Begona

Excellent photo. Built 1945 as Vassar Victory by Bethlehem Fairfield Baltimore.Bought 1947 by Sitmar and renamed Castelbianco. Later converted at Trieste in 1952 into a passenger ship entering service as Castel Bianco running between Caribbean and S America. Bought by Compania Trasatlantica Espanola in 1957 and given major refit. Inaugurated Southampton sailings in 1958 being the first Spanish ship for over 20 years to regularly use that port. Working round voyages between there and Spain, Canary Islands, Venezuela, Colombia , Trinidad. Passengers 111 special tourist, 830 tourist. Speed 16 knots. Had a sister Montserrat. Broken up 1975.

Is a great photo of a fine looking ship,I,d bet it was a good ship to work on.

nice photo of a fine ship
terry music man

Thank you so much, for this fantastique Picture.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe this ship was redesigned by Vladimir Yourkevich, the designer of the French liner NORMANDIE. is that true?

Finn
Cannot find any mention of this on the internet. It appears that almost to the end of his days he worked as a consultant for big shipbuilding companies in England, Canada and the USA. Vladimir Yourkevich died in December 1964 and as Begona was refitted in 1952/7 it is possible??
More on Castel Bianco here:-
http://www.ssmaritime.com/sitmar0.htm

Finn, I believe you are right, I will check tonight at home in Eliseo & Piccione's excellent book on Sitmar and the V-ships and let you know if I can confirm it.

Excelente foto. Gracias!!!