Official Number: 133551
Laid down:
Builder: Blyth Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co Ltd., Cowpen Quay, Blyth
Pennant no: Y 3.953 / B 2610
Launched: 12 March 1914
Into Service: 2 August 1914
Out of service: 1918
Fate: 16 March 1951 ran aground and broke up
Items of historic interest involving this ship: –
Background Data: One of a group of additional ships requisitioned by the Admiralty during WW1 to augument the RFA
Career Data
12 March 1914 launched by Blyth Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co Ltd., Cowpen Quay, Blyth as Yard No: 176. Named Aydon for Aydon Steamship Co Ltd., (Ridley, Son & Tully, Managers), Newcastle
13 March 1914 the Sunderland Daily Echo newspaper reported …
April 1914 completed
30 May 1914 the Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer newspaper reported …
2 August 1914 requisitioned for Admiralty service as a collier – name unchanged – until 18 February 1917
18 September 1914 at Cromarty alongside the old 1st Class Cruiser HMS ENDYMION supplying 407 tons of bunker coal
HMS ENDYMION
21 September 1914 at Cromarty alongside the old 1st Class Cruiser HMS GRAFTON supplying 450 tons of bunker coal
16 November 1914 at Buncrana alongside the old 2nd Class Cruiser HMS VENUS supplying 455 tons of bunker coal
HMS VENUS
1 January 1915 at North Shields, River Tyne alongside the Battleship HMS JUPITER supplying 560 tons of bunker coal
3 February 1915 arrived River Tyne
17 May 1915 arrived River Tyne and berthed at Wallsend
20 September 1917 requisitioned again as an Expeditionary Force Transport carrying MT between Portsmouth and France
1918 renamed Jet
1919 renamed Charity by her owners
1919 name reverted to Aydon
1920 purchased by Anglo-Polish Steamship Line Ltd., London and renamed Warszawa
April 1923 used to try unsuccessfully to land whisky by boat off New Jersey during Prohibition
November 1923 ran aground near Gothenburg carrying explosives which were bound for Germany but the Swedish authorities would not permit transhipment
1925 purchaed by Manor Line (London) Ltd., (C. Angel & Co., Managers), London and renamed Brompton Manor
1930 purchased by Henley Steamship Co Ltd., London – name unchanged
1934 purchased by Drakelow Steamship Co Ltd., (P E Bethell & Co., Managers) London – name unchanged
17 September 1935 in the English Channel 13 miles east of the Owers Light Vessel the ships Master, Captain Harry A Turner, discharged dead – washed overboard
1936 renamed Drakelow by her owners
1937 purchased by Stanhope Steamship Co Ltd., (J A Bilmeir & Co., Ltd., Managers) London and renamed Stancliffe
1938 purchased by P G Collaropoulos, Piraeus and renamed Navarinon
18 March 1938 torpedoed during the Spanish Civil War by the Spanish Submarine General Mola and was beached on fire. Was later towed to Barcelona
1938 purchased by Jean A Mylonas, Piraeus and renamed Lena
1939 was bombed and sunk at Barcelona
1939 was bombed and sunk at Barcelona
1941 acquired by the Spanish Government and renamed Castillo Moncada
1942 purchased by Empresa Nacional Elcano S.A. – name unchanged
16 March 1951 while on passage from Aguilas to Pasajes in bad weather carrying a cargo of esparto grass she hit hidden rocks in the shallows near the tip of Railways two miles east of Sagres, ran aground and broke in two making salvage impossible