The first of five ships built in Germany, of which the Canberra Star , Hobart Star  & Newcastle Star were sisters. The Gladstone Star and Townsville Star differed slightly in design. The building of these vessels in foreign yards caused some adverse comment at the time.

With the withdrawal and scrapping of the four passenger ships from the River Plate run, the Canberra Star was renamed Buenos Aires Star and placed on the service in 1972. The Hobart Star also having briefly taken the name prior to this.

Crossing the Line ceremony taken on the passage from Newhaven to Rio. The three ‘victims’ were the Engineer Cadet (Tony ????? in white T shirt), a Vestey relative and a passage worker imaginatively nicknamed Yarpey as he was South African. King Neptune is Phil Tame (Electrician) and his helpers were the 5th Engineer (can’t recall his name but once again imaginatively named Roo as he was an Aussie) and Karl Mallory 2nd Engineer in whites and ex Bank Line - Kevin Brown.

A  more successful use of a lifeboat. This was taken at the Shatt Al Arab anchorage following a visit to the New Zealand or Australia Star (memory fails me again!) which were relatively new at the time – maybe even on their maiden voyage? Probably the only benefit of a container ship against a traditional vessel was that she spent only several hours at anchor whilst we joined the other 100 or so vessels at anchor for several weeks.