S.S. Monarch of Bermuda

The Monarch of Bermuda was launched on March 17th,1931 by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. in Newcastle for the Furness, Withy, & Company and was used on the New York-Bermuda service. In 1934, the S.S. Morro Castle caught fire while at sea and the Monarch of Bermuda acted as a rescue ship. In 1939, it was converted to a troop ship and operated by the Ministry of War Transport. During her time as a warship, the Monarch of Bermuda took place in many important military missions, the most popular was the participation in Sicily, Italy that lead up to the Normandy invasion. A fire almost destroyed her in 1947 during the reconversion back to a passenger ship. It was rebuilt for slightly less tonage capacity and had accomodations for 1,600 single class passengers. The vessel was purchased by the Ministry of Transport and renamed S.S. New Austrailia. At this time, she was used as an immigrant transport ship used on the United Kingdom-Austraila service. The ship was again sold to the Greek Line and renamed S.S. Arkadia and began the Bremen-Quebec-Montreal service. She was scrapped in Valencia in December 1966.

• Length: 176.48 m (579 ft)
• Beam: 23.37 m (76.7 ft)
• Propulsion: Three Funnels, four masts and four propellers,
• Speed: 20 knots (23-24 Mph)
• Capacity: 22,242 tons
• Occupancy 830 1st class passengers

Michael Tricamo (Born: 1906) was on this ship in 1932 with his wife Eveylyn Masone (Born: 1906) sailing back to New York after a vacation in Bermuda.