SSPort Nicholson(1918)

For other ships with the same name, seeSS Port Nicholson.

History
United Kingdom
Name	Port Nicholson
Namesake	historical name forWellington Harbour
Owner	Port Line
Port of registry	London
Builder	Hawthorn, Leslie & Co,Hebburn
Yard number	487
Launched	November 1918
Completed	13 May 1919
Identification	UKOfficial Number143058 code lettersJWKB (1919–33) call signGRST (1930–42)
Fate	Sunk 16 June 1942
General characteristics
Type	refrigerated cargo ship
Tonnage	8,402GRT,5,338NRT
Length	481.2 ft (146.7 m)
Beam	62.3 ft (19.0 m)
Draught	30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
Depth	33.0 ft (10.1 m)
Installed power	967NHP
Propulsion	4 × steam turbines SR geared 2 × screw propellers
Speed	14kn(26 km/h; 16 mph)
Capacity	328,592 cubic feet (9,304.7 m3) refrigerated

SSPort Nicholsonwas aBritishrefrigerated cargo shipowned by thePort Line.She entered service shortly after theFirst World Warand was sunk by a GermanU-boatin theSecond World War.Her wreck has subsequently been discovered, attracting attention with claims that she was carrying a large cargo of platinum ingots and other precious metals when she was sunk.

Description

Port Nicholsonwas 481.2 ft (146.67 m) long, with a beam of 62.3 feet (18.99 m). She had a depth of 33.0 ft (10.06 m) and a draught of 30 feet 1 inch (9.17 m). She was assessed as 8,402GRT,5,338NRT.She was propelled by four steam turbines of 967nhp,single-reduction geared, driving twin screws. The turbines were built by Hawthorn Leslie,they could propel her at 14 knots (26 km/h).

Port Nicholsonwas arefrigerated cargo ship.She had 328,598 cubic feet (9,304.9 m³) of refrigerated cargo space. There were two refrigerating machines. Coolant was brine and the cargo holds were insulated withcork.

Construction and early years

Hawthorn, Leslie and CompanybuiltPort Nicholsonat itsHebburnyard. She was launched in November 1918 and completed on 13 May 1919. Her owners were Commonwealth and Dominion Line,whichregisteredher inLondon.Her United Kingdomofficial numberwas 143508 and hercode letterswere JWKB.By 1930 hercall signwas GRST.

She made sailings between the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.During her service life, she was involved in a number of incidents. On 23 October 1924,she ran aground atLas Palmas,Canary Islands,Spain and was holed.She was refloated on 6 November.Port Nicholsonwas twice damaged by fire. The first incident occurred while en route to New Zealand in 1928, when her cargo caught fire, forcing her to put intoPago Pago.The second occurred while moored inMelbournein 1937, when the Government Cool Stores caught fire.Port Nicholsonwas adjacent to the wharves at the time, and had a cargo of cattle on board. Water was sprayed onto the livestock, saving them.In 1937 the Commonwealth and Dominion Line was re-branded the Port Line.Port Nicholsonwas involved in another accident on 9 June 1938, when she collided with and sank thetugboatOcean Cock,with the loss of four lives.

Final voyage and sinking

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Location wherePort Nicholsonwas torpedoed and sunk off Massachusetts, United States.

With the outbreak of the Second World War,Port Nicholsonremained in service, transporting cargoes around the globe. Her last voyage, in 1942, took her fromAvonmouthacross the Atlantic toHalifax,viaBarry.She was at Halifax on 14 June 1942, and left forWellington,with an intended call atNew York Cityand a transit of thePanama Canal.She formed part of convoy XB 25, one of the coastal convoy routes, that ran betweenHalifax HarbourandBoston.She was under the command of hermaster,Harold Charles Jeffrey, and was carrying a cargo of 1,600 tons of automobile parts and 4,000 tons of military stores.

The convoy was tracked by theGerman submarineU-87,commanded byJoachim Berger.At 4.17 hours on the morning of 16 June 1942 he fired a torpedo at the convoy, which was then 100 miles (160 km) offPortland, Maine.He fired a second torpedo a minute later, but the gale conditions at the time prevented him from observing the results accurately, and he recorded that while one torpedo had hit a ship, the other seemed to have missed.In fact, both torpedoes struckPort Nicholson,the first in the engine room, the second in the stern. Two men in the engine room (7th Engineer William McGrery and Greaser Willian John) were killed immediately, and asPort Nicholsonbegan to settle by the stern, the remaining crew abandoned ship and were picked up by theRoyal Canadian NavycorvetteHMCSNanaimo.

Port Nicholsondid not sink immediately, and by dawn was still afloat. The following is taken from a letter dated 3 July 1947 from J. R. Roper, Director, Port Line Ltd, to Mrs. Irene Munday, widow of the ship's Chief Officer: "Very early the next morning the cutter from this ship [i.e. HMCSNanaimo] with a party of eight put off to investigate the possibilities of towing your husband's ship, which was still afloat. The party consisted of Captain Jeffrey [the master], your husband [Chief Officer Philip Munday], and the 1st Lieutenant [Lieutenant John Molson Walkley] and five ratings of HMS... [sic: i.e. Nanaimo]. They all boarded the disabled ship and signalled that everything seemed to be all right. However, 3/4 of an hour later the vessel's stern was seen to be settling rapidly, and the eight men made for the cutter, which unfortunately was unable to get clear in time, and was dragged under by the sinking ship. Only a matter of seconds elapsed between the time the stern commenced settling and the ship finally disappeared. Three of the men were seen to be clinging to a raft and a fourth swimming in the water. A thorough search was made for a considerable while but no trace of any more survivors was seen... "Nanaimorescued the two surviving ratings, and landed survivors fromPort Nicholsonat Boston.

Rediscovery

It was reported that the wreck ofPort Nicholsonwas discovered in 2008 by Greg Brooks, of the US company Sub Sea Research, but the discovery was kept secret until February 2012.Brooks at first claimed to be investigating an unidentified vessel, codenamedBlue Baron,that lay off the coast ofGuyanain South America.This was an attempt to throw fellow treasure seekers off the trail, as Brooks believed thatPort Nicholsonwas carrying a valuable cargo of platinum, gold, and industrial diamonds at the time of her sinking, payment from theSoviet Unionfor material delivered underlend-lease,which would now be worth around £2 billion. He reported that two Soviet envoys accompanied the ship, and that the Soviet government reimbursed the US government for the lost payment.The salvors have claimed that underwater exploration of the wreck has revealed boxes too heavy to lift, that are supposed to contain the platinum ingots. The British, US and Russian governments may make claims over the cargo should anything of serious value be discovered.Several maritime and Second World War historians have cast doubts over whether the ship was carrying such a precious cargo, citing the lack of documentation, and that hadPort Nicholsonbeen carrying such a cargo, she may have been partly salvaged already.

It was reported in December 2013 that Brooks had put his vesselSea Hunterup for sale and laid off most of his staff and crew. He is also being sued by a group of investors who had provided over $8 million in financing, on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation of the actual existence of any platinum or other valuable cargo. Several leading wreck salvage experts, includingRobert Marx,had gone on record questioning Brooks' claim of such cargo and laying out a long list of false claims of success in treasure hunting going back for decades.In April 2015, Brooks' rights toPort Nicholsonwere dismissed with prejudice, preventing him from pursuing any further salvage of the shipwreck. The order also required him to return six items he had recovered. Federal investigators have investigated allegations that Brooks defrauded investors.

On 7 December 2018, the FBI has said it is no longer pursuing the case and there is a five-year statute of limitations on federal fraud cases.