Brief Encounters........

[Gulliver]

Blue Star's M.V. "Adelaide Star" 1 -The Ship that Never Was..."" Built: Akt,Burmeister & Wain’s Maskin og Skibsbyggeri,Copenhagen,Denmark.
Dimensions: 558.0 x 70.0 x 43.4 feet (161.0 x 21.3 x 10.7 metres) Tonnage: Gross : 12,636 Net : 6,209 DW: 13,750 Propulsion: Two 6-Cyl. 2 S.C.S.D.A. Burmeister & Wain 662WF140 oil engines by shipbuilders, driving twin screws Type: Refrigerated Cargo Liner Contract: 22/02/1938 Launched: 30/12/1939 ( Yard No.646) as Adelaide Star for Blue Star Line Ltd. Seized: 09/04/1940 by German forces on the invasion of Denmark, whilst fitting out. Completed: 06/11/1940 as the Seeburg and allocated to Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt A.G., (Hamburg-Amerika Line) Hamburg. Employed as a German submarine depot ship. Trials: 19/11/1940 at Gotenhafen ( now Gdynia, Poland ). Used as a submarine depot and target practice ship for the 27th U-Boat flotilla. Torpedoed: 2/12/1944 at 22.00 hrs. by the Soviet Torpedo Boat SC407 off Heistevnest, Gulf of Danzig in position 54.39N 18.39E Raised: 1952 by Polish salvors and beached at Gdynia. Repaired: 1955 at Gdynia shipyard. Allocated to Polish Ocean Lines and renamed Dzierzynski for Far East Service. Collided: 16/09/1963while enroute Shanghai-Antwerp-Gdynia with the Greek steamer Fouli off Ushant. Put into Brest for examination and temporary repairs. On arrival Flushing, further temporary repairs were carried out and a faulty sea valve repaired. At Antwerp the Dzierzynski struck a pier at Baudouin Lock causing the sea valve to collapse and flood the engine room. She was subsequently beached at Lillo and on the falling tide a crack appeared in No.2 hatch. Refloated: 1/10/1963 and towed with tugs to to Liefenshoek where she was again grounded at No.92 buoy. Not surprisingly she eventually broke her back and was condemned and taken in two halves to Antwerp for demolition by Jef de Smedt & Co.

(The above information is courtesy of http://www.bluestarline.org/index.html
　
　
　

And the other ship……

　
The ship she had collided with was the 800dwt steam coaster FOULI which started her career as s.s. HAZELFIELD in 1948 ,built by the small Lancashire shipbuilders at Lytham S.B.for Zillah Shipping,Liverpool.She was sold on to John S.Monks Ltd.also of Liverpool being renamed SPRAYVILLE. Sold on again in 1963 during which year she collided with the vessel above- ( obviously not suffering any terminal damage!),a succession of Greek owners followed for another 16 years,until one day ,as AGIOS GERASSIMOS she foundered off Palmorola Is, west of Naples on 20th October 1979, ……………whilst smuggling cigarettes!

Very different careers for two ships,whose lives ‘touched’ briefly.

Photo links below:-
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20Ships/Old%20Ships%20D/slides/Dzierzynski-01.html
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20...yville-02.html　
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20...lfield-02.html

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[Neil Morton]

Thank you Gulliver,very interesting info.It makes me wonder all over again about how a certain ship can be JINXED from the day it is built.

[Gulliver]

Thanks Mort-I'm always fascinated by some of these ship's histories that I come across-and the people who sailed in them..Love sharing them ,especially tales of ships of 'our heyday' at sea. I like to think it enhances the site a bit as well.

Cheers!
Gulliver

[Michael Lawrence]

Nice site Gulliver. Like the photos and also enjoyed reading about you and your life. Thanks again mate Mike

P.S. GET BACK ON THE BLOODY SHIP 'VIRTUALITY' AS WE'RE WAITING TO SAIL. Understand Les B Anne is missing you, at least thats what Dazy John tells me.

[Trader]

Interesting post Gulliver. I was on board the Hazelfield a few times when I worked in a shipping agents office in Manchester when I left school in 1950 and before I went to sea. She was a regular runner to Manchester from Penmaenmawr, N. Wales with granite chippings and dust. She usually had a cargo of coal outward to S. Ireland. I used to go aboard with the mail and wages. Who would have thought that years later she would founder off Italy smuggling fags.

Talking about old coasters, have you any idea of the name of an old British coaster aground on a lovely sandy beach on one of the Greek Islands (Zante, I think) . The photo appears in lots of holiday brochures.

Regards.......Alec.

[Gulliver]

Hi Alec,Thanks for your memories about the Hazelfield.
About the Zante shipwreck,I think it's probably this one, the PANAGIOTIS.
the PANAGIOTIS ran aground 1st October 1980, off the north coast of Zante(Zakynthos) which features in the holiday brochures.Apparently she was chased across the Ionian Sea by the Greek Navy who suspected she was smuggling contraband,and it was thought that 'wine,tobacco and women were aboard'. (Whoo-hoo! )
Good old Johnny the Greek soon tapped into her tourist potential as a shipwreck!
She started out in 1937 as the 550 tons deadweight Clyde-built m.v.SAINT BEDAN for J. & A.Gardner & Co.
Sold to a succession of Greek owners in 1964. She met her (perhaps glorious) end aged 43 years!
　
Link here:-
http://www.zanteguru.com/shipwreck/shipwreck.html
Photo of the wreck attached.(and as original Saint Bedan)
Regards
Gulliver
　

[Trader]

Thanks for the pictures and name of ship Gulliver. Looks like she has got a full cargo of sand. LOL. A good age for a coaster.

Regards.... Alec.