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9. Farewell to a Legend - cont'd. m o r n i n g of J a n u a r y 6th, 1953, whe n the two ships a l l e g e d l y m a n o e u v r e d close to each other in order to all ow p a s s e n g e r s of each a be tter vie w of the other ship. Both vessels surv iv ed the collision, and the RUYS c o mpleted her v oy ag e back to Rotterdam, whe re co mplete re pairs of the damage sust ai ne d were undertaken. Indonesia e v e n t u a l l y gained its i n d e p e n d e n c e and in De cember of 1957, after the conf i s c a t i o n of Dutch p r o p e r t y in Indonesia, W I L L E M RUYS was w i t h d r a w n from her usu al run. Initially, she ran R o t t e r d a m to New York, and then was cha rter ed to the E u r o p a - C a n a d a Line for t r a n satlantic service to Montreal, but passenger loads on this run wer e dismal, oft en a v e raging less than 100 per voyage. Not surprisingly, the ship soon was re turned to the KRL. She was dry d o c k e d by W i l t o n - F i j e n o o r d at R o t t e r d a m betwe en Sept em be r of 1958 and Febru a r y of 1959, and was e x t e n s i v e l y re built into a two-c la ss ship of 2 3 , 114 grt that could carry a total of 1 , 167 passengers. She joined ORANJ E and the 1930-built J OHAN VAN O L D E N B A R N E V E L T on a ne w r o u n d - t h e - w o r l d service via Oceania. This service i n i t i a l l y was qui te su cc essful but, despi te good passenger loads, incre a s i n g labour, m a i n t e n a n c e and fuel costs beg an to r e duce profitability. The oldest of the trio, J O H A N VAN O L D ENBARNEVELT, was sold late in 1962 to the Gre ek Line. Und er the name LAKONIA, she burn ed and sank, with the r e g r e ttable loss of 128 lives, in the A t l a n t i c off Made i r a in December of 1963. Finally, in 1964, W I L L E M RUYS and O R A N J E were w i t h d r a w n from service. Due to their e x cellent co ndition, however, they soon were p u r chas ed by Flotta Lauro, of Italy, w h i c h r e n a m e d them A C H I L L E L AURO and A N G E L I N A LAURO, re sp ec tively. The newly renamed A C H I L L E L AURO was sent to Sicily, where she was to unde rg o an extensive r e c o n s t r u c t i o n at the shi py ar d of CN Riuniti di Palermo. Wo rk was well u n d e r w a y when, on Augu st 29, 1965, she suff er ed a d e v a s t a t i n g fire w h i c h d e stroyed m uch of the refit work. Ir on ically, the A N G E L I N A LAURO, w h i c h was u n d e r g o i n g a si milar r e c o n s t r u c t i o n at a sh ipyard at Genoa, had suffere d an e q u a l l y severe fire onl y five days before the A C H I L L E LAURO burned! Six lives wer e lost in the ANGELINA'S; fire, but none in the blaze aboard the ACHI L L E LAURO. In any event, the r e f u r b i s h m e n t of bot h ve ssels was continued, and ACHI L L E LAURO finally e mer g e d from the s h i p y a r d on M a r c h 31, 1966. She was very n e a r l y a new ship, spo rt in g a fla re d bow, s t r e a m l i n e d superst r u c t u r e and two tall, ey e-catching, ta pered funne ls wit h s m o k e - d e f l e c t i n g tops. Internally, she had been tr ansformed into a m o d e r n tourist liner w h i c h boas t e d public rooms done in a c o n t e m p o r a r y style; w e l l - e q u i p p e d cabins w i t h priv at e f a c i lities and closed- c i r c u i t television; lido decks; pools, an d full a i r - c o n d i tioning. Her c a p a c i t y was now 1 , 731 pa ss engers, and her Gross tonnage had b ee n increased to 2 3 , 629. Her Net tonnage was 1 3 , 397 and her overa ll length was 6 4 2 . 9 feet. A l o n g with the s i milarly rebui lt A N G E L I N A LAURO, the A C H I L L E LAURO was en rolle d at Rome, the regi s t e r e d owner of b oth ships b e i n g Achi l l e Lauro. The two ships ente r e d the Lauro Lines' express mi grant serv ic e from Genoa to Sydney, Au stralia, and We ll ington, New Zealand, via Cape Town, South Africa. She often return ed to Europe via Cape H orn or the Panama Canal. These s c h e dul ed line voyages often wer e i n t e r s p e r s e d w i t h cruises o p e r a t e d from A u s tra lian and E u r o pean ports. It was on May 19, 1972, whi ls t u n d e r g o i n g a refit at G enoa prior to b e g i n ni ng one of these Eu ropean cruises, that A C H I L L E LAURO su ffered a second m a jor fire. This time, the damage was serious enough that she was out of s e r vice for some five mon th s while re pairs were made. Sh ortly after her return to service, the A u s t r a l i a route was a b a n d o n e d as the cont ra ct to carry m i grants had been awarded sol el y to Ch andris Lines. As a consequence, Lauro Lines decided to devot e their pa s s e n g e r ser vi ce s e x c l u s i v e l y to cruising.