Im Back!!!! sure missed you all :)

Originally posted by Tony Smith
A-ha! In the Shipping News I asked about the EMPRESS of Bermuda, which should have been the MONARCH. This now explains why Google could not find any Empress of Bermuda! The page Geoff mentions has this to say:

"On the 24th of May in 1947, the Monarch of Bermuda was gutted by a fire and burned out at Hebburn-on-Tyne while being refitted for return to passenger service. She was declared a total loss and supposedly sold for scrap.
A last minute reprieve saw her saved from the breakers yard when the Ministry of Transport reappraised the wreck, purchased her, and rebuilt her as an emigrant ship. She was moved under her own power to Southampton and rebuilt by Thornycroft.
In 1949 she was renamed the New Australia, and the Ministry of Transport contracted the Shaw Savill Line to manage her."

Tony, sorry but when I read about SS Monarch of Bermuda being gutted by fire I did not thoroughly read the rest of your thread
So I was more then happy to read on, that she was rebuilt as an emigrant ship Hooray! and she made her way to Southampton yes? guess where I live?