In October 1947, the Union Castle ship Durban Castle left Capetown in South Africa, bound for Southampton. Somewhere along the journey, James Camb disposed of the body of Gay Gibson, only to find himself charged with her murder. Then, in September 1973, another ship, the Rotherwick Castle, another vessel of the Union Castle line, also left Capetown, bound for Southampton and once again, one of the passengers would never get to complete her journey, and another man would face a charge of murder.
There was in fact one big difference between the ships in these two stories. The Durban Castle had been a passenger ship but the Rotherwick Castle was a cargo ship and as such, she was not entitled to take passengers. This, however, did not deter two young friends; Michelle Kirkwood and Linda Von-Waltzleben, who decided to become stowaways in South Africa.