SS Norwich City

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History
Name
  • Normanby (1911-1919)
  • Norwich City (1919-1929)
Owner
  • London & Northern Steamship Co. (1911-1919)
  • St. Just Steamship Co. (1919-1929)
Port of registryLondon
BuilderWilliam Gray & Co., West Hartlepool
Yard number792
Laid down9 February 1911
Launched12 July 1911
CompletedAugust 1911
Out of service1929
IdentificationUK official number 132596
FateWrecked, 29 November 1929
NotesShip history [1]
General characteristics
Tonnage4,219 GRT
Displacement8,730 tons
Length397.0 ft (121 m)
Beam53.5 ft (16 m)
Depth23.0 ft (7 m)
Installed power412 NHP
PropulsionOil-fired, triple expansion steam
Speed9 knots
Crew35
Notes[1][2]

SS Norwich City was an oil-fired steam freighter powered by a triple expansion steam engine.

History[]

She was built in 1911 by William Gray & Company, Ltd., West Hartlepool, England, with engines by the company's Central Marine Engine Works.[3]

On 23 or 24 April 1928 (sources differ), the ship ran into the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,[1][4] and lost her funnel and masts.[5]

Wreck[]

In November 1929, Norwich City, carrying a crew of 35, left Melbourne bound for Vancouver via Honolulu. During a storm on 29 November, the unladen freighter ran aground in darkness on the reef at the northwest end of the small central Pacific atoll known as Gardner Island. A fire broke out in the engine room, and all hands abandoned ship in darkness, having to make their way across the wide and dangerous coral reef being pounded by dangerous storm waves. In total, 11 men lost their lives. The survivors camped near collapsed structures from a late 19th-century coconut-planting project and were rescued after several days on the island.

The devastated wreck of the Norwich City was a prominent landmark on the reef for 70 years, though by 2007, only the ship's keel, engine, and two large tanks remained. By 2010, only the engine remained above water on the reef.[6] In 2016, storm activity washed one of the two large tanks shoreward and the two-story engine was broken off and dropped over the edge of the reef into deep water.[7]

See also[]

  • Gardner Island hypothesis of Amelia Earhart's last days (organization claims radio transmission referred to SS Norwich City)

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Normanby". Shipbuilding on the River Tees. The Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  2. ^ Mercantile Navy List. 1915. p. 423. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  3. ^ "SS Norwich City [+1929]". www.wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  4. ^ "The History of Metropolitan Vancouver — 1928". vancouverhistory.ca. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  5. ^ "Casualty reports". The Times (44877). London. 26 April 1928. col G, p. 27.
  6. ^ "Nikumaroro, 0530 Local Time, June 2010". Tighar Tracks. 26 (2): 17.
  7. ^ TIGHAR Earhart Project Research Bulletin #80, January 9, 2017.

External links[]

Coordinates: 4°39′39″S 174°32′40″W / 4.66083°S 174.54444°W / -4.66083; -174.54444

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