Athenic

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Athenic

Post by shipstamps » Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:31 pm


Athenic. built in 1901 by Harland and Wolff, Ltd., Belfast, for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (managers:Ismay, Imrie and Company), better known as the White Star Line. Her tonnages were: gross 12,345, net 7,826. Length 500ft. 3M., beam 63ft. 3M., depth 45ft. and draft 33ft. 1 in. Port of registry: Liverpool. She was a 4-masted, twin screw vessel. Engines: Quadruple-expansion, of 641 n.h.p. Speed 14 knots. Passengers when new: 688. Later 400(100 first. 100 second, 200 third-class). Specially built for carriage of refrigerated cargoes, she was the first of three passenger-cargo vessels (the others were the Corinthic and Ionic) built for service to New Zealand, via the Cape. In 1916 the service was transferred to the Panama Canal route.
In the late 1920s, faster cargo liners came into service in the Australasian trade and in 1928 the Athenic was sold to the Norwegian whaling company Hvalfangersk. Pelagos A/S (manager, Svend Foyn Bruun) of Tonsberg, for conversion into a whale-factory ship and oil-refinery. The work was carried out by Smith's Dock Co., Ltd., North Shields and the vessel was renamed Pelagos. She went to the Antarctic every season.
After conversion her main particulars became: gross tonnage 12,083; net 7,027. During the Second World War she was captured by a German raider, but was recovered by the Norwegians at Narvik after the liberation. Given a thorough refit, she returned to the whaling industry. On June 25, 1962, she sailed from Tonsberg bound for shipbreakers on the River Elbe. During demolition fire broke out in her engine-room. SG159

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