Original Vintage
Telephones On Panels (type #1)
From RMS WINDSOR CASTLE

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

12.5 Inches Tall by 10.25 Inches Wide
Phone 8.5 Inches
Original Ivory Colored Plastic Fitting
Union-Castle Line Materials and Hardware
Lanyard Phone Cords
Price: $175.00 USD plus shipping

The phone switch board and detailed views of the phone and switches on the panel. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006.

Of of the many items I went to Alang to retrieve from the former WINDSOR CASTLE, vintage phones were at the top of the list. For years, people have been asking me if I had any access to old ship telephones. Well, finally, now I do.

These beautifully archaic fixtures are mounted on a mahogany trimmed white melamine wall panel. This particular type has a light switch on either side of a socket on the bottom. For the sake of the site, I am calling this Type #1. I have another similar phone panel that has a different switch configuration (see Type #2). Their hardware and heavy construction seem as though they would have been dated long before the WINDSOR CASTLE entered service in 1960, but then, as we know, many post-war British ships had somewhat archaic, and thus even more charming, fittings.

One of the Type #1 phone panels on the ship. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 1998.

Sadly, the ship's breaker was not only greedy but extremely careless with his quarry. He was asking a huge price for each phone, but at the same time, left most of them lying in the monsoonal mud, exposed in his yard. I inspected them carefully and only retrieved ones that were not damaged, leaving me with a limited quantity.