Johnston Warren Lines Ltd's 1955 Burntisland built AFRICAN PRINCE, employed on an internal Furness Withy Group charter to Prince Line, was photographed at Newport exactly fifty years ago today, on Easter Monday 12th April 1971, while in course of sale to the Maldives Government.

She had been laid up at Falmouth from 13th January 1971 pending sale. The Prince of Wales's feathers, welded on her funnel and painted white, have already been removed and she departed from Newport on 27th April 1971 bound for Rotterdam to load her first cargo as Maldive Mail, retaining her British registry. On 31st May 1975, during a voyage from Karachi to Singapore, she suffered a fire off Veraval, India, and was subsequently wrecked.

This photograph can also be seen in my book "Ocean Freighter Heyday" published by Coastal Shipping of Portishead