HMS ''Port Quebec'' was a British

motor ship A motor ship or motor vessel is a ship propelled by an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The names of motor ships are often prefixed with MS, M/S, MV or M/V. Engines for motorships were developed during the 1890s, and by th ...

that was designed and launched in 1939 to be the refrigerated cargo ship ''Port Quebec'', but completed in 1940 as an auxuiliary

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

. In 1944 she was converted into an aircraft component

repair ship A repair ship is a naval auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to warships. Repair ships provide similar services to destroyer, submarine and seaplane tenders or depot ships, but may offer a broader range of repair capability incl ...

and renamed HMS ''Deer Sound''. In 1947 she was returned to her owner, Port Line, and completed as a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

. She was scrapped in

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in 1968.

Building and identification

J.L. Thompson and Sons J.L. Thompson and Sons was a shipyard on the River Wear, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland, which produced ships from the mid-18th century until the 1980s. The world-famous Liberty Ship was among the designs to be created, produced and manuf ...

built the ship as yard number 593 at their North Sands shipyard in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

on the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...

. She was launched on 17 August 1939 and completed that November at a cost of £207,783. She was named ''Port Quebec'' because Port Line planned to use her on its Montreal, Australia and New Zealand (MANZ) service, which was a joint operation with Ellerman & Bucknall and the

New Zealand Shipping Company The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC) was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973. A group of Christchurch businessmen founded the company in 1873, similar ...

. ''Port Quebec''s

length overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also ...

was and her registered length was . Her beam was and her depth was . Her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a cal ...

s were and . She had a single

screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

, driven by a five-cylinder, single-acting

two-stroke diesel engine A two-stroke diesel engine is a diesel engine that uses compression ignition in a two-stroke combustion cycle. It was invented by Hugo Güldner in 1899.Mau (1984) p.7 In compression ignition, air is first compressed and heated; fuel is then in ...

built by

William Doxford & Sons William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British shipbuilder, shipbuilding and marine engineering company. History William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 18 ...

of Sunderland. It was rated at 1,076 NHP and gave her a speed of . In 1940 Port Line

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

''Port Quebec'' in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Her UK

official number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

was 167532 and her

wireless telegraph Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies fo ...

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was GWGQ.

Naval service

In November 1939 the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

requisitioned ''Port Quebec'' and had her completed as an auxiliary minelayer. She was armed with two

QF 4-inch naval gun Mk V The QF 4 inch Mk V gunMk V = Mark 5. Britain used Roman numerals to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after World War II. Mark V indicates this was the fifth model of QF 4-inch gun. was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted ...

, two

QF 2-pounder naval gun The 2-pounder gun, officially the QF 2-pounder ( QF denoting "quick firing") and universally known as the pom-pom, was a British autocannon, used as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy.British military of the period traditionally denoted s ...

s, 13

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models empl ...

s, and minelaying equipment. She had capacity for 550

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

s. In 1940 she was commissioned as HMS ''Port Quebec'', with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

M59. By mid-August she had joined the 1st Minelaying Squadron at

Kyle of Lochalsh Kyle of Lochalsh ( , "strait of the foaming loch") is a village in the historic county of Ross & Cromarty on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the Lochalsh peninsula, at the entranc ...

(port ZA) along with four other auxiliary minesweepers, plus an escort of Royal Navy

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s. ''Port Quebec'' and other members of the 1st Minelaying Squadron laid mines in the

Northern Barrage The Northern Barrage was the name given to minefields laid by the British during World War II to restrict German access to the Atlantic Ocean. The barrage stretched from the Orkney to the Faroe Islands and on toward Iceland. Mines were also la ...

. The barrage was completed in September 1943. In 1944 ''Port Quebec'' was converted into an aircraft component repair ship. She was renamed HMS ''Deer Sound'', and her pennant number was changed to F99. On 1 January 1945 the Admiralty bought the ship from her owners.

Merchant service

On 24 October 1947 the Admiralty sold the ship back to Port Line, who restored her original name ''Port Quebec''. She was completed as a cargo ship, with only part of her hold space refrigerated. In 1948 her refrigerated capacity was recorded as only . By 1950 this had been doubled to , but it was still only a small part of her total hold space. By 1947 ''Port Quebec''s navigation equipment included wireless

direction finding Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a naturall ...

, an

echo sounding Echo sounding or depth sounding is the use of sonar for ranging, normally to determine the depth (coordinate), depth of water (bathymetry). It involves transmitting acoustic waves into water and recording the time interval between emission and ...

device and a

gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical Direction (geometry), direction automaticall ...

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

had been added by 1951, and a position fixing device and

radiotelephone A radiotelephone (or radiophone), abbreviated RT, is a radio communication system for conducting a conversation; radiotelephony means telephony by radio. It is in contrast to ''radiotelegraphy'', which is radio transmission of telegrams (messag ...

by 1959. In December 1968 ''Port Quebec'' arrived in

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

to be scrapped.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Port Quebec (M59) 1939 ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Minelayers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the River Wear World War II minelayers of the United Kingdom