Advertisement

January 2012’s Mystery Ship Answer

The Mystery Ship is Royal Mail Lines’ steamer Alcantara, built in 1926 at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, drydocked at Alexandra, Egypt in November 1939 for major hull repairs after colliding with Cunard’s Franconia and conversion into an armed-merchant cruiser, as one of her six-inch guns can be seen on the fore deck. Her forward dummy funnel was removed at the same time and replaced with anti-aircraft guns. She returned to commercial service in 1948 and was used until 1958, when she went to breakers.A. Frost, Sunderland

I would suggest that the Mystery Ship in January is either Asturias or her sistership Alcantara, both typical Belfast motor ships of the late 1920s and the 1930s. However, I decided the ship was Alcantara because of the low position of the crow’s nest on the foremast, a feature which was much higher up on Asturias. Assuming this is correct, the ship was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast, yard number 586, and was completed in 1927 for the South American service of Royal Mail Lines.Martin W. Young

Ships Montly - January 2024

Cutting costs in W2W operations: A new approach to vessel design

Offshore wind farms are currently serviced using Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) or helicopters for day operations, and Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) for extended periods. What...
Advertisement

Related articles

Cutting costs in W2W operations: A new approach to vessel design

Offshore wind farms are currently serviced using Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) or helicopters for day operations, and Service...

Windermere Lake Cruises’ oldest vessel is back in action

MV Tern, the oldest vessel in Windermere Lake Cruises 16-strong fleet, is proving age is no object as...

Significant increase in imports through the Port of Gothenburg

2024 was a year with both ups and downs in cargo volumes for Scandinavia’s largest port. On the...

Viking Line, Turku and Stockholm celebrate a year of a green shipping corridor

Viking Line, Port of Turku and Ports of Stockholm have been working together for a year on a...