SS Alkimos
{{short description|World War II Liberty ship of the United States}}
{{Use Australian English |date=January 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Alkimos Wreck (Love Perth).jpg |Ship caption=Alkimos as viewed from the shore, August 2012 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= Norway |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Norway|civil}} |Ship name= Viggo Hansteen |Ship namesake=Viggo Hansteen |Ship owner=U.S. War Shipping Administration |Ship operator=Nortraship |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards Inc., Baltimore{{cite web |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/bethfairfield.htm |title=Bethlehem Fairfield |first=Tim |last=Colton |work=shipbuildinghistory.com |year=2012 |access-date=13 December 2012 |archive-date=10 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510101851/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/bethfairfield.htm |url-status=dead }} |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=18 September 1943 |Ship launched=11 October 1943 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired=18 October 1943 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=21 October 1943 |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship fate= Sold, 1953 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Greece |Ship flag= {{Shipboxflag|Greece|civil}} |Ship name= Alkimos |Ship namesake= |Ship owner=Alkimos Shipping Company |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship acquired=1953 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship fate=Wrecked, May 1964 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Ship class= |Ship type= Type EC2-S-C1 liberty ship |Ship tonnage=*{{GRT|7,176|disp=long}}
|Ship displacement= {{Convert|14,245|LT|t|0|lk=on|abbr=on}} |Ship length= {{Convert|441|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{Convert|57|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draft={{Convert|27|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}} (full) |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*2 oil-fired boilers
|Ship speed= {{Convert|11|kn|lk=on}} |Ship range= {{Convert|17000|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{Convert|11|kn|abbr=on}} |Ship endurance= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship crew=41 |Ship armament= |Ship notes= }} |
Alkimos was a Greek-owned merchant ship which was wrecked on the coast north of Perth, Western Australia in 1963. A nearby locality was later named after the vessel. The wreck is a popular diving venue.
History
The ship was built during World War II by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore as part of the United States' Liberty ship program and was originally scheduled to be named George M. Shriver. It is said to be haunted after several workers were unintentionally trapped in riveted-up compartments aboard the ship. These unfortunate workers were found a day after, suffocating to their deaths in these sealed areas. {{citation needed|date=October 2021}} It was launched on 11 October 1943.{{cite web |url= http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/viggohansteen.html |title=D/S Viggo Hansteen - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 |work=warsailors.com |year=2012 |access-date=13 December 2012}} However, on 20 October, the vessel was reassigned to the Norwegian Shipping & Trade Mission, was re-christened Viggo Hansteen. and saw war service for about 18 months, primarily in the Mediterranean and was crewed by mariners of various nationalities. It served as a troopship and transported cargo, in convoys that were sometimes attacked by German aircraft and U-boats.
A murder-suicide took place on board Viggo Hansteen in August 1944, while the ship was at Naples (some sources say Piombino); Canadian radio operator Maude Steane is reported to have been shot by another crew member in his cabin, who then killed himself.
At 2:30 am on 24 April 1952, the Viggo Hansteen while on a voyage from London, via Panama, to Port Chalmers and Wellington with new British cars and bagged cement ran aground two miles northeast of the Katiki Point Lighthouse near Moeraki.{{cite book |last= McLean |first= Gavin |title= 'Moeraki: 150 years of net and plough share |location= Dunedin, NZ |publisher= Otago Heritage Books |date= 1986 |pages= 74, 75 |isbn= 0-9597723-3-2}} The Port Chalmers-based tug Dunedin was dispatched to the scene and by 3:16 pm the tug had refloated the vessel which was only slightly damaged and escorted it to port.{{Citation |last= Wright |first= Doug |title= On the waterfront: Ship grounds off Moeraki on Anzac Day, 1952 |newspaper= Otago Daily Times |date= April 23, 2012 |url= https://www.odt.co.nz/business/waterfront-ship-grounds-moeraki-anzac-day-1952|accessdate= February 10, 2021}}
The vessel was sold in 1953 to Greek owned Faros Shipping, of London who renamed it Alkimos, after a word meaning "strong" and a Greek god, Álkimos. The ship operated under the flag of Panama until 1959 when it was transferred to Greek registry.
Loss
The vessel was on a voyage from Jakarta to Bunbury when, on 20 March 1963, it struck a reef off the Beagle Islands, {{convert|8|km}} from the Western Australian coast, near Eneabba. It was salvaged and towed to Fremantle, the port city for Perth, Western Australia, where it underwent repairs for two months.{{cite web |title=Alkimos Ship Wreck |url=https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/printsinglerecord/2c89b578-cdfc-4a15-9017-1adb59afd0ab |website=InHerit |publisher=National Trust of Western Australia |access-date=22 January 2024 |location=Perth, WA |date=13 December 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Roe |first1=Phillip |title=Ghostwriting: The Alkimos and its Ghosts |journal=Transformations |date= December 2005 |issue=12 |publisher=University of Queensland |url=https://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Roe_Transformations12.pdf |access-date=22 January 2024 |issn=1444-3775}}
After the settlement of a dispute concerning payment for the repairs, Alkimos left Fremantle under tow by an ocean-going tug, Pacific Reserve from Hong Kong. Only a few hours out of port, on 31 May 1963, the tow line gave way and Alkimos was driven onto the shore. Although the ship remained intact, it could not be floated off at that time, and so it was filled with water to secure it in place and left in the charge of an on-board caretaker.
Another tug, Pacific Star, under command of Captain {{thinspace|E.|R.}} Francisco, returned in January 1964 and the ship was refloated on 14 February, but the planned journey to Manila had hardly begun when the tug was seized a week later at sea by authorities and Alkimos was left anchored. On 2 May, the vessel broke anchor and was driven onto the Eglinton Rocks at present-day Alkimos. On this occasion it was more severely damaged, and all thought of salvaging it intact was abandoned.
It was later sold by the owners for scrap. However, in 1969, salvage workers were driven off the wreck by a fire, and each time they returned, the fire started again.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} After that time, the partly dismantled remains of the ship sat in several metres of water, visible to visitors, before gradually disintegrating.
References
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Source
{{refbegin}}
- The Sunday Times Magazine (Perth), 19 March 2006, p. 14
- [http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/wa/content/2003/s1000949.htm ABC Television program Stateline (Transcript)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040825175058/http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/wa/content/2003/s1000949.htm |date=25 August 2004 }}
- [http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collections/maritime/march/shipwrecks/Wanneroo_Shipwrecks/Wanneroo.html Shipwrecks of the Wanneroo Coast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819054415/http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collections/maritime/march/shipwrecks/Wanneroo_Shipwrecks/Wanneroo.html |date=19 August 2006 }}
- [http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/HC9782-001.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=2AC75F6FAA20674C113B794B2BE98AFF5671D309F6815D3249207362A3F24453 Photo of the Alkimos in 1969] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727163107/http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/HC9782-001.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=2AC75F6FAA20674C113B794B2BE98AFF5671D309F6815D3249207362A3F24453 |date=27 July 2011 }}
{{refend}}
External links
- [http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-31.610361,115.653897&spn=0.003362,0.006974&t=h&z=18 GoogleMaps location and image of the Alkimos Wreck]
{{subject bar |auto=0 |portal1=Western Australia |portal2=Modern history }}
{{1963 shipwrecks}}
{{1964 shipwrecks}}
{{Coord|31|36|38|S|115|39|13|E|region:AU_type:city|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alkimos (1943)}}
Category:Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland
Category:Cargo ships of Greece
Category:Shipwrecks of Western Australia
Category:Maritime incidents in 1963
Category:Maritime incidents in 1964
Category:World War II merchant ships of the United States
Category:Steamships of the United States