Orkney Image Library

Stromness Shopping Week ????

The Sunniva looks like a nice ship there. She even looks like she could have made an attractive small cruise ship.

Where is she these days?

Picture would probably have been taken on a saturday night when Ola and Sunniva used to do a quick shuffle of berths to discharge their cargo's and then be ready to load for Sunday Morning. If flags are up then I would hazard a guess it's the Saturday Night of Shopping Week.

The St Sunniva was bought by I think Dr. Mohammed from Dubai. She was bought for cruising in the Persian Gulf, but the Gulf war among other things put paid to that and as far as I know, she was scrapped.
A sad end to the best sea ship for her size that I ever sailed in.

I miss the P&O days!

It is interesting that the rake of the bow of this ship is similar to the 1931 launch ship by the same name. I assume that the stern is of a more modern shape.

The stern of St Sunniva was an average ro-ro ferry transom but St Sunniva in my opinion was the most elegant of the North boats.
The stern rounded down into the water whereas most ships of the time had a squared off area, the rounded stern of the Sunniva would have made her more dynamic, moving astern.

RE comment on resemblance to a cruise ship - her sister ship has recently been converted to a cruise ship and called into Lerwick earlier this year. Even in red and white she looked very familiar. As she was replacing a vessel sunk in the Antarctic they maybe appreciated the strong bow.

Does anyone know of the existence of a model of the 1931 boat (except in the Liverpool Maritime museum)? Also I have some pictures of the 1931 boat but would appreciate more if possible. Does anyone know where they might be available. I have the pictures from the web but would appreciate a more closer perspective.

Am not sure if it is a saturaday night because the St Ola usally anchored out in the harbour when the St Sunniva was unloading.

I am quite sure that the photo is taken on a Saturday night, as the Sunniva didn't go on to the lay by berth on the Wednesday. The Sunniva only discharged the cars on a Saturday night, any freight was discharged on Sunday forenoon and this normally took only a couple of minutes, so she was nearly always on the inside of the pier by the time the Ola arrived.