''Compañía de Filipinas'' was a

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

steamship that was built in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1890 for the

Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas The , S.A. (''General Tobacco Company of the Philippines'', abbreviated CdF), also known as the , was a Spanish multinational joint-stock company, one of the world's most important enterprises in the late 19th and early 20th century, and the P ...

(CGTF). In the Philippine–American War the Navy of the

First Philippine Republic The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...

armed her as its flagship and renamed her ''Filipinas''. After that war she reverted to her original name and commercial service. In 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Japanese forces captured her and renamed her ''Hoei Maru''. She was sunk in July 1945, shortly before the end of the war.

Building

Lobnitz Lobnitz & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company located at Renfrew on the River Clyde, west of the Renfrew Ferry crossing and east of the confluence with the River Cart. The Lobnitz family lived at Chapeltoun House in East Ayrshire. Th ...

& Co built the ship in Renfrew, Scotland as yard number 342, launching her in 1 July 1890. Her registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically r ...

s were , . She had a single

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...

, driven by a three-cylinder

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 ...

that was rated at 88

NHP Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

. CGTF registered her at

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. Her code letters were MBOG.

Flagship ''Filipinas''

In 1898, while she was inter-island service, the Revolutionary Navy (later the Philippine Navy) took over the ship as its flagship. The Revolutionary Navy initially consisted of a small fleet of eight captured Spanish steam launches refitted with Gonzalez Hontoria de 9 cm (mod 1879)

guns A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, ...

, and then received a donation of five merchant ships, namely the ''Taaleño'', the ''Balayan'', the ''Bulusan'', the ''Taal'' and the ''Purísima Concepción'', before acquiring ''Filipinas''. The acquisition was made possible by the Filipino crew of the ship, who mutinied under the Cuban Vicente Catalan, who proclaimed himself "admiral". When the Filipino flag was raised on the ship, the

East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron (german: Kreuzergeschwader / Ostasiengeschwader) was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the ...

contested it and claimed the ship for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Despite an impending naval incident, the ship remained under Filipino control until the Philippine–American War proved the naval superiority of the American

Asiatic Squadron The Asiatic Squadron was a squadron of United States Navy warships stationed in East Asia during the latter half of the 19th century. It was created in 1868 when the East India Squadron was disbanded. Vessels of the squadron were primarily inv ...

and decimated the Revolutionary Navy. After the US conquest of the Philippines, the ship was returned to CGTF and resumed her original name and commercial service. By 1935 her tonnages had been reassessed as and , and the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

KZEP had superseded her code letters.

''Hoei Maru''

During the Philippines campaign in the Second World War, Japanese forces captured ''Compania de Filipinas'' off Fortune Island in 1942. She was taken into Japanese Government service and renamed . On 3 July 1945 a

aerial mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ve ...

sank her near

Jindo Island Jindo Island is the third largest island in South Korea. Together with a group of much smaller islands, it forms Jindo County. It is located in South Jeolla province, just off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula. The island is separated ...

. This was the only ''Hoei Maru'' that was a cargo ship, but there were other Japanese vessels with the same name: *''Hoei Maru No. 2'' ( tanker), sunk by a mine on 10 September 1944 *''Hoei Maru'' (

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

), sunk by torpedo on 29 September 1944 *''Hoei Maru No. 3'' (tanker), sunk by aircraft on 21 January 1945 *''Hoei Maru No. 5'' (tanker), sunk by aircraft on 6 May 1945

References

{{July 1945 shipwrecks 1890 ships Maritime incidents in July 1945 Merchant ships of Spain Naval ships of the Philippines Ships built on the River Clyde Steamships of Japan Steamships of Spain Ships sunk by mines