Lavoisier
1950
(Albatros AL-269)
- Type: Passenger
- Displacement: 11,969 tons
- Dimensions: 537 x 64 x 28 ft.
- Machinery: 2x8-cyl Sulzer diesels, twin screw, 12,000 bhp = 17 knots
- Passengers: 324 (94 first class, 230 second class)
- Builder: Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire, France 1950
- Service: Lavoisier was built for Chargeurs Réunis, Le Havre.
Maiden voyage 19 Sep 1950 Le Havre-Buenos Aires. Then placed in Hamburg-Buenos Aires service. Sold in 1961 to Compagnia Marittima Petroli SpA, Palermo, and refurbished for cruising at Genoa in 1962. Renamed Riviera Prima and chartered to Caribbean Cruise Lines, sailing from US East Coast ports -- claimed to be first Italian ship devoted exclusively to cruise service. Sold to Norwegian owners in 1964 and renamed Viking Princess; continued cruising in Caribbean until 8 Apr 1966 when she caught fire off Cuba. Crew and passengers abandoned ship and were picked up by nearby vessels; two passengers died of heart attacks. The ship was towed to Port Royal, Jamaica, and subsequently scrapped at Bilbao.
Three near sisters were Claude Bernard (1950-), also built for Chargeurs Réunis, and Laënnec (1952-1976) and Charles Tellier (1952-1967), both built for Cie Sudatlantique, Bordeaux.
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