As some ignorant kleptocretin had had stolen my SLR camera out of my car in Saigon, I was using a cheap plastic Polaroid instead. This is the scanned photo, scratched, cropped a bit and with somewhat faded colors.
SS Samsoaring was ill fated. Following its launching, while being fitted out in the shipyard, an explosion in the engine room damaged the port side of the hull, killing one and injuring 14 others.
Then, in 1945 the ship scraped the bottom of a channel off the east coast of England. Considerable damage was done to the bottom, sides and deck. It was necessary to cut the ship in half to replace the damaged plates. Repairs were not completed until after the war ended.
The UK flagged ship sailed as SS Samsoaring until 1947. It later was renamed several times and reflagged, registered in Panama and then Greece.
SS Samsoaring lists to port after explosion in engine room while being fitted out in Baltimore shipyard |
Liberty Ship SS Samsoaring listed in Lloyd's Register |
The internet is amazing. There is a website that catalogs shipwrecks! According to them on January 3, 1968 Ioannis K struck a small island offshore while steaming from Singapore to Saigon in ballast. Vung Tau was, and still is, the pilot station for the Saigon River.
The old ship went adrift, ran aground and the crew abandoned it while the captain committed suicide by slashing his wrists! So, that's what this web site reports if you want to believe it. They show another photo and a map. Have a look here.
That web site misidentifies the original name as SS Richard Montgomery, which also met an unfortunate fate, sinking in the Thames estuary in 1944.
Another web source indicates that Ioanis K. lost steering and was run aground intentionally.
There are several photos of the beached Ioannis K. on Flickr. One can be found here.