| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Adviser |
| Owner | Charente SS Co |
| Operator | T&J Harrison |
| Port of registry | Liverpool |
| Builder | Lithgows,Port Glasgow |
| Yard number | 917 |
| Launched | 23 February 1939 |
| Completed | April 1939 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Scrapped, 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 6,348 GRT, 3,886 NRT, 9,000 DWT |
| Length | 445.5 ft (135.8 m) |
| Beam | 56.5 ft (17.2 m) |
| Draught | 25 ft9+1⁄2 in (7.86 m) |
| Depth | 29.6 ft (9.0 m) |
| Decks | 2 |
| Installed power | triple-expansion engine +exhaust turbine; 867NHP |
| Propulsion | 1 ×screw |
| Speed | 12+1⁄2 knots (23 km/h) |
| Capacity | from 1940: 60 passengers |
| Crew | 66 |
| Armament | in WW2:DEMS |
SSAdviser was a Britishcargosteamship. She was built inScotland in 1939, and scrapped inBelgium in 1960. Throughout her career, theCharente Steam-Ship Company owned her, andThomas & James Harrison ofLiverpoolmanaged her. She was the first of two Harrison Line ships that were calledAdviser. The second was acontainer ship that was built in 1977.[1]
Between 1935 and 1944, Harrison Line took delivery of aclass of 13 cargo steamships. The first two were launched in 1935:Inventor byD. and W. Henderson and Company inGlasgow; andExplorer bySwan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson inWallsend,County Durham. However,Lithgows inPort Glasgow built most of the class:Tribesman andStrategist in 1937;Scientist in 1938;Adviser andBarrister in 1939;Dalesman in 1940; andProspector andGeologist in 1944.Charles Connell and Company inScotstoun builtSettler in 1939 andTrader in 1940; andHarland & Wolff inGovan, Glasgow builtNovelist in 1940.[2]
Lithgows builtAdviser as yard number 917; launched her on 23 February 1939; and completed her that April.[3] Her registered length was 445.5 ft (135.8 m); herbeam was 56.5 ft (17.2 m); her depth was 29.6 ft (9.0 m); and herdraught was25 ft9+1⁄2 in (7.86 m). Hertonnages were 6,348 GRT, 3,886 NRT,[4] and 9,000 DWT.[5] She had a very slightlyraked bow, and acruiser stern.[3]
Adviser had a singlescrew. Her main engine was a three-cylindertriple-expansion engine built by David Rowan & Co of Glasgow. It was augmented by anexhaust turbine, which drove the samepropeller shaft via aFöttingerfluid coupling anddouble reduction gearing. The combined power of her two engines was rated at 867NHP,[4] and gave her a speed of at least12+1⁄2 knots (23 km/h).[6] In 1940, accommodation for 60 passengers was added to the ship.[7]
Adviser wasregistered in Liverpool. Her UKofficial number was 166263, and hercall sign was GSSK.[4]
On 18 December 1940,Adviser left Glasgow and joined Convoy WS 5A, which was outward bound from Liverpool. The convoy included a dozentroopships and two ofAdviser's sister ships:Barrister andSettler. By 24 December, its escort included theheavy cruisersBerwick andShropshire;light cruisersBonaventure andDunedin; andaircraft carriersArgus andFurious.[8] At dawn on 25 December, theGerman cruiser Admiral Hipper attacked the convoy in theAtlantic, 700 nautical miles (1,300 km) west ofFinisterre.Hipper attacked HMSBerwick; the merchant ships were ordered to disperse; andBonaventure engagedHipper. The German cruiser damagedBerwick and one of the troopships,Empire Trooper, but was forced to break off the attack.Adviser and her sister ships were undamaged.[9]
Adviser supported theAllied invasion of Madagascar in 1942.[7] She leftMombasa inKenya on 3 September, and was in Majunga (Mahajanga) on the northwest coast ofMadagascar from 10 to 28 September. From 1 to 31 October, whenVichy French forces were nearing defeat, she was in Tamatave (Toamasina) on the east coast.[10]
In Tamatave,Adviser loaded a cargo ofgraphite. On 6 November 1942 she reachedDurban inSouth Africa, and on 14 November resumed her voyage, bound forTrinidad,New York, and the UK. At noon that day,U-178 sighted her and followed her. Aircraft attacked the U-boat at 14:23 hrs, but failed to damage it, and it resumed its pursuit ofAdviser. At 23:23 hrs that night,U-178 fired two torpedoes, both of which missed. At 01:45 hrs on 15 November, the U-boat fired another two torpedoes, both of which hitAdviser, crippling her at position32°03′S33°52′E / 32.050°S 33.867°E /-32.050; 33.867, about 200 nautical miles (370 km) southeast of Durban.U-178 saw her crew abandon ship, but then hearddepth charges in the distance, and therefore had to leave the area without being able to wait to see whether the ship had sunk. In factAdviser, despite being badly damaged, remained afloat, so herMaster,Captain John Thurston Ling, and his crew, re-boarded her latre that morning. Twotugs towed her back to Durban, where she arrived on 19 November 1942. She was repaired there, and returned to service in August 1943.[11]
.jpg)
In 1949, there was a dispute betweenNational Union of Seamen and Harrison Line about the condition ofAdviser's crew accommodation. This led to a court hearing inNorthfleet inKent, between the NUS and the company. On 7 November that year, in theHouse of Commons, SirRichard Acland,Bart,MP forGravesend, askedJames Callaghan,Minister of Transport, whether he would publish the reports about living conditions on the ship that his Department had received in recent weeks. Callaghan replied "Reports made by Ministry of Transport surveyors are confidential documents, but the facts were before the Court which tried cases concerning this ship at Northfleet and at which a surveyor gave evidence. As that evidence showed, an official of the National Union of Seamen agreed with the Surveyor that the accommodation was reasonable and habitable. It is not of the standard to be found in new ships and the owners have been asked to put right certain minor defects, and to consider the possibility of making improvements."[12]
In August 1952, atBlyth, Northumberland,Adviser was converted from coal tooil. On 4 or 5 September 1960 she arrived atTemse in Belgium, to bebroken up by Jos. Boel & Fils.[7][3]
