''Ravelston'' was an

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

which was built in 1906 for the Ravelston Steamship Co Ltd. She was requisitioned by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) in 1941 and renamed ''Empire Bond''. In 1946 she was sold and renamed ''Prenton''. Following a grounding in 1949, she was declared a constructive total loss, but was sold and repaired, returning to service as ''Agios Dionysissios''. In 1951 she was renamed ''Sandenis'' and then ''San Denis'', serving until she was scrapped in 1959.

Description

The ship was built by William Gray & Co. Ltd., West Hartlepool. She was yard number 738. Launched as ''Ravelston'' on 23 June 1906, she was completed in August 1906. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She was propelled by a triple expansion steam engine which had cylinders of , and bore by stroke. The engine was built by the Central Marine Engine Works, West Hartlepool.

Career

''Ravelston'' was built for the Ravelston Steamship Co Ltd. Her port of registry was

Grangemouth Grangemouth ( sco, Grangemooth; gd, Inbhir Ghrainnse, ) is a town in the Falkirk council area, Scotland. Historically part of the county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firth of Forth, east of Falkirk ...

. On 28 January 1929, ''Ravelston'' was in collision with in thick

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

off Dungeness, Kent. Both ships were severely damaged at the bow, with their forepeaks flooded. ''Ravelston'' was requisitioned in 1941 by the MoWT. She was renamed ''Empire Bond'' and was operated under the management of Gillespie and Nichol. ''Empire Bond'' was a member of a number of convoys during the Second World War. ;ON 14 Convoy ON 14 departed Loch Ewe on 10 September 1941. ;SC 46 Convoy SC 46 departed

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Cape Breton on 24 September 1941. The convoy arrived in Liverpool on 10 October. ''Empire Bond'' may have been in this convoy. On 14 March 1945, ''Empire Bond'' was in collision with in the English Channel. In 1946, ''Empire Bond'' was sold to Rethymnis & Kulukundis, London and renamed ''Prenton''. Later that year she was sold to J Kattoula, Liverpool. On 9 February 1949, ''Prenton'' ran aground off Mytiki, Greece. She was refloated and towed to

Preveza Preveza ( el, Πρέβεζα, ) is a city in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece, located on the northern peninsula at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the regional unit of Preveza, which is part of the region of Epiru ...

, arriving on 13 February. Although ''Prenton'' was declared a constructive total loss, she was sold to Argo Maritime Transport Co, Greece, who had her repaired and returned her to service as ''Agios Dionysissios''. In 1951, she was sold to D G Coucoumbanis, Greece and renamed ''Sandenis''. Later that year she was sold to G Frangistis, Greece and renamed ''San Denis''. She arrived for scrapping at

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

, Italy on 11 May 1959.

Official Numbers and Code Letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers IMO or Imo may refer to: Biology and medicine * Irish Medical Organisation, the main organization for doctors in the Republic of Ireland * Intelligent Medical Objects, a privately held company specializing in medical vocabularies * Isomaltooligosa ...

. Under the UK Flag, she had the UK

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

90525. Under the

Greek Flag The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the "blue and white one" ( el, Γαλανόλευκη, ) or the "sky blue and white" (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has nine equal horizontal strip ...

, she had the Greek

1126. ''Ravelston'' used the

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

HGVJ from 1930, and GQTP from 1934. ''Empire Bond'' also used the Code Letters GQTP.

References

External links

Photo of SS ''Prenton''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravelston 1906 ships Ships built on the River Tees Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of Greece Merchant ships of Greece Maritime incidents in 1949