SHIP POSTCARD POST CARD Companhia Colonial de Navegação PAQUETE INFANTE HENRIQUE STEAM CRUISE LINER

The Companhia Colonial de Navegação (CCN) was a Portuguese shipping company that was founded in 1922 and merged into another company in 1974. Its ships carried freight as well as passengers.

Belonged to the CCN, which it served between 1962 and 1975. N / T Infante Dom Henrique. It was built at the Société Anonyme John Cockerill shipyards in Belgium in 1961. The order was placed by CCN for the colonial career up to the port of Beira, in Mozambique . 

Between 1962 and 1975 the ship operated in the colonial career and also in the service of the State in the transport of troops during the Portuguese Colonial War. With the end of the conflict, the independence of the African colonies was granted, and the transport of passengers and troops stopped, the ship remained at berth in Lisbon until 1977. This year, the development of the Port of Sines and the lack of accommodation for workers, meant that it was moved there and converted into a floating hotel, a function that he held until 1986.

In 1986, in an advanced state of degradation, it was acquired by the shipowner Trans World Cruises Inc., which carried out extensive restoration works on it at an estimated cost of US$50 million. The TWCI renamed the ship as Vasco da Gama. It began operating worldwide in 1988. In 1991 the Vasco da Gama was acquired by Sea Wind Cruises, being renamed as Seawind Crown. It later passed into the hands of Premier Cruises, having operated until the company's collapse in 2003. After a few months moored in the port of Barcelona, the ship was sold for scrap at the end of 2003.