in 2001. It was well worth the wait as the lighting and accompanying fireboat spray will attest.

MV CARNIVAL VICTORY: Shot in a blissful pre-9-11 New York before ship watching and photography became suspect, CARNIVAL VICTORY is shown departing on a hazy summer afternoon. I had just returned from a week aboard REMBRANDT, which was also about to depart for one of her final cruises before Premier Cruises shut down.

SS CATALINA: The CATALINA was a legendary fixture in Southern California. She is one of my first childhood memories, from a sunny, salt-drenched crossing to Avalon from San Pedro in 1963. I remember eating chewy taffy while singing along with her onboard clown, Saltwater Pappy, and seeing my first flying fish from her decks. Here, she returns to the series half submerged at Ensenada and in a sorry cosmetic state in the summer of 2000. Despite appearances, recent surveys claim her hull and superstructure are sound, and efforts are still under way to raise her.

MV COSTA MARINA: Initially, I was not sure, but this former container ship's unique and innovative architecture finally got to me. I was able to capture her from the decks of ALBATROS in the fall of 1999; first at Vigo, then at Lisbon as she passed under the majestic Tagus Bridge.

MV DISNEY WONDER: Captured at Port Canaveral during my early 2000 visit. She is one of the more handsome modern ships with her twin funnels, long bow, and pseudo-cruiser stern.

SS DOLPHIN IV: From the decks of OCEANIC, DOLPHIN IV is shown steaming out of Port Canaveral in her final year of service in Canaveral Cruise Line's colors. She was docked directly astern of us and really seemed to struggle to get out of her berth, with bow thruster exhausts spewing forth all they could. This happy, informal little ship is next seen at Freeport in December of 2002 after being sold to Indian shipbreakers. Streaked with rust and mold, she would soon end up at Alang for dismantling.

MV EMERALD EMPRESS: In early 1998, I went to Tampa to visit BRITANIS in layup and found a number of interesting passenger ships along the way. One was the EMERALD EMPRESS, originally the CASTALIA, and well into her umpteenth incarnation as a gambling ship. In this footage, she is being transformed, with her port side still white and her starboard side freshly painted in deep crimson and blue. I might add, the wind gusts were incredible, and it took several takes to get a presentable shot or two.

MV ENCHANTED CAPRI: In the fall of 1998, I was able to take a week-long cruise to the western Caribbean aboard the venerable ENCHANTED ISLE (ex ARGENTINA, etc.). Upon my return, I spent a day aboard ENCHANTED CAPRI, the former Soviet ferry/cruise ship AZERBAYZHAN. She had just joined Commodore, undertaking short gambling cruises from New Orleans. She is shown from the "zoo cruise" boat up the Mississippi River and departing at day's end.

MV FUNCHAL: Shown here before her 1999 refit that added an extra deck to her stern, the FUNCHAL arrives at Vigo and departs from Gibraltar from the decks of ALBATROS. I had made arrangements well in advance to visit FUNCHAL at Vigo, so opted to not take any excursions ashore. Rough weather in the Bay of Biscay delayed FUNCHAL's arrival, however, and just as my elated friends returned from their excursion, her pretty profile appeared on the horizon. ALBATROS soon sailed (see closing credits), and my chance to visit this fine Portuguese ship (and the historic Spanish port) was missed. The following year, I booked a two week cruise to the Baltic on her, so she will return in her revised form in a future volume.

GTS INFINITY: Shown here at Ft. Lauderdale in her original livery fresh from the shipbuilders at Chantiers, then again in Los Angeles on her maiden departure following her christening ceremony. Certainly one of the most well-appointed ships in recent memory, even if her profile is less than graceful. She is at least an interesting and dynamic ship. Her livery has since changed to a more conservative blue and white.

MV ISLAND DAWN: For a moment, this ship sailed for Sea Escape Cruises under this name. The former ST GEORGE is shown at Freeport just prior to her next career as TEXAS TREASURE. From the decks of the arriving DOLPHIN, she is shown at dawn, then from pierside in the bright Bahamian light.

MV JIMEI: JIMEI was once a Scandinavian beauty, formerly Jahre Line's PRINSES RAGNHILD. After several years in service for the Chinese government as a gambling ship, she looks worse for wear at Hong Kong, despite a recent refit that rejuvenated her interior spaces.

MV JOYWAVE: The FINLANDIA of 1968 could never have imagined a future filled with so many rebuilds and name changes. With more cosmetic surgery than Michael Jackson and more owners than just about any passenger ship in history, she is shown at her Hong Kong anchorage as the gambling ship JOYWAVE. Within a year, her name would change to GOLDEN PRINCESS.

MV MARCO POLO: The MARCO POLO is one of the handsomest ships in service. Her excellent proportions spring from her origins as the Soviet ALEXANDR PUSHKIN. She is joined in this volume by two less altered sisters, the SHOTA RUSTAVELI and TARAS SHEVCHENKO. MARCO POLO is seen first from the bluffs of Santorini in June of 1998, and later from the decks of FUNCHAL at Copenhagen in the summer of 2000.

MV MARIA YERMOLOVA: There is always an interesting gathering of small passenger ships at Istanbul, loading and discharging people and cargo to and from the Black Sea. The little MARIA YERMOLOVA was sandwiched between several research and cargo ships during my visit in June of 1998.

MV MEDITERRANEAN SKY: In the summer of 1998, I took a train from Athens to Patras solely to visit the MEDITERRANEAN SKY, the former Ellerman liner CITY OF YORK. The heavily rebuilt ship dazzled me with some surprising original features (wheelhouse, bell, bar, wood paneling), despite her weathered but futuristic exterior. My day on board would be my first and only visit to this wonderful old dowager, which was eventually towed to Eleusis, where she capsized in early 2003.

SS MELODY: When flying in to Athens from the west, look down at the harbor and you will see the wreck of the MELODY off a small island half way between Piraeus and Salamis. It took days to find the right ferry to Salamis to pass close enough to get decent footage in the summer of 1998. The seas were incredibly choppy and it was hard to stay standing, let alone shoot this abandoned, burnt-out, half sunk cruise ship, which was originally the French combi-liner DJEBEL DIRA of 1948.

SS OCEAN EXPLORER I: My first visit to this fantastic 1944-built twin funneled liner (since her most successful incarnation as Eastern Cruise Line's EMERALD SEAS in 1982) came in December of 1998 when she was laid up at Eleusis awaiting a charter for the World Cruise Company. Her next career would prove disastrous and spell the end of the charterer, but that will have to be recounted with the next volume. Here, she is fresh from hotel service at Expo '98 in Lisbon and still sports their livery. She was absolutely immaculate and a treat for my lenses.

MV OCEAN PRINCESS: After only three years, she was transferred from Princess to P&O and renamed OCEANA. The fourth unit in the SUN PRINCESS series of ships, OCEAN PRINCESS is shown departing Los Angeles on her maiden visit.

SS OCEANBREEZE: Martin Cox and I had driven all night from Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale to catch the DISCOVERY SUN on one of her Freeport crossings. We were so tired, we could barely stay awake that morning. But seeing the oncoming OCEANBREEZE (formerly Shaw Savill's SOUTHERN CROSS) was inspirational. Within a few days, we would be on her decks watching the departing DISCOVERY SUN. OCEANBREEZE returns to the series in Imperial Majesty Cruises' livery just in the nick of time. Within a month of the video's release, she was sold for scrapping in India (July 2003) and her handsome profile will now be relegated to the nostalgia bins.

SS OCEANIC: OCEANIC returns in her 1999 maroon and gold Premier livery. Within a year, she would be called BIG RED BOAT in company literature, even though the name OCEANIC thankfully never left her bows. However, the gold band would disappear and the maroon hull would return to a crimson shade as her funnel took on a white livery with red "P" logo. Soon afterwards, Premier Cruises would disappear.

MV ODYSSEUS: This Spanish-built beauty returns in the Royal Olympic blue hulled livery. Shown with a dramatic wind-swept Mykonos as a backdrop, she is photographed arriving in brilliant afternoon light from the afterdecks of MARCO POLO in 1998. Ironically, ODYSSEUS was once named MARCO POLO when she was in far eastern cruise service.

MV OLYMPIC COUNTESS: The tan hulled Epirotiki ships always were a sight for my sore eyes, and the OLYMPIC COUNTESS was no exception. The former CUNARD COUNTESS has a dynamic and well-proportioned profile. She is shown in this volume with Istanbul (shot from Dolmabache Palace and the decks of MARCO POLO) and Santorini as a backdrop and would soon take on Royal Olympic Cruises' blue hull livery.

R SIX: Shown in the summer of 2000 at Helsinki, Finland, from the decks of a departing FUNCHAL, the brand new R SIX would only have another full year of service before her owners, Renaissance Cruises, filed for bankruptcy in the aftermath of 9-11.

MV REGAL VOYAGER: Another rare find captured on one of my Tampa escapades to the former BRITANIS and REGENT SEA was the REGAL VOYAGER. She looked somewhat ominous with her bow open and afterdecks cut down. I sensed she did not want to be photographed, and if the wind gusts were a measure of that, I was right.

MV ROMANTICA: Poor ROMANTICA. By far one of the oldest ships in service, I was happy to capture her on volume FIVE sailing from Perama to Cyprus to a new future under Paradise Cruises' ownership just a few months before she is shown here as a gutted, burnt-out hulk. I was in Cyprus in December of 1997 to sail in the dowager PRINCESA VICTORIA, ironically a former fleetmate of the 1939-built ROMANTICA, and the ship that came to her rescue in October of 1997 when she caught fire between Limassol and Haifa. Everyone was rescued and ROMANTICA was eventually towed to the outer harbor of Limassol where she sat for several months before going to scrappers in Egypt. I hired a sailboat to queasily take me out alongside the hulk on New Year's Day to get the sad footage shown in this volume.

MV ROTTERDAM (6): Like getting used to a new step mother, it has taken me some time to get adjusted to Holland-America's 1997-built co-flagship. Her predecessor was one of the most beloved liners of all time. The newest ROTTERDAM is captured in March of 2003 at her berth in Ft. Lauderdale and in some nice sail-away footage taken from the steady stern of a southbound CORAL PRINCESS.

MV ROYAL VIKING SUN: This ship returns to the series on a sunny Los Angeles afternoon in Cunard's orange funnel livery prior to her transfer to Seabourn Cruises and a short-lived stint as their SEABOURN SUN.

NS SAVANNAH: Despite raindrops and a nasty little bug on my lens (not visible through the viewfinder, unfortunately), I am thrilled to have captured this hugely important ship for my series. The first and only nuclear powered passenger ship, she is a beautifully streamlined masterpiece. Sadly, she is now neglected and abandoned at Ft. Eustis, VA, in the U.S. Reserve Fleet, and awaiting scrapping. On this day, lightning crackled in the sky, thunder roared, and rain gushed down upon us. When it stopped, an unbearable greenhouse humidity prevailed.

MY SAVARONA: No, not the Knack song from the early 1980s, but perhaps the most luxurious yacht ever to sail. SAVARONA was built for an American heiress and sold to Turkey for ailing leader Ataturk to live aboard to nurse his declining health. She was seized by the Germans in WW2 and later returned as a Turkish training ship, only to burn out in 1970. She was completely rebuilt and now carries 32 guests on special charters. I first encountered the William Francis Gibbs-designed masterpiece in the picturesque harbor of Vittoriosa at Malta in the summer of 1998. I next found her in Istinye, Turkey, that December. After numerous urgent calls and pleas to her owners, I was granted a visit. As one would do when visiting a palace in the region, I donned plastic shoe coverings and was shown about the magnificent ship (but the onboard footage will have to wait for another series). I next found her in Miami during a winter charter, looking majestic if somewhat dwarfed by the tonnage behind her.

MV SEA HARMONY: The 1957-built STATENDAM was once pristine and the pride of Holland America Line. She is shown here in a sorry state, while in layup at Eleusis alongside AMERIKANIS in June and December of 1998. Although AMERIKANIS was in much better condition, she was sold for scrap in 2001. The SEA HARMONY (with Regency Cruises' logo and the name REGENT STAR on her bows and stern) lingers on, with a starboard list, more rust, and very dim prospects.

MV SEA WORLD: Another adventure, my visit to SEA WORLD at Shekou, China, in November of 1999 was a crap shoot. Martin Cox and I took the ferry from Hong Kong to see if we could find the former ANCERVILLE. Fortunately, we walked in the correct direction from the terminal and found the closed down ship surrounded by a city center on her port side and a country club on her starboard side. She had been landlocked after becoming a static attraction. A fire shut her down in 1998, but we were able to barter our way on board with some old Paquet brochures. We later picnicked with bottled teas and salty snacks on the lawn underneath her Chantiers stern. I returned in December of 2000 for a second and more complete tour, at which time dredgers were at work to determine if she could be moved to the new shoreline and refurbished for future stationary service.

SS SEABREEZE I: This handsome Italian-built beauty returns to the series with a gold banded blue hull and blue funnel in the 1998 Premier Cruises livery. Sh e was literally on her last legs at this time with black smoke belching from her worn boilers at Ft. Lauderdale. She would linger long enough to witness the collapse of Premier in 2000. At that time, with white funnel (see future volume), she sank in rough seas off Cape Hatteras in late 2000.

MV SHOTA RUSTAVELI: The opening shot shows mist rising from the industrial harbor of Iliychevsk, Ukraine as the handsome SHOTA RUSTAVELI greets the dawn of a December day in 1998. It was the coldest day I have ever experienced, although the clear blue skies belie that on video tape. It took years to get the feeling back in my frozen fingers, but the footage I obtained of the SHOTA, her sister, TARAS SHEVCHENKO, and the dying former Cunard sisters LEONID SOBINOV and FEDOR SHALYAPIN made it all worthwhile! SHOTA was berthed alongside her near twin, TARAS SHEVCHENKO, and I was able to get complimentary footage of one from the ice covered decks of the other.

MV SILVER STAR: Shot first from the bluffs in Santorini and then from the departing MARCO POLO, the SILVER STAR is the last of a vast series of former Soviet ships in the MIKHAIL KALININ class. In the final shots, I am actually standing at the gangway doors of MARCO POLO (another former Soviet ship) as her officers are patiently awaiting me to clear the area so the embarkation platform can be raised and our departure undertaken.

SS STAR OF VENICE: Another one caught just in the nick of time. I arrived at Genoa in ALBATROS in the fall of 1999 and raced to the shipyard for my appointment to inspect the STAR OF VENICE, originally the 1953-built LEDA. She was due to depart that afternoon, but the weather was ominous, and her departure was rescheduled for the following morning, allowing me time to document her quite fully. I returned the next day, which was beautifully sunlit, to bid her farewell as two tugs gradually led her out of the harbor and on toward Ravenna. She would last another year or so as a floating hotel before going to Turkish shipbreakers.

MV STAR PRINCESS: As though awaiting a cue, Princess Cruises' second STAR PRINCESS departed Los Angeles in brilliant sunlight following a huge downpour in the spring of 2003. Beautifully lit and still shining from her rainy bath, she was an impressive sight as she towered over everything in her path, giving us a salute as she aimed for the breakwater.

SS (EMPIRE) STATE: Within sight of SAVANNAH, another George Sharp-designed streamlined masterpiece sits in corroded disrepair at the Ft. Eustis, VA reserve fleet. The STATE was supposed to be the deluxe American President Lines cargo liner PRESIDENT JACKSON, but instead was completed as the Korean War troopship BARRETT. This innovative ship with rounded forward superstructure and twin uptakes would help set a precedent in modern ship design, ultimately leading to Sharp's masterpiece, SAVANNAH.

SS SUN: First seen at dawn from the decks of the DOLPHIN (ex ZION), the only other existing former Israeli passenger ship at the time, the SUN sits in uncertainty at Freeport in early 2000. Originally the SHALOM and the ultimate Zim liner, she had seen better days as the HANSEATIC, DORIC, ROYAL ODYSSEY, and REGENT SUN. The footage next moves to several different harbor vantage points before concluding with a brilliantly lit afternoon departure shot from DOLPHIN. Months later, under tow to Indian scrappers, the SUN would sink off South Africa.

MV TARAS SHEVCHENKO: Shot at the same time as the SHOTA footage in December of 1998. We were "smuggled" into the Iliychevsk shipyard (something that would have been inconceivable during the Cold War) by our hosts, who bartered with the stout female guards by offering vodka, cartons of cigarettes, and other gifts. Then, we hid in the belly of a tugboat amidst rusting coffee pots and pin up girl posters until a deck cargo of shipyard workers was disgorged at the far end of the harbor. We were then allowed up top to photograph a wonderful collection of classic former soviet liners, including the brilliantly lit TARAS SHEVCHENKO in the frozen morning sun.

MV TATARIA: I was a bit nervous documenting this little Black Sea workhorse at Istanbul in June of 1998. The crowd around her seemed nefarious and very distrusting of my cameras as she was loaded to the nines with Turkish cargo for resale in former Soviet bloc ports. TATARIA was one of the few surviving TALLINN class ships and would soon be dragged ashore at Aliaga, Turkey, for scrapping.

SS THE TOPAZ: I have had a love affair with this 1956-built ship since sailing on her as CARNIVALE in 1982. She returns to this series in Thomson's rainbow livery, arriving in the wee hours (I still have scars from the mosquito bites) and then departing Port Canaveral on a balmy day in 1998. As I shot the footage, a fisherman caught a big fish and tried to get me to film him. I told him with camera still on target that "Sorry, this is MY big fish, so please let me finish..." He didn't understand and mumbled something I cannot repeat here.

MV WORLD RENAISSANCE: She is first seen departing Kusadasi in windy seas (note red stripe at top of blue hull), then at her berth in Piraeus a few years later (stripe changed to gold), then in a night shot at Copenhagen before a distant shot departing Piraeus. The WORLD RENAISSANCE was built at the peak of 1960s sleekness and has one of the most handsome profiles afloat. A fitting ship to close this volume.

Peter Knego, 4 July 2003

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