The propeller blade now adorns our reception at Vickers Oils, Leeds
The ship’s propeller blade in our garden, outside reception at Airedale Mills, was a spare Controllable Pitch Propeller (CPP) blade for use by either of two sister ships, in case one of the existing propeller blades were damaged and needed replacement. (The abrasion wear on the upper surfaces/edge show that indeed the blade was used in earnest!).
The ships, dry cargo Ro-Ro[1] vessels, were the MV ADA GORTHON and MV MARIA GORTHON. They were built by Korea Shipbuilding and Engineering Corp, Busan, Korea in 1984. Each ship was equipped with a pair of Wärtsilä 4-stroke engines driving one CPP at 177 rpm, with a service speed of 14 knots.
The ships were ordered and owned by Gorthon Lines AB, based in Helsingborg, Sweden. In 2005, Gorthon Lines AB merged with B&N Nordsjöfrakt AB, forming Rederi AB Transatlantic. The vessels were transferred to its ownership and renamed: ADA GORTHON became TRANSMAPLE, whilst MARIA GORTHON became TRANSOAK.
Both vessels were scrapped at Alang, India in 2011, after 27 years’ service.
Rederi AB Transatlantic, through its operating subsidiary Trans Ship Management, was an early and long-term user of Vickers’ HYDROX BIO, the world’s first “Environmentally Acceptable Lubricant” (EAL) for ships’ sterntubes. We are proud to have supplied many vessels in their fleet as it evolved through the years.
We are most grateful to Mr Leif Holmberg of GoTa Ship Management AB (the successor to Trans Ship Management) for arranging for us to acquire this propeller blade.
[1] Ro-Ro = Roll on, Roll off, ie cargo could be loaded by vehicles using ramps at the stern and on the starboard side.
