The small freighter was built in the shipyard of Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd., Dundee (Hull / Yard No. 213) on the East coast of Scotland and delivered in April 1910 to her British owners, Thomas Cowen, Leith. They named her KOOLGA and she sailed under the British flag with home port Leith (call sign: MDGF). During the WW I she worked for the Royal Army Supply Service, plying between Newhaven and France, carrying supplies for the British troops in France. In 1918 she was sold to Aberdeen Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. Aberdeen, but kept her name KOOLGA and remained under British flag, only her home port changed to Aberdeen.
In 1947 Min Kiang Co. Ltd. Shanghai purchased the steamer and renamed her MIN YUNG. She was now registered under Chinese flag, home port Shanghai (call sign unknown).
Same year the steamer was again sold to A.B. Estoco, Stockholm, Sweden, who registered her as BEATRIZ under the flag of Panama (registered owner: Cia. Maritima Sphika S.A. Panama, call sign: HPVQ). Again same year the BEATRIZ was transferred to the owner company Compañia de Navegacion Estoco S.A. Panama.
In 1951 the ship was purchased by Küstenschiffahrts AG, Goldach and renamed GALLUS to honour Gallus, the patron saint of the town of St. Gallen. On 29.12.1951 the Swiss flag was hoisted (Register No. 039, call sign: HBDF). The propulsion of the GALLUS was a reciprocating triple expansion steam engine and her boilers were fired with coal. The crew consisted of West German citizens, supplied by Seetrans Schiffsagentur Lange & Co. Hamburg.
After freight rates slumped, when the Korean War drew to a close, the GALLUS was laid-up in Juli 1953 in the port of Hamburg. In September an opportunity arose to sell the old steamer to local ship breakers. The GALLUS was deleted from the Swiss registry on 17.09.1953 and in November 1953 delivered to the demolition yard of Walter Ritscher, Hamburg.
SwissShips MB, HPS, July 2015
Additional Information and Stories
Interlude in Heraklion, March 1953
Now a small story about stubborn pilots, greedy harbour authorities and agents, but also about crafty captains and seamen, a story which presumably happened every day in many variations and which will happen in the future, we may say "the daily bread" in international shipping. In this incident the Swiss legation of Athens, the Swiss maritime navigation office in Basel and the federal political department in Bern were involved. From various letters with contradictory presentations we have tried to make up a small story, whether all happened exactly as depicted, remains an open question.
On 14.03.1953 the GALLUS departed from Naples to Limassol, Cyprus on charter for Keller Shipping in their liner service to the Red Sea. In Limassol another 350 tonnes of cargo were to be loaded, but presumably also to take on bunker coal. Normally the trip would have taken about 4 1/2 days to reach Limassol, but after the passage of the Straits of Messina, the steamer encountered extremely adverse weather in the Ionian Sea and lost speed accordingly. After five days the ship only reached the northern coast of Crete and coal became short. The German master (name known to us) decided on 20.03.1953 to take shelter in the Golf of Heraklion.
Whether the radio station was out of order, we do not know, in any case the captain decided to personally go on shore. Together with some of his crew members he went to the beach, using a rowing boat, beckoned alongside. This behaviour is very unusual, normally the master stays on board to look after his vessel and he would send one of his officers. Once they arrived in the small village of Rogdia, in the West of Heraklion, a few drinks were taken, then the captain managed in the local police station to contact the harbour master of Heraklion, who sent a car to collect the group. On arrival of the travellers in town, the harbour master observed, that the captain already was slightly tipsy, if not to say drunk. The agent took over the sightseers and brought them to an inn, where the boozing session probably continued.
The next morning the seafarers were brought back on board and the GALLUS entered the harbour of Heraklion to take coal and to await better weather conditions. Contrary to the advice of the master, the pilot brought the freighter to the inner quay, where the vessel was fully exposed to the wind. So it came, as it had to be, the wind and the waves smashed the ship again and again against the pier and finally the hull plates on portside aft and the bulwark were indented. On the pier one of the old cast iron bollards broke off. The port authorities alleged the captain to have carried out a wrong manoeuvre and thereby damaging the bollard. After the damage was done, the pilot now was prepared to bring the GALLUS from her unsafe berth to a new place at the outer pier, where she could lay well protected.
The port authorities now demanded from the master the horrendous sum of 30 million Drachmes (2000.- USD) for the old bollard, a sum in no ratio to the damage. Further, they announced the vessel to be arrested and cannot sail until the damage was paid in cash. No funds were received by the agency, whether due to an error by the master, shipping company, charterer or the banks we cannot judge. Therefore agents and port authorities were on the safe side, as long as no coal was delivered, the steamer could not disappear.
In that time the means of communication were very limited, from Heraklion no telephone line existed to Athens and the rest of the world, the only means was the ship's station (in port usually not allowed to be used) and the telegraph office. The captain asked his company to remit some funds to the local agents A.P. Corpis & Co. (this agency still exists today). The owners on their part regarded the demanded sum as grossly overcharged and decided to send their shipping manager Mr. Marti to Heraklion. Keller Shipping as charterers offered by telegram a guarantee for the damage, but this of course was declined by the agents.
Despite the appearance of Mr. Marti the people in the agency and harbour authorities continued to show considerable distrust, therefore he decided to call the local court of justice for help. The president of the court reduced the guarantee sum to 10 million Drachmes (667.- USD). The telegraphic back and forth for a bank guarantee showed no success, instead the harbour authorities insisted on a guarantee of a local bank in Heraklion.
The only remaining thing to do for Mr. Marti was to pay the 10 million Drachmes from his on travel funds, but not without promising to stay in Heraklion until the bank guarantee arrived. Further he had to find, then organise and pay the supply of bunker coal to the vessel. On 26.03.1953 the coal was on board and the authorities finally released the GALLUS, which sailed in the evening about 22:00 hours. For the owners and the charterers this meant seven lost days, which they had to cover from their own pockets.
On 28.03.1953 in the morning the telegraphic bank guarantee was received in the bank in Heraklion, issued by the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (today Credit Suisse), but Mr. Marti was deceived again, the guarantee was declared as being insufficient and he had to stay on. The local gentlemen wanted now a guarantee, issued by the Bank of Greece in Athens, confirming that the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt was authorised to issue such a guarantee. This resulted in another three free days for poor Mr. Marti until the eagerly awaited telegram arrived on 31.03.1953 from Athens. Now he received his money back and could travel back home by airplane.
SwissShips HPS, July 2015
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