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PASTEUR / BREMEN / REGINA MAGNA / SAUDI PHIL I / SAUDI

The PASTEUR was a 29,253 gross ton ship, built by Chantiers et Ateliers de St Nazaire in 1938 for the French company, Compagnie de Navigation Sud Atlantique. Her details were - length overall 696.9ft x beam 90.2ft, one funnel, two masts, quadruple screw and a speed of 26 knots. There was accommodation designed for 275-1st class, 126-2nd and 338-3rd class passengers. Launched on Feb.15th 1938 by Madame Pasteur Vallery-Radot, wife of the grandson of Louis Pasteur and intended for the Bordeaux - South America service, her maiden voyage was delayed by the outbreak of fire while fitting out. The maiden voyage was re-scheduled for September, but the declaration of war forced cancellation and the ship was laid up at Saint Nazaire. On June 1st 1940 she loaded 400 tons of gold from the reserve of the Banque de France and sailed unescorted to Halifax, where she was requisitioned by the British government after the fall of France. Placed under the management of Cunard-White Star Line, she was converted to a troopship and was one of the few fast transports that could cross the Atlantic in small, unescorted, fast convoys. In October 1941 she made a voyage from Glasgow to Halifax with a varied complement, including officers arranging the transport of 20,000 British troops across Canada and the Pacific to Singapore. In 1943 she visited Freetown, Capetown, Durban, Aden and Port Tewfik and then back to the Clyde and Halifax. Before the battle of Alamein she had carried 10,000 men of the British 8th Army and 5,000 men of the US 1st Army Corps. During the war she had carried 220,000 troops and 30,000 wounded and steamed 370,669 miles. After the war she repatriated US and Canadian troops and in June 1945 she was returned to France and carried French troops to Indo-China and was used as a troopship until 1957 when she was laid up at Brest. Purchased by North German Lloyd of Bremen in Sept.1957, she was extensively rebuilt to 32,336 tons, given accommodation for 216-1st and 906-tourist class passengers, and renamed BREMEN. She commenced Bremen - Southampton - Cherbourg - New York voyages on 9th July 1959 and continued this service, with some cruising voyages until 1971 when she was sold to Chandris Lines and renamed REGINA MAGNA. Used for cruising until Oct.1974 when she was laid up at Piraeus until 1977 when she was sold to Saudi Arabia and renamed SAUDI PHIL I. She was moored at Jeddah as an accommodation ship for Phillipine stevedores working at the port. Renamed SAUDI FILIPINAS I in 1978, she was eventually sold to Taiwanese shipbreakers in 1980. She left Jeddah in tow of the Panamanian tug SUMATRA for Kaohsiung, but developed a heavy list in bad weather, and on June 9th 1980 she sank in the Arabian Sea. [Steamers of the Past by J.H.Isherwood, Sea Breezes magazine, April 1984]

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