One of a class of four “1,000” ton class harbour and coastal tankers, that spent the majority of her RFA career based at Sheerness.

In 1922 she was sold to Canadian interests for £5,000 and re-named “Puloe Brani”, the ship made two unsuccessful attempts to cross the Atlantic under her own power, but was eventually towed across to Montreal.  She began her career on Lake Ontario in 1926 under the name “B.B. McColl”.  In 1928 she suffered a serious fire at Buffalo and was abandoned and later sold by her underwriters to the Ohio Tanker Corporation, who had her rebuilt by the Electric Boat Works as a barge type tanker and she had her name changed yet again to “A. J. Patmore”.

RFA Servitor Under Three Flags

One of a class of four “1,000” ton class harbour and coastal tankers, that spent the majority of her RFA career based at Sheerness.

In 1922 she was sold to Canadian interests for £5,000 and re-named “Puloe Brani”, the ship made two unsuccessful attempts to cross the Atlantic under her own power, but was eventually towed across to Montreal.  She began her career on Lake Ontario in 1926 under the name “B.B. McColl”.  In 1928 she suffered a serious fire at Buffalo and was abandoned and later sold by her underwriters to the Ohio Tanker Corporation, who had her rebuilt by the Electric Boat Works as a barge type tanker and she had her name changed yet again to “A. J. Patmore”.

The ship was again damaged by an explosion in 1932, whilst unloading petrol at Toronto and again rebuilt, and sold to the Eleven Corporation of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, for service on the East Coast of the United States.

The ship was acquired by the US Navy on the 13th November 1942 and converted to a Naval Oiler at Sullivan’s Dry Dock and Repair’s, Brooklyn, New York, she was commissioned into the U S Navy as USS Rotary (YO-148) and was stationed at Casco Bay, Maine, where she was employed fuelling Destroyers of the U S Atlantic Fleet.

“Rotary” was de-commissioned from the U S Navy in December 1945 and laid up until May 1946, when she was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal, reverting to the name “A. J. Patmore”.

The former RFA Servitor having been renamed Detroit

On the 30th July 1946 she was purchased by the Reinauer Interests and renamed ”Peggy Reinauer” for service on the East Coast of the United States.  In 1953 the ship was sold again to Michigan Tankers Incorporated and returned to the Great Lakes, renamed “Detroit”.  The ship was lengthened in 1959 to 249.5 feet, which increased her tonnage to 1,156 tons.  The ship enjoyed a long career on Lake Michigan, until 1985 when she was moved to a quiet berth in Lake Calumet, though to get her there she had to have her Bridge structure removed.  The ship was finally broken up in 1990 after seventy six years service.