A Liberty ship in Western Australia
What do SS Xantho and SS Alkimos have in common?
Aside from both being steamships wrecked on the Western Australian coast, they are both associated with incredible feats of wartime mass-manufacturing. Their stories take surprising turns – the life of each vessel ending far from where it began.
SS Alkimos, originally named SS George M. Shriver and subsequently SS Viggo Hansteen, was built by Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore, United States of America (USA) and launched on 11 October 1943. It was one of over 2,700 mass-produced cargo ships – known as Liberty ships – constructed during World War II as part of a massive shipbuilding project undertaken by the USA.
An Allied convoy moves eastward across the Atlantic Ocean bound for Casablanca, Africa, about November 1942. National Archives (USA), 520948.
For speed and efficiency, Liberty ships were all built to one standardised design and constructed by welding together prefabricated hull sections. Welding, instead of riveting, meant shipyards could produce ships quicker and cheaper – which was essential with the losses inflicted by the German submarines.
Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyard, Baltimore. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsa8d2917
Liberty ship in the early stages of construction at Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyard, 1943. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsa8d29174
Liberty ships were largely used by the USA Merchant Marine to transport essential war supplies, such as tanks, aircraft, ammunition, fuel, food, cigarettes, and troops.
After the war, hundreds of Liberty ships were sold into merchant service. They were a common sight in ports around the world up until the 1960s. In 1953, Viggo Hansteen was sold to Greek owners and renamed SS Alkimos. The ship was travelling from Jakarta to Bunbury, when it ran aground in March 1963. Alkimos was successfully refloated, but a series of disputes led to it being abandoned on a beach in Perth’s northern suburbs – over 200 km from where it first ran aground 14 months earlier.
Keel plates for a Liberty ship laid out before being welded together, 1941. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USE622-DOA-000079.