With 62 cruise ships planned to visit Portland Port this year it is timely to look back over 60 years to an aerial view of S.S. Himalaya

This photo dates from 1959 and shows Himalaya making her way up the English Channel off Portland to Tilbury.

She had been built in 1948 for the Orient Line’s Tilbury -Bombay-Australia route. In 1958 she pioneered a new South Pacific route from Melbourne and Sydney to San Francisco and Los Angeles. She measured 27,900 gross registered tons and cost £3.5 million.

Dorset Echo: Himalaya off Portland in 1960Himalaya off Portland in 1960

In 1959-60 she was converted to all tourist class and was often used for assisted immigrant sailings. She completed her final commercial voyage in October 1974 and was scrapped the following year in Taiwan.