Tourist Class Toiletry Cabinets
Blue Melamine With Steel Fixtures
From SS WINDSOR CASTLE of 1960

Items from SS RITA (ex WINDSOR CASTLE, MARGARITA L)

One Unit
25 Inches Tall by 10.25 Inches Wide by 6.75 Inches Deep
Two Separate Cabinet Doors
With Toothbrush Holder
And Cup Holder
Bottom Shelf With Soap Dish

All Original Vintage Union-Castle Line Fittings and Materials
Blue Checkerboard Melamine Surfacing
Plywood Construction, Steel(Aluminum?) Fixtures
Price: $200.00 USD plus shipping

Two views of the cabinet opened. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006

We read of the glorious Union-Castle mail ships and their prestigious first class accommodation, catering to the British elite and well-to-do voyagers to South Africa. Not as often do we hear of the less opulent but more lively tourist class experience. During the apartheid years and the evolving politics of the 1960s, it must have sometimes been a rocky voyage with up to six passengers (usually strangers) in a cabin. Nonetheless, the WINDSOR CASTLE was a modern, comfortable ship and her tourist class had come a long way from the romanticized steerage class of the early twentieth century ships.

Top, cabin B244 facing aft. Bottom, cabin B246 facing aft. These cabinets are visible around the sink in both photos. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 1998.

In tourist class, the accommodation included a common sink area between the berths. Each passenger had his or her own cabinet (designated by a letter: A, B, C, D, E, or F) for holding toothbrush, soap, and other personal items during the voyage. These cabinets were usually placed around the sink area. Public facilities and baths, of course, were down the hall.

These wonderful little fixtures were piled up at the breakers yard in Alang in September of 2005 as the grand old RITA (ex WINDSOR CASTLE, MARGARITA L) lay towering over the nearby beach, undergoing demolition. I selected a small quantity for my container consignment and am glad I did. However, now I wish I had gotten more!