HERCOGS JEKABS
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:35 pm
Built as a cargo vessel under yard no 148 by the Kockums mek. Verkstad A/B, Malmo, Sweden for Wiel & Amundsens Rederi A/S, Halden, Norway.
21 November 1925 launched as the CHILDAR.
Tonnage 4,138 gross, 2,336 net, 7.780 dwt., dim. 377.6 x 54 x 22.9ft.
Powered by one 6-cyl diesel engine, manufactured by Kockums, 2,000 bhp., speed 11.5 knots.
February 1926 completed.
She was operated by the company for several years as a tramp vessel.
03 May 1934 she grounded on Peacock Spitt near Cape Flattery near the Columbia River of Washington State. USA outward bound from Longview, Washington with a full cargo of timber bound for South Africa.
After passing the bar she was running in a southwest gale with high seas, which forced her off course and into the breakers. Her deck cargo got loose, smashing against the superstructure and took with her all loose gear and breakable fixtures overboard.
She sends out a distress call, but her forward mast with aerial was carried away and that stopped all further radio communication.
The crew believing that the vessel was in a helpless position launched the lifeboats, but during launching the lifeboats were battered against the ships hull and were lost. Four men were swept overboard the first and second mate a steward and a cook.
The USA Coast Guard cutter REDWING after receiving the distress signal, sailed out and managed to get a towline on the vessel, and during upcoming water she towed her off the reef to deeper water.
After she was refloated 3 injured crew members were taken off and 18 other crew, leaving 6 men still on board of the heavy damaged ship.
The REDWING slowly towed her to the Puget Sound and safety.
After survey was she declared a total loss and taken over by the insurers.
May 1935 sold to `Reederei-A.S. Henneseid, Porsgrunn, Norway and renamed AAKRE. Lloyds gives AKRE.
Repaired by Burrard Drydock in North Vancouver, Canada.
1939 Sold to Apvienota Kugniecibas Akciju Sabiedriba (United Shipping Company), Riga, Latvia and renamed in HERCOGS JEKABS named after Duke Jacob a former ruler of Latvia.
June 1940 Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union ant Latvia was annexed in the Soviet Union.
At that time the HERCOGS JEKABS was trading from the East Coast of America via the Panama Canal to the west coast of South America, and at that time in a port in Peru.
Captain H Miielson decided to hand the vessel over to the new Soviet led Latvian Government; she was the only Latvian vessel outside Latvia handed over to the new Government.
16 December 1940 sailed from Peru across the Pacific to Vladivostok where the Latvian crew was removed and send to Latvia.
18 February 1941 taken over by the Soviet Union renamed SOVETSKAYA LATVIA and transferred to the NKVD for the transport of prisoners to the Gulag camps in Siberia.
When the Soviet Union declared war on Germany, the SOVETSKAYA LATVIA was used in the Lend-Lease voyages from the USA and Canada to the Soviet Union, during that time was she extensively repaired on account of the USA and Canada by the Burrard Drydock in North Vancouver, Canada.
After the war again used in the Gulag transport duties.
1959/1960 Deleted from Lloyds Register.
Some sources give that she in 1962 sailed to Kobe, Japan for scrapping.
1967 Deleted from the Soviet register.
Latvia 2011 0.35 l sg?, scott?
Source: Wikipedia. Stalin’s Slave Ships by J. Martin Bollinger. http://www.warsailors.com/freefleet/norfleeta1.html Lloyds Register 1939. http://trove.nla.gov.au
http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz
21 November 1925 launched as the CHILDAR.
Tonnage 4,138 gross, 2,336 net, 7.780 dwt., dim. 377.6 x 54 x 22.9ft.
Powered by one 6-cyl diesel engine, manufactured by Kockums, 2,000 bhp., speed 11.5 knots.
February 1926 completed.
She was operated by the company for several years as a tramp vessel.
03 May 1934 she grounded on Peacock Spitt near Cape Flattery near the Columbia River of Washington State. USA outward bound from Longview, Washington with a full cargo of timber bound for South Africa.
After passing the bar she was running in a southwest gale with high seas, which forced her off course and into the breakers. Her deck cargo got loose, smashing against the superstructure and took with her all loose gear and breakable fixtures overboard.
She sends out a distress call, but her forward mast with aerial was carried away and that stopped all further radio communication.
The crew believing that the vessel was in a helpless position launched the lifeboats, but during launching the lifeboats were battered against the ships hull and were lost. Four men were swept overboard the first and second mate a steward and a cook.
The USA Coast Guard cutter REDWING after receiving the distress signal, sailed out and managed to get a towline on the vessel, and during upcoming water she towed her off the reef to deeper water.
After she was refloated 3 injured crew members were taken off and 18 other crew, leaving 6 men still on board of the heavy damaged ship.
The REDWING slowly towed her to the Puget Sound and safety.
After survey was she declared a total loss and taken over by the insurers.
May 1935 sold to `Reederei-A.S. Henneseid, Porsgrunn, Norway and renamed AAKRE. Lloyds gives AKRE.
Repaired by Burrard Drydock in North Vancouver, Canada.
1939 Sold to Apvienota Kugniecibas Akciju Sabiedriba (United Shipping Company), Riga, Latvia and renamed in HERCOGS JEKABS named after Duke Jacob a former ruler of Latvia.
June 1940 Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union ant Latvia was annexed in the Soviet Union.
At that time the HERCOGS JEKABS was trading from the East Coast of America via the Panama Canal to the west coast of South America, and at that time in a port in Peru.
Captain H Miielson decided to hand the vessel over to the new Soviet led Latvian Government; she was the only Latvian vessel outside Latvia handed over to the new Government.
16 December 1940 sailed from Peru across the Pacific to Vladivostok where the Latvian crew was removed and send to Latvia.
18 February 1941 taken over by the Soviet Union renamed SOVETSKAYA LATVIA and transferred to the NKVD for the transport of prisoners to the Gulag camps in Siberia.
When the Soviet Union declared war on Germany, the SOVETSKAYA LATVIA was used in the Lend-Lease voyages from the USA and Canada to the Soviet Union, during that time was she extensively repaired on account of the USA and Canada by the Burrard Drydock in North Vancouver, Canada.
After the war again used in the Gulag transport duties.
1959/1960 Deleted from Lloyds Register.
Some sources give that she in 1962 sailed to Kobe, Japan for scrapping.
1967 Deleted from the Soviet register.
Latvia 2011 0.35 l sg?, scott?
Source: Wikipedia. Stalin’s Slave Ships by J. Martin Bollinger. http://www.warsailors.com/freefleet/norfleeta1.html Lloyds Register 1939. http://trove.nla.gov.au
http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz