''Stanbell'' was a

tanker Tanker may refer to: Transportation * Tanker, a tank crewman (US) * Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids ** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk ** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum ta ...

which was built by Sir J Laing & Sons,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in 1943 as ''Empire Beresford'' 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 ...

. Postwar she was sold into merchant service and renamed ''Stanbell''. She was converted to a

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, ec ...

and later sold to new owners and renamed ''Kelantan'', serving until scrapped in 1965.

Description

''Empire Beresford'' was built by Sir J Laing & Sons, Sunderland. She was yard number 753 and was launched on 15 September 1943 with completion in December. She was long, with a beam of and a depth of . Her GRT was 9,804, with a NRT of 5,793.

Career

''Empire Beresford'' was placed under the management of J A Billmeir & Co Ltd, who traded as the Stanhope Steamship Co Ltd. Her port of registry was

. ''Empire Beresford'' was a member of a number of convoys during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. ;HX 313 Convoy HX 313 departed

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on 10 October 1944 and arrived at

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

on 24 October. ''Empire Beresford'' was listed as a member of this convoy but did not sail in it, she joined the following convoy, HX 314. ;HX 314 Convoy HX 314 departed New York on 15 October 1944 and arrived at Liverpool on 29 October. ''Empire Beresford'' was bound for Killingholme. In 1945, Billmeir's purchased ''Empire Beresford'' from the MoWT and renamed her ''Stanbell''. On 13 December 1953, ''Stanbell'' was in collision with SS ''Marine Courier'' off

Cape Henry Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia located in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to the long estuary of the Chesapeake Bay. Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Cha ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

. The master of ''Marine Courier'' was found to have been at fault and his licence was suspended for a month. In 1955, ''Stanbell'' was converted to a bulk carrier. She was now , and 14,810 DWT. In 1960, ''Stanbell'' was sold to the Malaya Shipping Co Ltd,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and renamed ''Kelantan''. She was initially placed under the management of United Shipping & Investment Co Ltd, Hong Kong but management was later transferred to Gibson Shipping Co Inc,

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...

. ''Kelantan'' was scrapped in March 1965 at Hirao, Japan.

Official Numbers and Code Letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers IMO or Imo may refer to: Biology and medicine * Irish Medical Organisation, the main organization for doctors in the Republic of Ireland * Intelligent Medical Objects, a privately held company specializing in medical vocabularies * Isomaltoolig ...

. ''Empire Beresford'' had the UK

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their 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 have sometimes ...

180053 and 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 and today also. Later, with the i ...

GFMY.

Propulsion

The ship 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 he ...

which had cylinders of , and bore by stroke. It was built by North East Marine Engineering Co Ltd,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanbell 1943 ships Ships built on the River Wear Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships World War II tankers Steamships of the United Kingdom Tankers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1953 Steamships of Hong Kong Tankers of Hong Kong