Above: Paying her inaugural call at Halterm on February 8th was the new, German-owned container ship ZIM ISTANBUL, chartered to ZIM Integrated Shipping and substituting for the ZIM BEIJING, which is presently in dry dock. More about this ship and others at Recent Sightings
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For more about the comings and goings of ships in and around Halifax I highly recommend Mac MacKay's excellent ShipFax Blog .

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MYSTERY SHIPS

FISHING VESSEL AT STEVESTON, BC
Still no takers on the "mystery ship" first posted in February 2008. The name is clearly the ZODIAK or ZODIAC and she is or was a fishing vessel or fish carrier. The name in Cyrillic script and funnel colours suggest Russian or Ukrainian affiliations. The photo was taken in the British Columbian port of Steveston in May, 2007, and there appears to be a new deckhouse and crane fitted to the stern deck. I am inclined towards her being the Ukrainian-flagged ZODIAK, IMO number 8725137, which was a stern trawler before becoming a fish carrier. Can anyone help with this one?

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MY FIRST SHIP PHOTO
The first photo I ever took was of the Dutch coaster, NEERLANDIA (see sidebar), with a pre-WWII Kodak Box Brownie. Results with this camera were less than impressive, but they began an interest in ship photography that has continued for more than 50 years. The coaster had arrived at Barrow on April 17, 1959, from Bordeaux with a cargo of wood pulp.

The NEERLANDIA was completed as the MATAR-N for N.V. Van Nievelt, Goudriaan & Co. of Rotterdam in January, 1949, by D. & J. Boot De Vooruitgang at Alphen aan den Rijn, Holland (yard no: 1192). Her ID number was 5248566 and she was a typical Dutch coaster of 400 gt (549 dwt) with a length (pp) of 47.3 m and a beam of 8.2 m; a single screw motorship with a speed of 9 knots. In 1952 she became the ASUNCION (same owners) and in 1955, the NEERLANDIA (owner: Kustv. Reed. ms "Neerlandia"; managers: Kamps Scheepvaart & Handel Marts N.V., Rotterdam), whom she served until 1970 when sold to H. A. Al-Sager, Kuwait, and renamed MAYMOONAH . Her end came when she sprang a leak in the engine room and foundered in the Gulf of Oman on May 6, 1982.

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A CLASSIC STEAMER
While reading through an old issue of Sea Breezes, I came across a photograph and some details of what is the oldest steamship I have thus far managed to capture on film - the 1866-launched, ex Norwegian Hydrographic Survey Ship HANSTEEN. I took the photo shown on the sidebar on September 26th, 1995, when she was moored at a berth opposite the Trondheim ferry terminal. She started life as an iron-hulled, schooner-rigged steamer, having been completed for "Den Geografiske Opmaaling" by Nylands Vaerksted, Christiania (Oslo) - yard no: 11 - on the 22nd May, 1867. For those interested, a synopsis of her long and continuing career can be found at the excellent warsailors.com web site (entry by the name of D/S Haarek). As far as I can determine, she has a length of 102 feet and is 114, 131 or 166 (depending on source) gross tons. She is currently owned by Stiftelsen D/S Hansteen of Trondheim. Can anyone provide an update of her current status?

UPDATE: John Clark of Portishead recently saw and photographed the HANSTEEN under steam and looking fully restored in Trondheim harbour. He has kindly permitted me to post his photo. Many thanks, John.

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SITE CONTENTS:
Below is the list of pages that make up this site.

LIST OF SHIPS This is a new section which contains an alphabetical, page-linked list of ships (currently about 260 in total) permanently appearing on this site that were built prior to 1980. Many of them were photographed in black and white up to 50 years ago. Clicking on a ship's name will take you to the page upon which it is displayed.