hartlepool history logo
close button

Clumberhall - a general history

The following is from an unknown source:
The Clumberhall was built at the height of the Great Depression for the West Hartlepool Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. and remained in the fleet until June 1946 when she was sold to Goulandris Brothers Ltd. of London and renamed Ormos. She arrived under this name at Cape Town in December 1946, having been sold to the Alpha South African Steamship Co. Ltd., which had been founded by the Johannesburg-based Alpha Industrial Exploration Co. Ltd.

Re-named Alpha Oranje, and repainted in the distinctive Alpha colour scheme of buff superstructure with an orange funnel with four green bands and a blue letter “A”, her role was to carry coal from the Alpha-owned collieries in the Transvaal to South America.

However, by 1948 freight costs for shipping South African coal to Buenos Aires had halved and the company was soon wound up. Alpha Oranje was transferred to Moller Line and retained her name until her sale to Toho Kaiun K.K., Tokyo in 1951. Renamed Eiko Maru, she went to Japanese breakers in 1961.  

Related items :