History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Anglo-Australian |
Owner | Nitrate Producers Steam Ship Co. |
Operator | Lawther, Latta & Co. |
Port of registry | London |
Builder | Short Brothers, Ltd, Pallion |
Yard number | 424 |
Laid down | 2 February 1926 |
Launched | 21 March 1927 |
Completed | 4 May 1927 |
Out of service | March 1938 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Disappeared March 1938 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Cargo ship |
Tonnage | 5,456 GRT, 3,332 NRT |
Length | 426.0 ft (129.8 m) |
Beam | 58.0 ft (17.7 m) |
Draught | 25 ft 0 in (7.62 m) |
Depth | 26.1 ft (8.0 m) |
Installed power | 453 nhp |
Propulsion | quadruple-expansion steam engine |
Speed | 10+1⁄2 knots (19.4 km/h) |
Crew | 38 |
Sensors and processing systems | wireless direction finding |
Notes | sister ships: Anglo-African, Anglo-Peruvian, Anglo-Saxon |
Anglo-Australian was a UK steam cargo ship that was built in 1927 and disappeared without trace in the Atlantic Ocean in March 1938. [1]
Anglo-Australian was one of a series of similar-sized cargo ships that Short Brothers of Sunderland built for the Nitrate Producers' Steam Ship Co, Ltd. She was completed in May 1927. She had a four-cylinder quadruple-expansion steam engine, built by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company, that was rated at 453 NHP [2] and gave her a speed of about 10+1⁄2 knots (19.4 km/h). [3] By 1930 she was equipped with wireless direction finding. [2]
In February 1938 Anglo-Australian's main boilers were internally inspected at Birkenhead. On 3 and 4 March 1938 she was dry-docked in Cardiff. On 5 March Board of Trade inspectors tested her Marconi wireless. From 4 to 8 March she bunkered in Cardiff. [3]
After noon on 8 March Anglo-Australian left in ballast bound for British Columbia via the Panama Canal. She was to load timber in Vancouver. On 14 March she passed the Azores and between 1800 and 1830 hrs sent a wireless message "Passed Fayal this afternoon. Nine knots. Twenty-six tons bunkers consumed. Rough weather. All well." [3] [4]
Nothing more was ever heard from her, nor any wreckage found. Other ships in the area at the time reported a Force 8 gale or Force 9 severe gale, [3] causing very heavy seas and a heavy swell. [4] The Board of Trade estimated that on the night of 14 March the trough of the storm would have passed nearer Anglo-Australian than any of the other ships in the area, and that she would have encountered the worst of the weather. [3]
The Board of Trade proposed a range theories for the loss of the ship. A Court of Inquiry held in October 1938 dismissed all but one of them as "unlikely" or "unlikely in the extreme". [3]
The Court noted that about a year after Anglo-Australian entered service she suffered a crack in her shelter deck. This was welded up, but such cracks recurred, and the most recent was "shortly before the ship sailed on her last voyage". The Court opined that the recurrent cracks, all in a similar place, suggested a structural weakness. [3]
The Court also found that there was evidence that in previous encounters with heavy weather while in ballast the ship had shown visible buckling amidships. [3]
The Court concluded that the ship probably broke her back. [3] [5]
SS Ceramic was an ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the Liverpool – Australia route. Ceramic was the largest ship serving the route until P&O introduced RMS Mooltan in 1923.
SS Akaroa was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1914 in Ireland as Euripides for Aberdeen Line. When new, she was the largest ship in the Aberdeen Line fleet.
SS Cambridge was a refrigerated steam cargo liner that was built in Germany for the Hamburg America Line. She was launched in 1916 as Vogtland, but after the 1919 Treaty of Versailles the United Kingdom took her as war reparations and sold her to the Federal Steam Navigation Company, who renamed her Cambridge. She operated between Britain and Australasia until 1940, when a German mine sank her off the coast of Australia.
SS Minnedosa was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were built in the United Kingdom, launched in 1917 and operated by Canadian Pacific until 1935. Her sister ship was Melita.
SS Monte Nevoso was a cargo steamship that was launched in 1920 in England, owned in Italy, and wrecked in 1932 in the North Sea off the coast of Norfolk.
SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In her 55-year career she had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War she spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.
USS Eastern Light (ID-3538) was an Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) Design 1127 cargo steamship that was built in Japan in 1918 for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). From December 1918 to April 1919 she spent five months in the United States Navy. In 1926 she was sold and renamed Willkeno. She was renamed Isthmian in 1937 and Illinoian in 1939. in 1944 she was scuttled off the coast of Normandy as Blockship 485.
USS Eastern Queen (ID–3406) was a cargo steamship. She was built in Japan in 1918 as Tofuku Maru, and bought that year by the United States Shipping Board (USSB), who renamed her Eastern Queen. From October 1918 to April 1919 she spent six months in the United States Navy as USS Eastern Queen, carrying cargo between the East Coast of the United States and France.
SS Calgaric was a steam ocean liner that was completed in 1917, assumes service in 1918 and scrapped in 1934. She was built for the Pacific SN Co Line as Orca. In 1923 she was transferred to the Royal Mail Line. In 1927 she was transferred to White Star Line and renamed Calgaric.
SS Hertford was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was launched in Germany in 1917, seized by the United Kingdom in 1920 as World War I reparations, and sunk by a U-boat in 1942 with the loss of four members of her crew.
HMS Teviot Bank was a Bank Line steamship that was built in England in 1938 as the cargo ship Teviotbank. In the Second World War she was a Royal Navy auxiliary minelayer. By 1956 a Panamanian company had bought her and renamed her Nella. She was scrapped in Italy in 1971.
SS Benlomond was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1922 as Cynthiana, changed owners and names a number of times, and was sunk by a U-boat in 1942, with the loss of all but one of her 53 ship's company. The sole survivor, Poon Lim, drifted on a raft for 133 days before being rescued.
Lucifer was a steam tanker built in 1899 by the C.S. Swan & Hunter Co of Wallsend for C.T. Bowring & Co of Liverpool. The ship was designed and built to carry oil and petroleum cargo in bulk and spent most of her career trading on routes from Philadelphia, Batoum and Novorossiysk to Hamburg and British ports.
Anglo-African was a steam cargo ship built in 1900 by the Short Brothers of Sunderland for Lawther, Latta & Co. of London with intention of operating on their Australian routes. The vessel operated mostly on South America to North America route during her career and was wrecked on one of her regular voyages in January 1909.
MV Asiatic Prince was a motor cargo liner that was built in Germany in 1926, operated by a British shipping line, and disappeared without trace in the Pacific Ocean in 1928. When she was lost she was carrying silver bullion worth £263,000.
SS Demosthenes was a UK steam ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1911 in Ireland for Aberdeen Line and scrapped in 1931 in England. In the First World War she was an Allied troop ship.
SS Melita was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were built in the United Kingdom, launched in 1917 and operated by Canadian Pacific until 1935. Her sister ship was Minnedosa.
SS Reliance was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were launched in 1914 in Germany for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), sold to a Dutch shipping line in 1916, and seized by the United States as World War I reparations in 1922. United American Lines (UAL) operated her until 1926, when HAPAG bought her back.
SS Lombardia was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were launched in 1914 in Germany for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), sold to a Dutch shipping line in 1916, and seized by the United States as World War I reparations in 1922. United American Lines (UAL) operated her until 1926, when HAPAG bought her back.
SS Sir Harvey Adamson was a coastal passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1914 for the British India Steam Navigation Company (BI). She traded along the coast of Burma until 1947, shen she disappeared in a gale in the Andaman Sea. No survivor or identifiable wreckage was ever found.