SS Alfios (1920)
History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Owner | Theofano Maritime |
Port of registry | Chios, Greece |
Yard number | 602 |
Launched | 8 December 1919 |
Completed | 1919 |
Identification | |
Fate | Wrecked off Nova Scotia in April 1946 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Cargo ship |
Tonnage | 3,154 GRT |
Length | 400 ft (120 m) |
Beam | 52.5 ft (16.0 m) |
Depth | 28.5 ft (8.7 m) |
SS Alfios, built as SS Bolivian, was a B-class standard cargo ship built by the British government and later operated by the Greek mercantile company Theofano Maritime.
Characteristics
Alfios was a cargo freighter which had a
History
The ship was built as Bolivian in 1919 at West Hartlepool, United Kingdom, by Irvine's Shipbuilding for Frederick Leyland & Company[1][3] and was registered at Chios, Greece.[2] In 1933, the ship became owned by N.G. Livanos and was renamed Alfios.[3] Later that year, it was obtained by Theofano Maritime, who would operate the ship until it sunk in 1946.[2]
On 24 April 1946, Alfios was in transit across the Atlantic Ocean from Glasgow to Halifax to pick up a shipment of pit props.[4] While steaming near Sable Island, Alfios ran aground on a shallow spit of sand. A week after the ship was wrecked, on 1 May, HMCS Middlesex set out to rescue the 30 crew and 2 passengers stranded on Alfios. Middlesex successfully rescued everyone aboard, bringing them to safety in Ottawa.[5]
By 1 June 1946 Alfios was still firmly aground in the place where it wrecked, with its breeches buoy rigged from the deck to the shore.[4] In the 1980s, the wreck was still visible from the air, and its position was precisely mapped by a Canadian Hydrographic Service survey.[6]
References
- ^ a b Riordan, Katherine (5 October 2007). "Alfios - 1946". Nova Scotia Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ a b c Lettens, Jan (2020). "SS Alfios [+1946]". Wrecksite. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Bolivian". Hartlepool History Then and Now. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ a b Toronto Star (1 June 1946). "The latest victim of the treacherous sands of Sable Island". Digital Archive. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ "Bringing in Crewmen". Ottawa Citizen. 1 May 1946. p. 23. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ISSN 0711-5628– via Friends of Hydrography.