''Empire Boy'' was an

coastal A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

tanker which was built in 1941 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 ...

(MoWT). Completed in December 1941, was transferred to the

Dutch Government The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, Frits M. Meer, Edward E ...

in 1942 and renamed ''Doorman''. In 1947, she was sold into Dutch merchant service and renamed ''Flandria''. In 1952, she was sold to a

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

company and renamed ''Alice''. She was lengthened in 1954 and renamed ''Hammonia'' and was later renamed ''Petra''. In 1962, she was sold to an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

company and renamed ''Anny''. A new engine was fitted in 1965 and she was renamed ''Tosco'' in 1971, serving until scrapped in 1975.

Description

The ship was built by Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co Ltd,

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's Historic counties of England, historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom censu ...

. She was yard number 361. Launched on 25 August 1941, she was completed in December 1941. As built, the ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She was propelled by a

triple expansion 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 cylinders of , and bore by stroke. The engine was built by Amos & Smith Ltd,

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 ...

. It developed and could propel her at . In 1965, the ship was re-engined with a 6-cylinder Klöckner Humboldt Deutz

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 ...

which had cylinders of 32 cm bore by 45 cm stroke.

Career

''Empire Boy's''

port of registry A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull. In the cruise industry the term "home port" is also ofte ...

was Goole. She was operated under the management of F T Everard & Co Ltd. In 1942, ''Empire Boy'' was transferred to the Dutch Government and renamed ''Doorman''. 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 operated under the management of the Netherlands Shipping and Trading Committee. Management was transferred to NV Hollandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij in 1944. ''Doorman'' 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 ...

. ;KX 13 Convoy KX 13 departed from

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was ...

on 8 January 1944 and arrived at

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 18 January. In 1947, ''Doorman'' was sold to NV Phs. Van Ommeren,

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 ...

. Her port of registry was Rotterdam. In 1948, she was sold Verenigde Tankkustvaart NV. In 1951, ''Flandria'' was sold to Ulric Thomas and was renamed ''Alice''. She was operated under the management of S Stein KG. Her port of registry was

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 ...

. In 1952, she was sold to Bauermann & Metzendorf GmbH and renamed ''Hammonia''. She was lengthened to . In 1954, ''Alice'' was sold to Regia Reederei & Warenhandel GmbH and was renamed ''Petra''. She was sold in 1957 to Rex Bauermann, operating under the management of Olea Tankschiff GmbH. In 1962, ''Petra'' was sold to Vittorio Rosetti and was renamed ''Anny''. Her port of registry was changed to

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. In 1965, a new diesel engine was fitted. In 1971, she was renamed ''Tosco'' and her port of registry was changed to

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

. She was sold to Tosco Sardi di Navigazione SpA in 1975. ''Tosco'' was scrapped at

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

in June 1975 by Demolizione Decomar SpA.

Official Numbers 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 Boy'' and Doorman 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 ...

168714. ''Anny'' had the Italian Official Number 535 and ''Tosco'' had the Italian Official Number 359. Both ''Anny'' and ''Tosco'' were assigned the IMO Number 5019331. ''Empire Boy'' 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 ...

BCVJ. ''Doorman'' used the Code Letters PDNO, which were changed to PDRO in 1944. ''Flandria'' used the Code Letters PCEF.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Boy 1941 ships Ships built in Goole Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the Netherlands World War II merchant ships of the Netherlands Steamships of West Germany Merchant ships of West Germany Steamships of Italy Merchant ships of Italy