VERA CRUZ and SANTA MARIA at Funchal

On 31 December 1956 the handsome sister ships VERA CRUZ and SANTA MARIA of Companhia Colonial de Navegação, met in the port of Funchal. 

Both ships were doing their usual liner voyages: VERA CRUZ arrived from the Brazilian ports of Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife, with a call at Cape Verde (São Vicente) and sailed for Lisbon, while SANTA MARIA made a scheduled call on her regular transatlantic  services , having arrived from Lisbon and Vigo, for Tenerife and the Central America ports of La Guaira, Curaçao, Kingston, Havana and Port Everglades.

Also in port was the Portuguese Navy training ship SAGRES the oldest of the three ships in the picture and the lucky one as she still exists under the original name RICKMER RICMERS, preserved as a museum ship in Hamburg.

Texto e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia