Design and Construction (1935-1936):

Since the amalgamation in 1900 of Union and Castle Lines to form Union-Castle Line there had been a long period of consolidation and development of a unique service. However speed always remained important.

The 10 year mail contract agreed in 1936 called for the Southampton to Cape Town mail voyage to be reduced to 14 days. With admirable foresight, Union-Castle had ordered two new liners designed to make the Cape sailing in under two weeks; they were the Athlone Castle and Stirling Castle. Their entry into service enabled Thursdays at 4 pm to become the weekly sailing day and departure time. In fact this became a reliable feature and signature of Union-Castle Line until 1965 and the slogan soon became "Every Thursday at 4 o'clock".

So every Thursday at 4 pm there would be a deep throated blast of the whistle on one of the 8 Union-Castle mailships which each week, month in month out, would then pull away from their berth in Southampton Docks and head south to the sun in Cape Town. Then every Friday, soon after sunrise, another great Union-Castle liner would dock at Southampton, loaded with passengers, cargo and mail.

It was said that people at the Cape set their watches by the arrival of the mailship, just as the people of Southampton, hearing that whistle blast from the docks on a Thursday, knew that it was 4 pm precisely.

The regularity of this unique service owed much to Southampton's natural advantages, the most important of which is the rare phenomenon of two high tides in every 24 hours and the shelter provided by the Isle of Wight. As such it was the perfect big ship port and was used extensively in the 1950s and 60s by most of the world's famous liners.

It was the Athlone Castle and her sister the Stirling Castle that inaugurated this legendary Thursday at 4 o'clock schedule. The Athlone Castle was launched by HRH Princess Alice, wife of the Earl of Athlone, a former Governor-General of South Africa, on the 28th November 1935. On the 5th November 1937 she became the first mailship to call at Buffalo Harbour at East London and on the 22nd December 1938 she inaugurated the 14 days or under "Accelerated" schedule as stipulated in the 1936 mail contract.

Prewar Union-Castle Line Era (1936 – 1940):

On the 5th November 1937, the Athlone Castle became the first mailship to call at Buffalo Harbour at East London and on the 22nd December 1938 she inaugurated the 14 days or under "Accelerated" schedule as stipulated in the 1936 mail contract.

War Service (1940 – 1946):

Soon the Second World War broke out and the Athlone Castle like many ocean liners was requistioned by the British Government for service as troopships. In 1940 she was the commodore ship of a Union-Castle convoy made up of the Arundel Castle, Windsor Castle, Winchester Castle, Durban Castle and the Capetown Castle to carry South African troops to Suez following the outbreak of fighting in North Africa. During 1943, along with her sister the Stirling Castle, she trooped between the USA and UK carrying some 150,000 troops without any serious incidents.

On the 21st June 1945 the 1st Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, boarded the Athlone Castle in Naples for their journey home to the UK after the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. They arrived in Southampton on the 27th June 1945. The author's grandfather was serving as regimental Medical Officer to the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers at that time throughout the Italian Campaign and therefore it is likely that it was the Athlone Castle that brought the author's grandfather home to the UK after the Second World War!

Her Final Heyday (1946 - 1965):