''Filio'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Njong'' in 1944 by Stettiner Vulkan Werft AG,

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for

Deutsche Afrika-Linien The Deutsche Afrika-Linien GmbH & Co./ John T. Essberger GmbH & Co. (DAL/JTE) is a German shipping company, based in Hamburg. It has a workforce of 1200–1300 world-wide and an annual turnover of about $350 million. The headquarters of Palmai ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany. She was seized as a

prize of war A prize of war (also called spoils of war, bounty or booty) is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 1 ...

in 1945, passing to the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transpor ...

and renamed ''Empire Garland''. She was sold in 1946 and was renamed ''Sheldrake''. She was sold to Liberia in 1959 and renamed ''Salamstar''. Sold to Greece in 1960 and renamed ''Ambelos''. She was sold in 1961 and renamed ''Marmina''. A final sale in 1968 saw her renamed ''Filio''. She served until 1972, when she was scrapped.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , and a draught of . She was assessed as , , . The ship was propelled by a

compound steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

, which had two cylinders of and two cylinders of diameter by inches stroke. The engine was built by Stettiner Vulkan Werft AG. Rated at 1,200 IHP, it drove a single screw propeller and could propel the ship at .

History

''Njong'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1944 as

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

28 by Stettiner Vulkan Werft AG,

for

, Germany. She was launched in January 1944 and completed in December. Her port of registry was Hamburg. In May 1945, ''Njong'' was seized as a

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...

. She was passed to the

and was renamed ''Empire Garland''. The

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of ...

GJLT and United Kingdom

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 ...

180609 were allocated. Her port of registry was

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 ...

and she was operated under the management of the Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Co. Ltd. In 1947, ''Empire Garland'' was sold to the General Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. and was renamed ''Sheldrake''. In May 1958, a wages dispute amongst the crew whilst she was at

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada meant that a new crew had to be flown out. Eighteen crewmen were charged with refusing to sail. In 1958, ''Sheldrake'' was sold to Johal Navigation Ltd,

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

, Liberia and was renamed ''Salamstar''. She was sold in 1961 to Johal Navigation Ltd,

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, Greece and renamed ''Ambelos''. She was sold later that year to N J Goumas, Piraeus and was renamed ''Marmina''. She was sold to Constantine Raikos & Filiou Raikou, Piraeus in 1968 and renamed ''Filio''. She arrived at

Aspropyrgos Aspropyrgos (, ) is a western suburb, in the Athens metropolitan area and a municipality in the West Attica regional unit in the Thriasio Plain, Attica, Greece. The municipality had a population of 31,381 at the 2021 census. It has an area of 1 ...

, Greece on 15 June 1972 for scrapping by N Tzonis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filio 1944 ships Ships built in Hamburg World War II merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships of the British India Steam Navigation Company Merchant ships of Liberia Steamships of Liberia Merchant ships of Greece Steamships of Greece