SS ''Ben Robertson'' was a

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost constr ...

, Maritime Commission hull number 2432, built during World War II and named for

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

alumnus (Class of 1923), journalist, and war correspondent Benjamin F. Robertson, who was killed in the crash of a Pan Am

Boeing 314 The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design f ...

flying boat, the ''Yankee Clipper'', in the

Tagus River The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to ...

, near Lisbon, Portugal, on 22 February 1943. ''Ben Robertson'' was constructed at the yards of the

Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation The Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation was formed in Savannah, Georgia, during World War II to build Liberty ships. Company history Work on the shipyard was begun by Savannah Shipyards Inc. in 1940. However, dissatisfied with progress, in early ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

, one of 88 Liberty ships the yard built. Laid down on 18 November 1943, it was launched on 4 January 1944. Mrs. Julian Longley, Robertson's sister, of

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the c ...

, was sponsor for the new ship, part of a nationwide maritime program of naming Liberty ships for war correspondents killed in action. The new vessel was delivered on 21 January 1944, having spent 47 days on the ways and 17 in the water for a total of 64 days building. Under the auspices of the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

, the ''Ben Robertson'' was operated under contract by the A. H. Bull Steamship Company, of New York City, through the end of the war. More than 2,400 Liberty ships survived the war, only 196 having been lost in combat. Of these, 835 made up the postwar cargo fleet. Greek entrepreneurs bought 526 ships and Italian ones bought 98. The ''Ben Robertson'' was sold to a private firm in 1947, one of five Liberty ships acquired by Constantine G. Gratsos, one of the brothers of the George D. Gratsos Shipping Company of Athens, whose roots date to 1902, and was reflagged for Greece. The ship was renamed ''Kastor'', and homeported at

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: * Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' * Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithak ...

, with Dracoulis, Ltd., of London acting as agent. Title changed slightly to George D. Gratsos, Athens, in 1949, and to Gratsos Bros., Athens, in 1963, the peak year for Liberty ship ownership when the Cuban blockade encouraged high freight rates. "The decline of the Liberties that started in 1964 was completed by 1974. In 1966 there were still 722 Liberties operating on world trade routes, of which 603 were Greek-owned." The ship was scrapped at

Hirao is a town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word " ...

, Japan, in December 1968.http://ww2ships.com/acrobat/us-os-001-f-r00.pdf

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Robertson, SS Liberty ships Ships built in Savannah, Georgia 1944 ships World War II merchant ships of the United States Standard ship types of the United States