''Wickenburgh'' was a

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

that was built in 1938 as ''Adler'' by Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft,

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

owners. Requisitioned by the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

in 1940, she was seized by the Allies in

Vordingborg Vordingborg () is a market town and old ferry town on the south coast of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Because of three large estates surrounding the town, a coherent urban development has not been possible, which is the reason why three sat ...

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in May 1945, passed 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 ...

(MoWT) and renamed ''Empire Coningsby''. In 1946, she was transferred to the Dutch Government and renamed ''Margeca''. In 1947 she was sold into merchant service and renamed ''Wickenburgh''. In 1953 her

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 ...

and low-pressure

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

were replaced with a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

, with a reduction in gross register tonnage from 1,494 to 1,420. She was sold to

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

owners in 1963 and renamed ''Nissos Thassos''. In 1970 she was sold to

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

nian owners and renamed ''Savilco''. She was scrapped in 1984.

Sister ships

''Adler'' was one of a series of

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s that Argo Line had built in the late 1930s. In 1936 Howaldtswerke built ''Fasan'' ("Pheasant") and

Nordseewerke Nordseewerke Emden GmbH (sometimes abbreviated NSWE, in English: North Sea Company) was a shipbuilding company, located in the Emden Harbor of the north German city of Emden. Founded in 1903, shipbuilding ended in 2010, and the company was taken ...

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

built ''Möwe'' ("Seagull"). In 1938 Nordseewerke built ''Habicht'' ("Hawk"), Howardtswerke built '' Schwan'' ("Swan") and Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft built ''Adler'' ("Eagle").

Description

Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft, Lübeck built the ship in 1938 as yard number 369. Her registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . As built, 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 . Each of ''Adler''s sisters was built with a two-cylinder

plus a Bauer-Wach low-pressure

. ''Adler'' also had a Bauer-Wach turbine, but differed from her sisters by being built with a more powerful four-cylinder compound engine. It had a stroke of . Its two high-pressure cylinders had a bore of and its two low-pressure cylinders had a bore of .

Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft (abbreviated Deschimag) was a cooperation of eight German shipyards in the period 1926 to 1945. The leading company was the shipyard AG Weser in Bremen. History The Deschimag was founded in ...

GmbH (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

built the engine.

History

''Adler'' was built for Argo Reederei Richard Adler & Co,

. She was

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 ...

in Bremen and her

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 DOTX. She had a passenger certificate. In 1940 the Kriegsmarine requisitioned ''Adler''. She was used to transport the wounded between 14 August and the end of October 1944 and again from 6 March 1945 until

World War II 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 ...

ended. In May 1945 the Allies seized her at

. She was passed to the MoWT and renamed ''Empire Coningsby'' Her port of registry was changed to

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 ...

. She was given the 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 ...

180702 and call sign GNMM. She was placed under the management of the

General Steam Navigation Company The General Steam Navigation Company (GSN), incorporated in 1824, was London's foremost short sea shipping line for almost 150 years. It was the oldest shipping company in the world to begin business with seagoing steam vessels. Foundation ...

. ''Empire Coningsby'' was laid up at

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

. In 1946 she was transferred to the Dutch Government and renamed ''Margeca''. Her port of registry was

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. She was placed under the management of Wm H Muller & Co NV,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. In 1947 ''Margeca'' was sold to Muller and was renamed ''Wickenburgh''. In 1953 NV Van Niehuis & van den Berg's Scheepsreparatiebedrijf, Pernis converted ''Wickenburgh'' to a

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 ...

with an

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

diesel engine. After conversion, ''Wickenburgh'' was . In 1963 ''Wickenburgh'' was sold to FC Georgopoulos, Greece and renamed ''Nissos Thassos''. With the introduction of

IMO number 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 u ...

s, ''Nissos Thassos'' was given the number 5407461. In 1970 she was sold to Scandinavia-Baltic-Mediterranean Shipping Co, Greece and renamed ''Savilco''. On 25 November 1977 she was laid up at

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. In 1978 ''Savilco'' was sold to Pythagoras Compagnia Navigacion,

. She served for a further seven years until in April or May 1984 she was sold for scrap. Demolition began in October 1984 at

Eleusis Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost ...

Sister ships

Description

History

References

Further reading