ITALIS: 1940 - Final gasp deck plan of a once-great liner

Chandris Lines:  The sputtering end of the beloved AMERICA/AUSTRALIS' commercial service - a 22" by 35" tissue deck plan from 1979.  The dilapidated liner was pressed back into service for one final season as the ITALIS. Perhaps most shocking are the photo and large starboard drawing showing her with one funnel.  The handsome vessel, penned by famed designer William Francis Gibbs, originally was fitted with two graceful sampan-topped funnels.  But with just one funnel she looked like a beauty queen with a front tooth knocked out.  Looking down the plan's eight decks, you can clearly see why the ship would not succeed in cruising.  Most of the AMERICA's original luxury staterooms had been divided up into hundreds of cramped cabinettes, suitable for immigrant service but not for cruising.  The ITALIS took sporadic cruises for a few months, then went into a long lay-up.  The beautiful ship's final indignity was to end up split in two on a reef where all the world watched as she gradua