The shipowners TMSO, Transports Maritimes Suisse-Outremer S.A. in Geneva, behind which the Banque Pictet in Geneva stood, ordered the ARIANA from the shipyard Rheinstahl Nordseewerke GmbH Emden in the Federal Republic of Germany. On 10.11.1959 the owners took over the ARIANA and registered her under Swiss flag with home port Bâle, the French name for Basel (official no. 62, call sign: HBDG). The management was taken care of by Suisse-Outremer S.A. de Gérance Maritmes, Geneva, a subsidiary of TMSO. In March 1963 Suisse-Atlantique S.A. Lausanne purchased the three A-ships from Suisse-Outremer S.A., these were the ANUNCIADA, ALLOBROGIA and the ARIANA. On 12.03.1963 the ARIANA was taken-over by Suisse-Atlantique and in 1964 incorporated in their owning company Helica S.A. Geneva.
The ARIANA was a very beautiful ship, much liked by the Swiss seamen. According to the hand-written "Voyage cards" from Lloyds the ARIANA sailed for about two years from North Europe to South and East Africa, then to the Arabian Gulf, the West Indies, Central and South America and the Far East. In May/June 1965 she stayed in San Francisco, California for a major main engine crankshaft repair.
In 1966 the ARIANA was sold to Italy and was handed-over on 17.11.1966 to her new managers Mariano Maresca & Co. Genoa in the port of Rotterdam. The vessel now was named ARIEL and was registered in Monrovia under the flag of Liberia (registered owner: Atlantic Shipping Inc. Monrovia, call sign: 6ZWE).
As from 1970 the owners according to Lloyds were: “Atlantic Shipping Inc. Monrovia, Cie. Chambon & Cia. de Navegacion y Fletamento S.A. New York (Management: Remsen Corp., Compañia Mundial de Transportes, Genève & Marseille)”. The Remsen Corporation, registered in Panama, apparently was owned by some French shipping companies, such as Compagnie Chambon, Fabre Line and Chargeurs Réunis (Cognac Line, as the seafarers called it). Also M. Maresca in Genoa is mentioned. Indeed these are only speculations, no conclusive proof, who were the real owners.
In 1972 ownership changed again, the firm Interocean Shipping Co. Ltd. Hong Kong purchased the freighter, renamed her SEA PIONEER and registered her under the flag of Somalia (registered owner: Hong Kong Steamship Co. Ltd. Mogadiscio, Rufzeichen: 6OIP). The purchase price was reported as 1,3 Mio. US-Dollars. After four years in 1976 renamed NEW SEA PIONEER and changed to Panama flag (call sign: 3EBK).
In 1982 purchased by Univan Ship Management Ltd. Hong Kong*) renamed AL MINA, but remained under Panama flag. In the same year resold to Ahmed Abdul Qawi Bamaodah. The name is shortened to MINA and the flag of Saudi Arabia hoisted (home port: Jeddah, call sign: HZWM). In 1985 sold to a Pakistani demolition company. Coming from Dammam, the MINA completed her last voyage on 17.08.1985 on the beach of Gadani (West of Karachi) for scrapping.
*) Univan was founded by the Belgian Captain Charles A.J. Vanderperre (1922 - 2009), a well-known personality in the international shipping business
SwissShips HPS, MB, January 2018
Additional Information and Stories
Main engine break-down spring 1965
Early May 1965 the ARIANA suffered a major main engine break-down off the coast of California. The subsequent repairs in the Bethlehem Shipyard in San Francisco took about two months.
The ARIANA, on time charter to Kawasaki Line, Japan, arrived from Japan in the port of Long Beach, California on 29.04.1965. On 01.05.1965 at 07:30 she departed from Long Beach to sail along the coast to San Francisco. In the middle of the following night, sometimes during the "dog watch" from 00:00 to 04:00 the crew was torn out of their sleep by a terrible "explosion" in the engine room.
The ARIANA's main engine was a turbocharged, 6-cylinder, 2-stroke crosshead diesel engine from MAN (type: K6Z78/140A with a power of 6750 BHP) and was fitted with two turbochargers. Shortly before midnight, the chief engineer Georges Haller just wanted to step into his bunk, the forward turbocharger commenced to surge, the engine was slowed down and then stopped. What happened exactly afterwards we cannot recall, in any case a crankcase inspection was carried out without any findings and afterwards the engineers tried to restart the engine, then a "water hammer" occurred in cylinder No. 5, the "explosion" heard by the sleeping crew (note, MAN counts the cylinders from aft to forward, contrary to Sulzer and Burmeister & Wain practise). What happened? The exhaust casing of the forward turbocharger was corroded and then broke, through a hole of approximately 90 mm diameter large amounts of cooling water rushed through the exhaust ducting and into cylinder No. 5. The "water hammer" twisted the shrunk-in crankshaft pins by several degrees, damaged piston, piston rod, piston rod stuffing-box, crosshead and connecting rod.
The whole engine crew had to go into the engine room to tackle the problem, the helpless ship rolled and pitched heavily in a heavy swell. To proceed on "emergency running" the cylinder cover had to be removed, piston, crosshead and connecting rod taken out, a very dangerous task to handle these heavy parts on a rolling ship. The inlet- and outlet ports in the cylinder had to be closed with special devices provided by the engine builder. These works were completed in the following evening and at 20:30 the voyage could be resumed on much reduced speed.
Early morning of 04.05.1965 the ARIANA was moored on pier 45, right in the touristic centre of "Fishermans Wharf", downtown of San Francisco (today the last operational "Liberty" steam freighter, the S/S JEREMIAH O'BRIEN, now a museum vessel, is moored on this spot). After the cargo was discharged, the ship shifted to the Bethlehem Shipyard in San Francisco, another place very convenient to go on shore.
The crankshaft was in two parts, therefore only the forward part of the main engine had to be removed to give access to lift out the damaged section. A repair gang from MAN in Germany travelled to the States to supervise the repairs.
In their casualty report of 11th. May 1965 Lloyds List reported on the main engine damage on the ARIANA (courtesy of: Heritage & Education Centre, Lloyd's Register Foundation, London)
Of course the young seamen took full advantage to go shore and to check-out all the fine bars and night clubs downtown. Also excursions to the surrounding area of the city were undertaken, one special occasion was a bus trip to Lake Berryessa and the wine yards of Napa Valley (see also report from Radio officer Hans Bühler in the Bulletin). On 19.05.1965 the "Swiss Journal" (news paper of the Swiss Associations of California) published a detailed article with photograph about the ship and visits on board were organized for the Swiss residents in the Bay Area. Further the paper reported that 30 crew members out of a total of 37 were Swiss citizen and the master was Capt. Giovanni Lepillo from Italy.
These visits on board resulted in various invitations from Swiss families, which also had young daughters. Soon, almost everybody had a nice lady to pass a good time in port. One motorman, so it was told, even married his girl friend, probably the secret wish of a few mothers, who had liked to see a Swiss as a husband for her daughters.
On the evening of 23.06.1965 the engine turned for the first time and the next day a sea trial was conducted. In the evening of 25.06.1965 the ARIANA sailed from the shipyard in San Francisco to continue with her commercial operations and to load cargo for the ports in Japan. All had a fantastic time in California, but after two months in port all pockets were empty. At the time, the USA were very expensive for Europeans, one dollar was worth about 4,30 Swiss francs. Everybody was glad to sail and save some money at sea. The tempting and alluring ports of Japan and South Korea were waiting.
We thank all, who assisted us to compile this story and offered us photographs and other documents
Sources:
- Hans Bühler, radio officer on the ARIANA
- Georges Haller, chief engineer on the ARIANA
- Pierre-André Reymond, deck officer with Suisse-Atlantique
- Pierre-Alain Kobza, steward on the ARIANA
- Guild Hall Library, London
- Anne Cowne, Heritage & Education Centre, Lloyd's Register Foundation, London
SwissShips HPS, January 2018