Builder: Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Co, Jarrow.                

Yard No: 724

Launched: 17th May 1897

Tonnage: 6,983 grt

Length: 445 ft

Beam: 52.2 feet

Machinery: Triple expansion engine, single shaft

Speed: 12.5 knots

Builder: Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Co, Jarrow.                 Yard No: 724

Launched: 17th May 1897

Tonnage: 6,983 grt

Length: 445 ft

Beam: 52.2 feet

Machinery: Triple expansion engine, single shaft

Speed: 12.5 knots

Launched as the Cargo ship ‘Montcalm’ for the African Steamship Co (Elder Dempster), Liverpool.  The ship was requisitioned by the Admiralty as the Dummy Battleship ‘HMS Audacious’ in 1914.  On the 19th January 1916 she was purchased by the Admiralty as a Store Ship, under the management of Frederick Leyland, Liverpool.  The ship arrived at Liverpool in August 1916 to be converted to a Tanker, this was completed in October 1916 and she was immediately placed under the management of Lane and MacAndrews, she was renamed ‘RFA Crenella’ on the 18th November 1916.

In 1923 she was sold to commercial interest and renamed ‘Rey Alfonso’.  In 1927 the ship was sold to Falklands Ship Owners and renamed ‘Anglo Norse’.  In 1929 she was sold to the Falklands Whaling Co Ltd and renamed ‘Polar Chief’ until 1941, when she  was requisitioned by the Ministry of War Transport and named ‘Empire Chief’, the ship was returned to her owners in 1946 and resumed the name ‘Polar Chief’, she was broken up at Dalmuir in April 1952.