This refrigerated ship, a sister ship of the CALANCA, was launched on 13.02.1962 at the shipyard N.V. Werf "Gusto", Slikkerveer (construction no. 220), which belongs to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group, and was christened CASTANEDA; the godmother was Dr. F. Hummler, the wife or daughter of the then head of the KTA in Bern. On 19.05.1962 she was handed over to the owners St. Gotthard Schiffahrts A.G., Chur. The operation of the refrigerated freighter was with Suisse-Outremer S.A. de Gérance et d'Affretement Maritimes, Genève. The CASTANEDA was registered under the Swiss flag in Basilea (Basel) (call sign: HBFE). Castaneda is a village at the entrance to the Calanca Valley in the Italian-speaking part of the canton of Grisons.
From September 1963, the company moved its domicile to Zurich and now called itself in German language Suisse-Outremer Bereederungs- und Befrachtungs AG.
After delivery, the CASTANEDA sailed together with her sister ship CALANCA in the Dutch reefer pool of Dammers en van der Heide, the entire crew came from the Netherlands. The CASTANEDA first carried bananas from Conakry, Guinea (still a strictly socialist country under its first president Sékou Touré) to Hamburg, from where they were taken by rail to Prague in Czechoslovakia. On the whole, one can say that the CASTANEDA made roughly the same voyages and with the same cargo as her sister ship, see also under CALANCA.
After initially having an entire Dutch crew on board, they were slowly replaced by Swiss, Spanish and Yugoslavians. In keeping with the sailing area, local seamen were also hired, such as Ecuadorians and Africans.
During Easter sometime in the seventies, an inspector came to the office in Zurich, as was customary at the time on weekends, to check the incoming telexes and could hardly believe his eyes at what lay before him on the table. The CASTANEDA was at anchor off a remote island in the New Hebrides in the Pacific*) to load fish. The telex said that all navigation equipment had disappeared from the bridge, that is, no radar, echo sounder, radio direction finder, VHF telephone, all gone. All the cables of the gyrocompass and the radio station had been cut, but it was not written as to why. It was only the next day that it came to light that the Spanish second officer had gone crazy and thrown everything over the ships side in revenge for an overtime dispute to which he felt he had lost out financially.
Now replacement equipment and material had to be procured as quickly as possible via Radio Holland and brought on board. The nearest international airport was in Suva in Fiji, about 500 nautical miles to the east. The CASTANEDA sailed to Suva using only the magnetic compass and following the sun and stars, just as the Polynesians had done for hundreds of years. After a week, the new equipment was in Suva and a technician from Radio-Holland, Australia had also arrived to install and test the new equipment. The second was arrested in Suva and spent a few months in jail, but he never paid a cent for the damage done.
On 09.03.1977 the shipping company sold the CASTANEDA to Alabacore Navigation Co. S.A., Panama, Management: Alba Shipping Co. S.A., Piraeus (Nicolas Konialidis, Montevideo). The vessel was renamed ALABACORE and registered in Piraeus under the Greek flag (call sign: SV4179). Re-measured with: BRT: 1'505, NRT: 637, DWT: 1'716.
1980 Sold to Neptune Shipping Co. Ltd (Oceanic Navigation Co. Ltd., Georgetown) (Management: Banana Supply Co. Inc., Miami) and registered in Georgetown, Cayman Islands and renamed CASTANEDA (Official No.: 385042, Call Sign: ZGDG).
Sold in 1987 without name change to Intrepid Shipping Co. Ltd (unchanged management), Georgetown, Cayman Islands.
1988: Sold to L.& H. Lines S.A. (Management: Marine Trust Shipping Co., Inc., Taipei), Panama. Renamed KINGBON II. Official No.: 18506-TT. Call sign: HP5008.
From 1989 the manager's name was Ta Sheng Navigation Co. Ltd, Kaohsiung.
In 1991 it was sold to Yeon Harng Reefer Line S.A., Kaohsiung, Panama flag, and renamed EVER VOYAGE NO. 6. Re-measured with: BRT: 1392, NRT: 633, DWT: 1716.
Sold in 1992 to San Fatt Reefer Lines S.A. (Management: Yeon Harng Reefer Line S.A., Kaohsiung), San Lorenzo, Honduras and renamed SAN FATT. Official no.: n.a. Call sign: n.a. Re-measured with: BRT: 1425, NRT: 636, DWT: 1716.
Dropped anchor in Kobe on 07.08.1992. During typhoon "Janis", the ship was driven aground with its anchor having dragged throughout the storm. Later it could be refloated, but was declared a total loss and sold to a Chinese scrapping company. The ship left Kobe on 15.07.1993 in tow for its last voyage.
Sources:
- Federal archive, Bern
- Lloyds Register Publications
- Guildhall, London
- Captain Jörg Johannsen
SwissShips HPS, MB, November 2022
*) The New Hebrides
The archipelago of the New Hebrides was a British-French condominium and became the independent state of Vanuatu with its capital Port Vila in 1980. Vanuatu also maintains an International Open Ships Registry and anyone can register their vessel here.
Additional information and stories
El Gordito
A nice little story was told by Captain J. Johannsen, it happened when he sailed as master on the CASTANEDA to Ecuador:
When I first arrived in Bolivar (Puerto Bolivar, the port of Machala, south of Guayaquil), a small, fat, but bright boy of about 10 years came on board, named Carlos, but whom everyone called "El Gordito" (the fat one). Always neatly dressed with T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, all gifts of kind-hearted sailors whom he had helped. He stored his belongings in a shoe shine box that he always carried with him. He helped the cook with the dishes, set the tables in the mess hall, washed and ironed for the people on board. At night he was allowed to sleep on the pilot boat.
Carlos was always pestering me to take him on a trip to America, but without papers it was impossible. Well, one evening before we sailed, he said goodbye as usual, but the next morning at sea, the rascal squatted in front of the salon and howled. He had been hiding in the laundry under the old linen. What else could I do, so I sent him to the cook in order to help him.
Upon arrival in Panama, I had to report the stowaway to the authorities. Fortunately, a Dutch ship from our pool was on its way to Ecuador and therefore took the boy back home together with his shoe shine box.
On our next arrival in Ecuador, "El Gordito" came back on board in his old freshness to earn again some small little pocket money. When my time on the CASTANEDA was over, I gave my successor a few U.S. dollars that "El Gordito" had saved for his work and which I kept in custody for him. I gave the new captain 170.- USD with the request that the agent get the boy a passport. This sum was the going rate including bribes to get a passport.
A few months later I received a letter from Carlos via the shipping company, he thanked me and was overjoyed for his passport. Since he was actually already 15 years old, he also got a job as mess boy on the CALANCA. The first few years he sent a card each Christmas, then the contact broke off. After about 25 years, the phone rang at home and it was Carlos. He had sailed on German ships and was able to attend a hotel school. Now he was running a hotel in Nuremberg and invited us for a visit. Now I can at least claim to have done a good deed for once.
SwissShips HPS, February 2023