''Empire Austen'' was a 7,027 ton

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. ...

which was built in 1942. She was renamed ''Frinton'' in 1949, ''Freecrest'' in 1951, ''Fairwater'' in 1955 and ''APJ Usha'' in 1961. She was scrapped in 1962.

History

''Empire Austen'' was built by Lithgows Ltd,

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow (, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recent census in 2011 s ...

as yard number 969. She was launched on 24 March 1942 and completed in May. She was built for 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 placed under the management of Honeyman & Co.

War service

''Empire Austen'' was a member of a number of convoys during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. ;KMS 22 Convoy KMS 22 departed

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

on 9 August 1943 and arrived at

Port Said Port Said ( , , ) is a port city that lies in the northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, straddling the west bank of the northern mouth of the Suez Canal. The city is the capital city, capital of the Port S ...

on 20 August. ''Empire Austen'' was on a voyage from

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

to Alexandria ;MKS 27 Convoy MKS 27 departed Gibraltar on 14 October 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 28 October. ''Empire Austen'' was carrying a cargo of

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

and military stores bound for Manchester. ;OS 60 ''Empire Austen'' was listed as a member of Convoy OS 60 which departed Liverpool on 23 November 1943 and arrived at

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

on 18 December. She did not sail with the convoy. ;KMS 35 Convoy KMS 35 departed Gibraltar on 22 December 1943 and arrived at Port Said on 1 January 1944. ''Empire Austen'' was bound for Algiers.

Postwar

In 1946, management of ''Empire Austen'' passed to

Counties Ship Management Counties Ship Management Co. Ltd. (CSM) was an ocean-going merchant shipping company based in the United Kingdom. During the Second World War CSM merchant ships made a substantial contribution to supplying the British war effort, at a cost of 1 ...

(CSM). In 1949 she was sold to Frinton Shipping Ltd and renamed ''Frinton'', operating under CSM's management. ''Frinton'' was sold to Crest Shipping Co Ltd in 1951 and renamed ''Freecrest''. She operated under the management of Ivanovich & Co Ltd, London. In 1955, ''Freecrest'' was sold to the International Navigation Corporation,

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

and renamed ''Fairwater'', operating under the management of Tidewater Commercial Co Inc,

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. In 1961, ''Fairwater'' was sold to Surrendra (Overseas) Private Ltd, Bombay and renamed APD Usha. She was scrapped in Bombay in 1962.

Official number and code letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term with two distinct applications: * the IMO ship identification number is a unique ship identifier; or, * the IMO company and registered owner identification number is us ...

. ''Empire Austen'' had the 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 ...

168983 and used 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 ...

BDTF

References

External links

Account
of damage to ''Freecrest'' in a hurricane in 1951. {{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Austen 1942 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Steamships of the United Kingdom Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of Liberia Merchant ships of Liberia Steamships of India Empire Austen