Ships of the Year

Sailed under three Nordic flags
In January 1950 Svenska Lloyd in
Göteborg bought the Norwegian
steamer Foldal for four million Swedish
kronor. The vessel was renamed Murcia
and originally intended for the company’s
Mediterranean services.
The Murcia was brand new, just a little
bit over a year. She had in November 1948
been handed over to A/S Moltzau’s Tankrederi
in Oslo by the Norwegian shipyard
Fredrikstad Mek Verksted in Fredrikstad.
The main engine was a four cylinder
compound steam engine with an output
of 3,550 hp of the shipyard’s design, a socalled
‘steam motor’. The deadweight of
the ship was as big as her engine output,
3,550 tons.
Intended for all kinds of general cargo,
she was built as an open shelterdecker
with five hatches. The ventilation of the
holds was efficient, making her especially
suitable for fruit shipments. She also had
accommodation for eight passengers.
The Murcia was somewhat larger
than the company’s other vessels in the
Mediterranean trade and was not to be
employed there at all. Instead she was during
the 1950’s for many years on charter
for traffic to Cuba. She returned in May
1958 with a cargo of coal from Hampton
Roads to Fredericia and underwent a refit
after the years in ‘exile’. After that she took
a cargo of wood from Archangel to the
Mediterranean before entering the ordinary
liner services of Svenska Lloyd.
As the fleet of Svenska Lloyd was
renewed with the Italia-class, the older
vessels were replaced. In March 1963 the
turn came to Murcia and she was sold for
775,000 British pounds to Etelä-Suomen
Laiva Oy in Helsinki. At the handing over
in Göteborg she was renamed Espa. By
this transaction the vessel came to serve
owners in three Nordic countries.
Under Finnish flag she traded between
Europe and North America. In the winter
she entered the African peanut trade but
from 1967 she was mostly employed in
traffic between Finland and the Continent.
In February 1969 it was time to sail for
warmer waters. She was sold to Ormos
Shipping Co Ltd at Cyprus and when the
steamer sailed from Stockholm on February
11 her name was Jane. Now she mostly
traded in the Mediterranean, but occasionally
she brought a cargo of wood from the
White Sea.
In April 1971 she was sold to Dubai
National Shipping Corp in Dubai and
renamed Tayeb. She was handed over in
Piraeus and sailed on April 10.
On February 7, 1972, on a voyage from
Bombay to Mombasa, the ship encountered
the cyclone Dolly and anchored off
Mauritius. On the next day the anchor
dragged and she drifted ashore on a coral
reef off Port Louis. The crew abandoned
the ship and seven persons drowned. The
vessel became a wreck.
krister bång
82 SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • DECEMBER 19, 2008
HÅKAN SJÖSTRÖM