| Date |
Information |
| 15 December 1955 |
Oxfordshire launched for Bibby Line by Mrs Dorothea Head, wife of the Minister of Defence. It was Bibby Line's largest liner. |
| 29 January 1957 |
Oxfordshire achieved an average of 19.78 knots during trials. |
| 13 February 1957 |
Oxfordshire was delivered to Bibby Line as a troop transport ship. |
| 28 February 1957 |
The Oxfordshire entered service at Liverpool on a fifteen year charter to the Ministry of Transport as a troopship under the command of Captain Norman Fitch. She left Liverpool on her maiden voyage for Hong Kong, travelling via Cape Town, calling at Dakar, Durban, and Singapore. |
| May 1958 |
Oxfordshire made her final sailing from Liverpool before moving to Southampton which had become the sole trooping port. |
| 1962 |
The Ministry of Transport ended the contract for the Oxfordshire and returned the ship to the Bibby Line who were compensated for their investment in the form of annual payments until the contract was due to end in 1971. |
| December 1962 |
The Oxfordshire made her final trooping voyage from Southampton to Malta before being laid up in the River Fal. |
| January 1963 |
The trooping contract was paid off by the Government and was chartered to the Fairline Shipping Corp of Liberia for six years |
| 20 May 1963 |
Oxfordshire arrived at Wilton-Fyenoord shipyard, Schiedam, The Netherlands for conversion into a passenger ship. |
| March 1964 |
Purchased by Societa Italiana Trasporti Marittimi S.p.A. (Sitmar / Fairline Shipping Corp, Monrovia) and named her 'Fairstar'. |
| April 1964 |
Rebuilding and final fitting out completed at Harland & Wolff Ltd, Southampton. |
| 19 May 1964 |
Fairstar made her first sailing: Southampton to Brisbane with 1870 passengers |
| June 1964 |
Fairstar arrives in Sydney harbour for the very first time. |
| 1965 |
Fairstar made a series of cruises of the South Pacific out of Sydney, the first being for Massey-Ferguson for their annual convention in January 1965. |
| 1967 |
Suez Canal closes. Fairstar then travelled to Australia around South Africa. |
| 10 April 1967 |
Fairstar in Melbourne - the location for 1966 Logie Awards, hosted by Bert Newton. |
| 1970 |
Sitmar loses its migrant contract to the Greek Chandris Line. |
| July 1973 |
Fairstar sails out of Southampton on her last liner voyage. |
| 24 August 1973 |
Fairstar commenced her first cruise out of Sydney on a 16 day trip to Savu Savu, Lautoka, Suva, Auckland & Melbourne with 1356 passengers. Captained by Rodolfo Potenzoni |
| May 1974 |
Sitmar sends Fairstar to Southampton for experimental season of cruises which proved unsuccessful. |
| 13 November 1974 |
Fairstar departed Southampton for the very last time, travelling via Cape Town to Sydney, Auckland, returning to Sydney to become the first cruise ship ever to permanently cruise out of Australia. |
| 23 December 1974 |
Fairstar departed Sydney with full capacity of 1280 passengers as a Sydney based cruise ship for the first time. |
| 3 June 1984 |
Fairstar in enters Cairncross drydock, Brisbane for upgrading. Total passengers reduced to 1390. |
| 22 October 1984 |
Fairstar does a special cruise to Noumea to witness a total eclipse of the sun, however there was a boiler failure on the previous cruise which delayed the start of this cruise and they missed the event. |
| June 1988 |
Fairstar is in Singapore where she receives the new Sitmar Cruises colour scheme on her funnel: a white swan on a dark blue background. |
| 1 September 1988 |
Sitmar Cruises was acquired by P&O Lines Ltd, with P&O-Sitmar Cruises as managers, for $210,000,000. P&O intended to rename her Sitmar Fairstar but this never came about. |
| 19 April 1989 |
Fairstar enters the Sembawang shipyard in Singapore for her usual biannual dry-docking. She had her Boat deck extended, upgrading of lounges & cabins and a new potable water plant. Total passenger capacity were reduced to 1280. |
| 03-16 June 1991 |
Dry-dock in Singapore: The funnel colour scheme was changed to a blue swan on a white funnel (the earlier blue funnel was thought to be unsightly). |
| 19 June 1991 |
While cruising off the Vietnamese coast on a 29 day cruise to Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, her boilers failed due to infiltration of salt water. She remained adrift for two days in the South China Sea and the air conditioning also wasn't working. Passengers were taken to the coast by the Australian tug "Lady Sonia" and Fairstar was towed to Singapore shipyard. P&O refunded the 1150 passengers and had to cancel the next three cruises. |
| June 1994 |
Fairstar had the honour to inaugurate the new Sydney passenger terminal at Darling Harbour. |
| 27 February 1995 |
Fairstar enters the ADI Garden Island dock for a $2m refit. |
| April 1996 |
One of her cruises had to be cancelled, due to a sudden fall of her boiler brickwork. |
| 21 January 1997 |
She sailed out of Sydney Harbour for the last time on a 10 day cruise. |
| 31 January 1997 |
On her return to Sydney, she had the traditional long white "St. Vincents & Grenadines flag" flying from her mainmast. |
| 11 February 1997 |
Sold to Rugby Enterprises Inc, British Virgin Islands, renamed RIPA for delivery voyage to Indian shipbreakers. |
| 10 April 1997 |
Fairstar arrived at Alang, India to be broken up for scrap. |
Conception
Chronology