Home to kings, cricketers and a killer

The old picture today shows the Union Castle mailboat Durban Castle entering Durban Harbour, probably shortly after she was built in 1938.

The ship was built in 1938 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 17382grt, a length of 594ft 7in, a beam of 76ft 4in and a service speed of 18.5 knots. She left Southampton on her maiden voyage on December 31, 1938 and was deployed to the West Coast Intermediate Service that included South Africa and East Africa..

In 1939 the ship was requisitioned for troop carrying duties. When Greece fell in 1941 the King of Greece and his family first took refuge in Egypt and then South Africa from where the Durban Castle transported him, his family and entourage from Durban to the United Kingdom.

Remaining under Union-Castle command, in 1943 she was converted into a landing ship  with nine landing craft on each side. During July 1943 she landed the 41st Marine Commando on Sicily and later landed troops at Salerno and Anzio. On 1944 she landed troops near Cannes during the invasion of southern France.

She returned to commercial service in 1946 still carrying her AA gun platforms and with 9 lifeboats on each side replacing the landing craft. She was refurbished and in July 1947 she resumed service.

On March 28, 1962 she completed her final voyage in London and in the following month was sold to Eisen & Metall GmbH of Hamburg for breaking up.

The Durban Castle is famed for bringing the MCC touring team to South Africa in 1948.

The ship also became an international talking point due to a 1947 murder on board.

He was a handsome deck steward, she a glamorous actress with dreams of making it in London's West End. Both were aboard the Durban Castle from Cape Town in October 1947.

When the ship docked in Southampton it was met by police officers, eager to search cabin 126 where actress Gay Gibson had mysteriously disappeared - and to question steward James Camb, suspected of killing the 21-year-old and pushing her body out of the porthole into the shark-infested Atlantic Ocean.

The daughter of an English businessman, Gibson had always hankered after a life on the stage. She had already made a name for herself in South Africa.

On October 18 1947, when the liner was about 150 miles off the west coast of Africa, the striking actress was reported missing. The captain immediately turned the ship about but a desperate search of the water found no trace of the young woman. Gibson was last seen alive at 1am, leaning against a rail and smoking a cigarette, still wearing the black evening dress.

At 3am the same officer, James Murray, answered a call from her cabin. He tried to enter the cabin but his passage was blocked by Camb who opened the door a crack and assured him, "It's all right". Assuming Camb was answering Gibson's call, Murray left. When, next morning Gibson failed to appear, he reported the night's events to the captain.

Camb denied being in Cabin 126 but, when examined by the ship's surgeon, was found with scratches on his wrists and shoulders. He claimed the wounds were self-inflicted. But when the ship docked in Southampton, Camb changed his story, claiming he and Gibson had enjoyed consensual sex but that she had suffered a sudden fit and died. He panicked and pushed her lifeless body through the porthole. But a second contradictory statement suggests Gibson may not have been dead when Camb threw her overboard.

He supposedly told a witness the next day. "She struggled, I had my hands around her neck and when I was trying to pull them away she scratched me. I panicked and threw her out of the porthole."

Camb was charged with Gibson's murder and on March 10, 1948 his trial opened before Mr Justice Hilbury. It took jurors just 45 minutes to find him guilty.

Gibson's body was never discovered.

The city in the background has grown enormously from the early photograph of the Durban Castle. The today pictures shows the MSC Sinfonia coming into Durban harbour.