I worked on the TSS Atlas as a cruise photographer soon after leaving college. I stayed on board for about 6 months starting in April 1979.
For the whole of that time the ship was chartered out by Tui. My first cruise was from Amsterdam up the west coast of Norway to the Nordkapp. Eye popping scenery for someone from Devon in the UK and who had only been abroad once before, and that was to Belgium!
After Scandinavia, the Baltic and two trips to Iceland we moved to the Eastern Med for one week cruises out of Piraeus.
I remember being told that the elderly captain was a Greek war hero who had sunk a German submarine during the war (?).
Our darkroom was a tiny space near the engine room and was so hot we had to cool the developer down with ice cubes before we could process films. Our cabin however was luxurious, it was actually the isolation ward of the unused hospital, near the stern of the ship close to the waterline. We had a porthole and even a bath! Taking a bath in rough weather was a always a surreal treat.
Remarkably, I still have one of the blue Atlas jerseys issued to the actual crew. I think I swapped some photos of a crew member for it, a prized possession.
TSS ATLAS..Epirotiki Lines
in What Ever Happened To........???
Posted
Hi, this brings back some memories...
I worked on the TSS Atlas as a cruise photographer soon after leaving college. I stayed on board for about 6 months starting in April 1979.
For the whole of that time the ship was chartered out by Tui. My first cruise was from Amsterdam up the west coast of Norway to the Nordkapp. Eye popping scenery for someone from Devon in the UK and who had only been abroad once before, and that was to Belgium!
After Scandinavia, the Baltic and two trips to Iceland we moved to the Eastern Med for one week cruises out of Piraeus.
I remember being told that the elderly captain was a Greek war hero who had sunk a German submarine during the war (?).
Our darkroom was a tiny space near the engine room and was so hot we had to cool the developer down with ice cubes before we could process films. Our cabin however was luxurious, it was actually the isolation ward of the unused hospital, near the stern of the ship close to the waterline. We had a porthole and even a bath! Taking a bath in rough weather was a always a surreal treat.
Remarkably, I still have one of the blue Atlas jerseys issued to the actual crew. I think I swapped some photos of a crew member for it, a prized possession.