Harpagon, Mill Hill, Rudby, and three units of the Larrinaga fleet, were all 1943-44 built Liberty ships that called here. All were tramps operated under the British flag by interests that may now qualify them to join the growing ranks of "half-forgotten" shipowners.
Harpagon, on its only visit in June 1954, discharged general cargo at Dunedin. It carried the colours of J & C Harrison Ltd, of London, who were represented here again in 1965 by the British-built Harmattan, Harpagus and Harpalycus.
The company, formed in 1888 by brothers John and Charles Harrison, left the ship-owning scene when they sold Harfleet (built 1973) and Harfleur (1974) to new owners in 1979.
Rudby, which visited Dunedin in September 1949, and again in March 1950, was the first of seven visitors that represented the Ropner interests here up to May 1960. The ships were either owned by the Ropner Shipping Company (those with names ended in "by"), while those ending in "pool" identified the Pool Shipping Company.
Robert (later Sir) Ropner was born at Magdeburg (Prussia). After emigrating to England he established his ship-owning business at West Hartlepool in 1874.
Fourteen year later, he acquired the Matthew Pearce shipyard at Stockton-on-Tees. The yard continued building ships, many for the Ropner account, until it closed in 1925.
It was taken over by Smith's Dock Company in 1926. After leaving the ship-owning field some years ago, Ropner's turned to ship management, an interest they disposed of in March 2006.
Mill Hill, employed in the transtasman trade, made its first visit to Port Chalmers for dry-docking in April 1948. This was followed by four visits to Dunedin, the last in January 1951, which also saw it move down to Port Chalmers for a period in dry dock. But on its fourth call in June 1950, Mill Hill created interest when it went aground in the Victoria Channel off Port Chalmers.
This ship and sister Liberty ship Stamford Hill, which called with phosphate from Nauru in June 1950, came from the fleet of the Counties Ship Management Company, of London, part of the Greek-controlled Rethymis and Kulukundis group which lasted for 36 years after being formed in 1934.
First to call here in July 1947, was Tower Hill, built for them by Doxford's in 1942. The only other British-built unit was the ex-Empire type Argos Hill, here in January 1949.
The Liberty ships Asuncion de Larrinaga, Domingo de Larrinaga and Ramon de Larrinaga reflect the Spanish origins of their owner, the Larrinaga Steam Ship Company.
It started in 1863 at Bilbao as Oyano y Cia, and relocated to Liverpool as Larrinaga in 1898. The company operated liner services during the early part of its history before changing to general tramping.
Of their local visitors, Asuncion called in October 1950, with phosphate. Domingo berthed at Port Chalmers on April 25, 1952, with bunkers for Argojohn, then moved up to Dunedin to load general cargo. Ramon made three visits from December 1948, to May 1951, with general cargo.
The last two ships to be operated by the company were Niceto and Rupert de Larrinaga, built in 1959. Along with the company's business, they were sold in 1974 to the Vergottis group's Valiant Steam Ship Company, London.
While all of the Liberty ships that called here were of the basic design, there was one exception. This was the 7229gt Norwegian-owned Marit, a visitor to Dunedin in May 1948. Sold in 1955 and renamed Andros, the ship was back at Dunedin as Maria in October 1966, under the Liberian flag.
By then its profile was much different. Four years earlier, it had been lengthened by the Iino shipyard at Maizuru before re-entering service as Maria. The addition of an extra hold resulted in the overall length going from 134m to 153m, gross tonnage to 8426gt and the deadweight capacity up from 11,390 tonnes to 12,594 tonnes.
