"Canberra" berthed in Sydney,
photographer unknown

This fine vessel was - regrettably - sold by P&O for scrap to an Indian breakers 'yard', I use the term 'yard' loosely because it' was in fact a strip of beach where ships were literally driven ashore, anchors dropped to hold them, then small boats and long ship to shore hawsers were rigged to allow for a sort of 'bosun's chair' access.

This is what happened to Canberra. She was driven ashore by her Captain, for the 'last voyage', who said at the time that he had never done such a thing before and he would never do it again! She was then slowly dismantled! Many people believe that she should have been kept as a museum to the company and the British Merchant Marine in general.....but the company have always been very hard headed when it came to business! If ships were of no further financial use to them they were sold for scrap. I would rather see them sink in the environment in which they lived rather than be cut up by oxy-acetylene torches.

P and O Iberia