Ship History

	History

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE T.S.M.V. MOONTA 1931
Adelaide Steamship Company era (1931 - 1955): The Moonta was built in 1931 by the Burmeister & Wain shipyard, Copenhagen, Denmark for the Adelaide Steamship Company and their Australian coastal liner service. She sailed on a coastal liner service based in Adelaide. She was retired from service in 1955 and for six months stood in for a ship undergoing refit on the Adelaide to Launceston run. Hellenic Maritime Lines (1955 - 1966): Later that year however she was sold to Hellenic Maritime Lines. In Piraeus she was refitted to carry 460 passengers in cabins, dormitories and on deck. She was renamed Lydia and sailed on the Marseilles to Egypt via Italy and Greece service. In 1966 she was retired from service and laid up in Piraeus, Greece. Preservation (1966 - Present): However she would not be scrapped as the Lydia was acquired by a French organisation and taken to Marseilles. There her engines and propeller screw were removed and she was converted for use as a casino and restaurant ship. She was installed in her new home at Le Barcares in the Langedoc-Rousillion region of France on the Mediterranean coast. There a special basin was cut into the sand for her and when she was in place the basin was filled with sand thus making her now landlocked. Today she is a feature of this Mediterranean resort as the Casino Le Lydia and is owned by the Partouche Group. She was also Australia’s last regularly scheduled overseas liner, and will always be remembered in Western Australia as a special and much loved ship. Indeed if her future in France ever become doubtful then it would be nice to think that she could be returned to Australia. She had her engines removed as part of her preservation in 1966 and adaptation for her new role. But she could easily be re-engined with modern MAN B&W diesel engines. As the original Burmeister & Wain shipyard in Copenhagen no longer exists MAN B&W engines are probably the nearest you can get to her originals nowadays! She could then be restored to her original glory and perhaps be returned to Australia and based in Adelaide as a roving historic ship and as a lasting symbol as the Last of the Australian Coastal Liners. She could even house a "Museum of the Australian Coastal Liner" on board perhaps. You never know!