The ''Empire Allenby'' was a 9,904 ton cargo liner which was built in 1944. She was renamed ''Drakensberg Castle'' in 1946, and scrapped in 1959.

History

''Empire Allenby'' was built by J L Thompson & Sons Ltd, Sunderland as yard number 633. She was launched on 18 October 1944 and completed in June 1945. ''Empire Allenby'' was built 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 Transport ...

and operated under the management of Furness, Withy & Co Ltd, who traded as Prince Line Ltd. In 1946, ''Empire Allenby'' was sold to the Union Castle Mail Steamship Co Ltd, who traded as the

Union-Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

. She was renamed ''Drakensberg Castle''. On 22 July 1947, she was transferred to the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n registry. Although ''Drakensberg Castle'' was a fast ship compared to others in the Union-Castle Line fleet, she was expensive to operate and not suitable for use as a

tramp A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. Etymology Tramp is derived from a Middle English verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (''cf.'' modern English ''t ...

. She was sold for scrap to the Hong Kong Salvage & Towage Co and arrived for scrapping in Hong Kong on 5 August 1959. ''Drakensberg Castle'' was scrapped in September 1959.

Official Number and code letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. ''Empire Allenby'' had the UK Official Number 180157 and used the Code Letters GJTM.

References

External links

Photo
of ''Drakensberg Castle''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Drakensberg Castle 1944 ships Ships built on the River Wear Steamships of the United Kingdom Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ships of the Union-Castle Line Steamships of South Africa Merchant ships of South Africa Cargo liners