''Fortune'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Weserstrom'' in 1944 by J Cockerill SA, Antwerp, Belgium for

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of t ...

, Bremen,

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 ...

. She was seized as a

prize of war A prize of war is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Basis in inte ...

in 1945, passing to 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 renamed ''Empire Galena''. She was sold in 1947 and was renamed ''Albatross''. She was sold in 1958 to

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 ...

and renamed ''Port Capetown''. A further sale in 1959 saw her renamed ''Frontier''. She was sold to

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 ...

in 1966 and was renamed ''Fortune''. She served until 1968 when she was scrapped.

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , and a draught of . She was assessed as , , . She had a cargo capacity of . The ship was propelled by a

compound 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 he ...

, which had two cylinders of 42 cm (16 inches) and two cylinders of 90 cm (35 inches) diameter by 90 cm (35 inches) stroke. The engine was built by Rheinmetall-Borsig AG,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. Rated at 1,200 IHP, it drove a single screw propeller and could propel the ship at .

History

''Weserstrom'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship built in 1943 as

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

701 by J Cockerill SA, Antwerp, Belgium for

, Bremen,

. She was completed in January 1944. Her port of registry was Bremen. In May 1945, ''Weserstrom'' was seized as a

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

. She was passed to the

. She was renamed ''Empire Galena''. The Code Letters GJGL and United Kingdom Official Number 180597 were allocated. Her port of registry was

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and she was operated under the management of W Tulley & Co. Ltd., Hull. On 6 March 1947, ''Empire Galena'' was sold to the General Steam Navigation Co Ltd. She was renamed ''Albatross'' on 30 July. On 2 April 1958, ''Albatross'' was sold for £51,500 to the National Shipping Lines of South Africa and was renamed ''Port Capetown.''. She was sold in 1959 to African Coasters (Pty) Ltd,

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

and renamed ''Frontier''. With their introduction in the 1960s, ''Frontier'' was allocated the

IMO Number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term covering two distinct meanings. The IMO ship identification number, is a type of hull number used as a unique ship identifier, and the IMO company and registered owne ...

5121990. In 1966, ''Frontier'' was sold to Summit Navigation Co., Panama and was renamed ''Fortune''. She was operated under the management of Mollers Ltd,

. She served until 1968 and was scrapped at Hong Kong in December.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune 1943 ships Ships built in Belgium World War II merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany Ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of South Africa Steamships of South Africa Merchant ships of Panama Steamships of Panama