Page (photocopy) from an unknown book - His Majesty's Transport ship (HMT) / Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Andes, Royal Mail Lines, Seaforths transported to Britain, December 1939. Caption: "R.M.S. "Andes"27,000 tons gross, Air conditioned and stabilised. Royal Mail Lines Sunshine Cruises to the Mediterranean, Northern Capitals, West Indies etc." Copy to media (Note there are 2 copies of the same photocopy with numbers A0500.6 and A0500.24. From the Regimental History (page 60): "On 11 December, quite out of the blue, Lt-Col. Stevenson was told to report immediately to Halifax with the adjutant (Captain W. S. Murdoch) and a baggage officer (Lt. D. W. Davidson). Stevenson was to be in charge of all the troops on board ship. When he arrived in Halifax he found that the Seaforths had not been assigned any particular vessel. Stevenson noted a new liner in the harbour, the Andes. It had only recently been built for the Royal Mail Line but the Admiralty had taken it over to carry troops when war broke out. Stevenson managed to arrange for the Seaforths to be taken on board this luxury liner, and he and his two officers immediately established themselves on board." The Andes was operating from 1939 - 1971 with a tonnage of 25,689 tons. It could carry 607 passengers. She was constructed at Harland & Wolff Shipyards, Belfast in 1939. The Andes was launched 6 months before the outbreak of World War Two. She was immediately requisitioned as a troop carrier and spent the war on active duty. In 1947 she was released back to the Royal Mail Line and, after a major refit in Belfast, she commenced her commercial service on routes to South America. In 1959 she was refitted for cruising. In 1971 she made her last voyage to the breakers in Belgium. Harland & Wolff Heavy Industries is a heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The shipyard has built many ships; among the best remembered are the White Star trio RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and RMS Britannic, the Royal Navy's HMS Belfast, Royal Mail Line's Andes, Shaw Savill's Southern Cross, Union-Castle's RMS Pendennis Castle and P&O's Canberra.