Arachne - a general history

Completed October 1912; Official No. 132832: Code Letters TBSG: Code Letters YLCU: Code Letters SVIN: Code Letters HWST.

Owners: 1912 Rickinson Sons & Co, West Hartlepool: 1918 Gordon SS Co, London: 1920 Stella Shipping Co Ltd (W Hepburn & Co) London: 1922 St Mary SS Co (Williams Bros, Cardiff Ltd) London-renamed Swiftway: 1932 GW Grace & Co, Riga–renamed Aurora: 1934 Chine Shipping Co, Cardiff–renamed Bransome Chine: 1935 DL Condylis, Andros-renamed Leonidas N Condylis: 1947 DL Condylis, Andros-renamed Kantule 1952 Greenville Shipping Co Inc, Monrovia–renamed Ally

Masters: 1913 GH Sergeant: 1916-17 MJ Mothersdale: 1918-19 GH Sergeant: 1920 TJ Jones.

(Northern) Daily Mail, August 1st, 1912:
LAUNCH AT WEST HARTLEPOOL.
Yesterday, Messrs. William Gray and Co., Ltd. launched the handsome steel screw steamer, Arachne which they have built for Messrs. Rickinson, Sons, and Co,. West Hartlepool.

She will take the highest class in Lloyd’s Register, and is of the following dimensions, viz.: Length over all, 372ft.; breadth, 49ft.; and depth, 28ft., with long bridge, poop, and top-gallant forecastle. The saloon, staterooms, captain’s, officers’, and engineers’ rooms, etc., will be fitted up in houses on the bridge deck, and the crew’s berths in the forecastle.

The hull is built with deep frames, cellular double bottom, and large aft ballast tank, nine steam winches, steam steering gear amidships, hand screw gear aft, patent direct steam windlass, large horizontal multitubular donkey boiler, shifting boards throughout, stockless anchors, telescopic masts, with fore and aft rig and all requirements for a first class cargo steamer. The holds, bunkers, and topsides are coated with Siderosthen solution to prevent corrosion.

Triple-expansion engines are being supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, having cylinders 25in., 40 ½ in., and 67in. diameter, with a piston stroke of 45in., together with two large steel boilers for a working pressure of 180lbs. per square inch.

The ship and machinery have been built under the superintendence of Mr. Donald Ross and Captain Race on behalf of the owners, and the ceremony of naming the steamer Arachne was gracefully performed by Mrs. M. Rickinson, of Harrogate.

(Northern) Daily Mail, October 7th, 1912:
NEW STEAMER FOR LOCAL OWNERS.
The handsome steel screw steamer, Arachne built by Messrs. Wm Gray and Co., Ltd., for Messrs. Rickinson, Sons, and Co,. West Hartlepool, had her trial trip in Hartlepool bay on Saturday.

The vessel has been built to Lloyd’s highest class, and her principal dimensions, are: Length over all, 372ft.; breadth, 49ft.; and depth, 28ft. All the requirements for a first class cargo steamer have been fitted. The holds, bunkers, and topsides are coated with Siderosthen solution to prevent corrosion.

The engines are of the triple-expansion type supplied from the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, having cylinders 25in., 40 ½ in., and 67in. diameter, with a piston stroke of 45in., and two large steel boilers adapted to work at a pressure of 180lbs. per square inch. Amongst the engine room auxiliaries are an evaporator and duplex feed and ballast pumps of the “C.M.E.W.” type.

The ship and machinery have been built under the superintendence of Mr. Donald Ross and Captain Race. On the trial the owners were represented by Mr. A. G.Rickinson, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Donald Ross and Captain Race., Mr. D. McAuslan and Mr.James Innes represented Lloyd’s Registry. The trial was entirely satisfactory, and on completion the vessel proceeded on her voyage.

Extract from Sea Breezes, No.115, July 1955 – Stephen Tetlow:
Oddly enough, another ship with the name Ally has been in the news recently, having gone aground on a voyage from Narvik to Rotterdam. She has now arrived at the Dutch port with a salvage vessel in attendance and is reported sold to shipbreakers. No details are available at the time of writing of the nationality of the buyers. Since she was completed in October 1912, by W, Gray and Co. Ltd., West Hartlepool, she has had more than her share of names and owners. Originally the Arachne, owned by Rickinson Sons and Co., and registered at West Hartlepool, she has a deadweight of 6,656 tons, and triple-expansion machinery from her builders’ Central Marine Engine Works, giving her a speed of 10 knots. During the First World War she was under Government requisition, and during the period of requisition was sold to the Gordon Steamship Co., of London.

In 1920 she was listed as owned by the Stella Shipping Co. Ltd. (W. Hepburn and Co.), and registered at London. Two years later she became the Swiftway, owned by the St. Mary Steamship Co, (Williams Bros., Cardiff), with her port of registry changed to Cardiff. Sold in March 1933 to G.W. Grace and Co., of London, apparently acting for a group of Latvian shipowners, J. Zalcmanis, K. Jansons and J. Freyman, she sailed under the Latvian flag, as the Aurora, with Riga as her port of registry, but in October 1934 changed hands again, coming back under the British flag as the Branksome Chine, once again Cardiff-registered and owned by the Chine Shipping Co. Ltd., of Cardiff.

This only lasted a matter of a few months before she was sold to the Greek shipowner D.L. Condylis, of Andros, who renamed her Leonidas N. Condylis. Under the Greek flag she served the Allied cause during the Second World War, and was transferred to Panama in 1947, when she came under the ownership of the Cia.Maritime Del Ray, S.A., who gave her the name Kantule. Her managers were the Goulandris Bros. Ltd., of London. Early in 1952 she collided with and severely damaged the Haisbro’ lightship, while on passage from Middlesbrough to Huelva. Her own damage was much less severe than that which she inflicted on the lightship. During the same year she changed hands again when acquired by the Greenville Shipping Co. Inc., of Monrovia, Liberia, and renamed Ally. The 3.962-ton veteran was placed under the Liberian flag.

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