''Alkimos'' was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

-owned

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

which was wrecked on the coast north of

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in 1963. A nearby locality was later named after the vessel. The wreck is a popular

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

venue.

History

The ship was built during

World War II 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 opposing ...

by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in

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as part of the

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Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

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. It was launched on 11 October 1943. 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 A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

and transported cargo, in

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s that were sometimes attacked by

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aircraft and

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s. A murder-suicide took place on board ''Viggo Hansteen'' in August 1944, while the ship was at

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(some sources say

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);

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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. 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. The vessel was sold in 1953 to

owned Faros Shipping, of London who renamed it ''Alkimos'', after a word meaning "strong" and a

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, 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 it struck a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...

on the 19 March 1963 near Beagle Island off the Western Australian coast. It was salvaged and towed to Fremantle, the port city for

, where it underwent repairs for two months. 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 Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. 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 E.R. Francisco, returned in January 1964 and the ship was refloated on 14 February, but the planned journey to

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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 near present-day

Yanchep, Western Australia Yanchep is an outer coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia, north of the Perth CBD. It is a part of the City of Wanneroo local government area. Originally a small crayfishing settlement, it was developed by entrepreneur Alan Bond in the ...

. 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. After that time, the partly dismantled remains of the ship sat in several metres of water, visible to visitors, before gradually disintegrating.

Footnotes

References

*''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

Magazine'' (Perth), 19 March 2006, p. 14
ABC Television program ''Stateline'' (Transcript)

Photo of the Alkimos in 1969

External links

GoogleMaps location and image of the Alkimos Wreck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alkimos (1943) Liberty ships Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland Ships of Nortraship Cargo ships of Greece Shipwrecks of Western Australia Maritime incidents in 1963 Maritime incidents in 1964 1943 ships Steamships of Greece World War II merchant ships of the United States Steamships of the United States Steamships of Norway World War II merchant ships of Norway Ghost ships