P&O Cruises’ Pacific Eden Captain Gavin Pears and the ship’s senior officers will participate in Fremantle’s Anzac Day Parade as they join the local community in commemorating the Anzac tradition of service and sacrifice.
Pacific Eden will be in port in Fremantle on Anzac Day and many arriving passengers will have already taken part in a poignant Dawn Service on board.
Captain Pears thanked the City of Fremantle and the Fremantle RSL Sub Branch for inviting the Pacific Eden contingent to be part of the commemoration in Fremantle where the ship is currently homeported for a three-month season.
“Participation in the Anzac Day commemoration is an opportunity to remember in particular the service of members of the merchant navy, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice in keeping shipping routes open at a time of great peril at sea,” Captain Pears said.
Anzac Day will be marked on all five ships in the P&O Cruises’ fleet with a Dawn Service to be held on each ship including the sounding of the Last Post, the traditional observance of a minute’s silence and the casting of a wreath of remembrance on the sea.
On Anzac Day:
• Pacific Dawn will be at Pentecost Island in Vanuatu
• Pacific Jewel will be at sea returning to Sydney from Moreton Island
• Pacific Pearl will be at sea returning to her current Auckland homeport
• Pacific Eden will be on turnaround in Fremantle
• Pacific Aria will be at sea off the New South Wales coast
During the day, activities on all five P&O ships will have a distinctive Australian and New Zealand theme with Anzac biscuits baked onboard, Anzac themed cake displays at the entrance to the main Waterfront dining rooms and special showing of movies, Gallipoli and the Water Diviner.
P&O’s heritage includes a strong wartime contribution, with the ships of its sister line P&O Cruises in the UK called up for service in both World Wars. Most recently, the former liner Canberra famously served as a troopship in the Falkland Islands conflict in 1982.
A decade after Canberra’s Falklands service, Captain Pears joined the ship as a junior deck officer and some crew members who had sailed into the war zone were still serving on board. “As a child I had watched Canberra’s return from the Falklands and 10 years later I was on the board the ship. It was amazing,” Captain Pears said.
SOURCE: P&O Cruises