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Flandre and her sister ship
Antilles were built for the French
Line to be operated in the Caribbean as
cruise ships. The French Line had three
liners operating on the Atlantic run at
that time, Liberte, Ile
de France and De
Grasse. As Flandre was
nearing completion, they took the
decision to retire De Grasse and operate
Flandre on the Atlantic run in her
place. Flandre set out on her
maiden voyage from Le Havre - New York
July 23rd 1952. With that crossing being
plagued by electrical problems, she had
to undergo an extensive overhaul at New
York to repair the design faults.
Flandre’s return to service
9 months later saw her operated between
the Atlantic run and cruising until the
early 1960s. The French Lines 66,348 ton
France entered service in 1962 as
a replacement for the Ile
de France and
Liberte.
Flandre was taken off the Atlantic run
soon after the France entered
service to be operated as a full time
cruise ship alongside her sister ship
Antilles. With the French Line
having encountered financial difficulties
by that time, they sold Flandre to
the Costa Line in 1968. Costa had bought
this ship to be operated on cruises
throughout the Mediterranean under the
name Carla C. To help keep
Carla C operating beyond
the 30 years liners were expected to stay
in service, her turbines were replaced by
diesel engines in 1974. She was operated
under the name Carla Costa
from 1986 until the Greek
‘Epirotiki’ line acquired her
in 1992. After being renamed
Pallas Athena, Epirotiki
operated her on cruises out of Athens -
Aegean Islands and Turkey. Passengers
from Pallas Athena were
disembarking at Athens March 23rd 1994
when a fire broke out in an empty
stateroom. The fire soon spread
throughout the ship causing enough damage
for her to be declared a total loss. The
wreck of Pallas Athena was
towed to Turkey’s Aliaga ship
breakers in December 1994.
Antilles was lost during a
Caribbean cruise after running aground
near Mustique 8th January 1971.
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