PACIFIC STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY

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POTOSI (3) was built in 1905 by W. Pickersgill & Sons at Sunderland with a tonnage of 4375grt, a length of 381ft 5in, a beam of 49ft and a service speed of 12 knots. She was built for the general cargo service and in 1914 was the first British ship to transit the newly opened Panama Canal. In 1925 she was sold to N. Kulukundis of Syra, Greece and renamed Georgios M. Her owners were E. G. Culucundis and S.C. Costomeni of Syra in 1927 and in 1929 she was acquired by S. G. Lyras and M. G. Lemos. On 9th November 1931 during a voyage from Varna to Antwerp with grain her cargo shifted during a storm. PLM 22 managed to rescue 5 men but was then driven off. The Georgios M was never seen again and 18 crew members lost their lives.

DUENDES was built in 1906 by Sir James Laing & Sons at Sunderland with a tonnage of 4602grt, a length of 381ft 5in, a beam of 49ft and a service speed of 12 knots. She was the first of a class of four cargo ships built to a similar specification to that of the Potosi. During the First World War she was requisitioned as a munitions transport. On 25th March 1925 she was shelled by a U-boat when 70 miles west of the Scilly Isles but survived the attack. In 1927 she was sold to G. Lykiardopulo of Greece and renamed Zachariosa. After a further five years service she was broken up in 1932.

ESMERALDAS was built in 1906 by Sir James Laing & Sons at Sunderland with a tonnage of 4491grt, a length of 381ft 5in, a beam of 49ft and a service speed of 12 knots. Sister of the Duendes she joined the cargo service in 1906. In 1916 she transported 600 mules from Buenos Aires to Mombasa for use during the East African campaign. She was captured and sunk by the German Armed Merchant Cruiser Möewe in 1917.

BOGOTA (2) was built in 1906 by Sir James Laing & Sons at Sunderland with a tonnage of 4603grt, a length of 390ft, a beam of 50ft and a service speed of 12 knots. Sister of the Duendes she joined the cargo service in 1906. On 10th November 1916 she was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic.

FLAMENCO (1) was built in 1906 by Sir James Laing & Sons at Sunderland with a tonnage of 4540grt, a length of 381ft 5in, a beam of 49ft and a service speed of 12 knots. Sister of the Duendes she joined the cargo services in 1906. On 6th February 1916 she was stopped by the German Armed Merchant Cruiser Möewe when 310 miles north west of Pernambuco and sunk with a time bomb with the loss of 1 life.

ORTEGA (1) was built in 1906 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 7970grt, a length of 465ft 4in, a beam of 56ft 4in and a service speed of 15.5 knots. Launched on 22nd March 1906 she commenced her maiden voyage to Callao on 19th July and introduced to the route the Bibby tandem cabin whereby all passengers had a porthole. When the First World War was declared on 4th August 1914 she was at Montevideo en route to Callao under the command of Capt. Douglas Kinnier. On 16th September she sailed from Valpariaso, bound for Liverpool, and was immediately chased by the German cruiser Dresden. When she was ordered to stop on 19th September the master took the Ortega into the uncharted Nelson Strait near Cape Horn. While the Dresden waited for her to re-appear the liner, led by two lifeboats taking soundings, traversed 100 miles via the landward side of the Queen Adelaide Archipeligo, the Smyth Channel and the Straits of Magellan where she was met by the Chilean warship Admiral Lynch which was searching for survivors. In 1918 she was used to Transport American troops to France and in the following year, on 31st January 1919, made the first voyage through the Panama Canal to Valparaiso. She reverted to the southern route to Chile on 4th December 1924 and in 1927 was sold for £19,500 prior to be broken up at Briton Ferry.

ORIANA was built in 1906 by Barclay Curle & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 8086grt, a length of 465ft 4in, a beam of 56ft 4in and a service speed of 15.5 knots. Sister of the Ortega she was launched on 26th April 1906 and commenced her maiden voyage to Callao via Cape Horn on 21st June. During the First World War she was requisitioned by the Government for use mainly as a troopship. On 8th May 1918 whilst in convoy she went aground in dense fog on Torcor Head by Rathlin Island, off Northern Island. When the fog lifted it became apparent that the escorting destroyers Martial and Nicator were also aground as were Blue Star's Aeneas and British India's Manora but fortunately on shelving rocks. All the ships were refloated within two weeks. She resumed commercial service on 17th October 1919 and in November 1922 was transferred to the Panama Canal route. She was eventually broken up in 1927.

ORONSA was built in 1906 by Barclay Curle & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 7989grt, a length of 465ft 4in, a beam of 56ft 4in and a service speed of 15.5 knots. The second sister of the Ortega she was launched on 26th May 1906 and entered service on 13th September with an additional call at Pernambuco. On 28th April 1918, a bright moonlit night, she was torpedoed off Bardsey Island, North Wales whilst travelling in convoy. Her boilers exploded and the ship sank with the loss of 3 lives.

CALLAO (2) was built in 1885 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 4206grt, a length of 420ft 4in, a beam of 42ft 5in and a service speed of 14 knots. She was launched 0n 28th February 1885 as the Gaelic for operation in the Pacific by the White Star Line. Her maiden voyage started on 18th July from Liverpool to New York from where she sailed to San Francisco on a charter to Occidental & Oriental Steamship Co. of San Francisco. She made her first voyage from San Francisco on 10th November to Yokohama and Hong Kong. Her final sailing from San Francisco commenced on 13th December 1904 and in March of the following year she was sold to PSNC and renamed Callao. Employed on the Pacific coast route on a temporary basis pending the arrival of the Quillota she was broken up at Briton Ferry , South Wales in September 1907.

HUANCHACO was built in 1907 by W Beardmore & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 4524grt, a length of 390ft 7in, a beam of 50ft 2in and a service speed of 10 knots. She was built for the cargo service and joined the fleet in August 1907. In August 1914 she was requisitioned by the government and used mainly to transport horses and stores. She returned to PSNC in 1919 and remained for a further 6 years before being sold to unknown buyers and renamed Frank Sutton. In 1926 she was sold to Aktiebolaget Bore of Abo in Finland and renamed Bore VIII. After a further three years service she was broken up in 1929.

JUNIN was built in 1907 by W Beardmore & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 4536grt, a length of 391ft 6in, a beam of 50ft 2in and a service speed of 10 knots. She joined the cargo fleet in September 1907 where she remained until 1926 when she was sold to William Thomas Shipping Co. of Liverpool and renamed Cambrian Idylle. After a further three years service she was broken up.

KENUTA (1) was built in 1907 by John Brown & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 4953grt, a length of 401ft 4in, a beam of 52ft 2in and a service speed of 10 knots. In addition to passenger accommodation she was fitted with dormitories fore and aft capable of holding 693 emigrants. She entered service in October 1907 and remained until 1926 when she was sold to Pandelis Bros. and renamed Vasilios Pandelis. By 1930 she was being managed Constants (South Wales ) Ltd of Cardiff and in 1933 she was broken up in Italy.

LIMA (3) was built in 1907 by John Brown & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 4946grt, a length of 401ft 4in, a beam of 52ft 2in and a service speed of 10 knots. Sister of the Kenuta she was delivered in December 1907. On 10th February she was wrecked on Huamblin Island in the Straits of Magellan during a severe storm. The Hatumet, owned by Hathor Steam Ship Co. of London and commanded by Capt. Percy Jacob, stood bay and rescued 188 passenger and 17 crew members. Six lives were lost during that operation when a lifeboat capsized. The Hatumet, which was severely overloaded, steamed into Ancud and the Chilean cruiser Blanca Encalada raced back to the scene of the accident and took off the remaining 88 survivors.

QUILLOTA was built in 1907 by W Beardmore & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 3674grt, a length of 361ft 5in, a beam of 46ft 2in and a service speed of 14 knots. She was built for the Valparaiso to Callao service. In 1915 she was chartered to Royal Mail Lines to replace the Berbice which had been requisitioned for war service. She was transferred to the New York - Panama Canal - Guayaquil in 1921 and in 1923 she was sold to Soc. Anon. Maritima Chilena and renamed Chile. During the same year she was rebuilt with raised lifeboats and the superstructure increases to resemble the Peru. In 1928 she was joined by the Peru on the Chilean coastal routes a sported a yellow funnel with a black top and broad black band. By 1931 she was no longer operating.

QUILPUE was built in 1907 by W Beardmore & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 3669grt, a length of 361ft 5in, a beam of 46ft 2in and a service speed of 14 knots. Sister of the Quillota she was built for the Valparaiso - Callao route and entered service in May 1907. In 1915 she was chartered to Royal Mail Lines to replace the Balantia which had been requisitioned for war service. On 12th June 1917 she was attacked by a surfaced U-boat but managed to drive her off with an accurate counter attack. In 1921 she was transferred to the New York - Panama Canal - Guayaquil service where she remained until the following year when she was sold to West Australian Steam Navigation Co. and renamed Gascoyne under the management of Bethell Gwyn & Co. of Liverpool. After a further eight years service she was broken up in 1930.

EXPLORER was built in 1873 at Liverpool with a tonnage of 2066grt, a length of 300ft 4in, a beam of 34ft 8in and a service speed of 9 knots. She was built as the Crocus and renamed Explorer by T & J Harrison. Acquired by PSNC in 1907 she was the last iron hulled ship to join the fleet. She was converted into a hulk in 1914.

ORCOMA (1) was built in 1908 by W Beardmore & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 11546grt, a length of 511ft 7in, a beam of 62ft 2in and a service speed of 14.5 knots. Launched on 2nd April 1908 she commenced her maiden voyage from Liverpool to the west coast of South America via the Straits of Magellan on 27th August and was the largest and fastest vessel on the South American Pacific route. In 1909 she took the first conducted tour to South America for Thomas Cook at a cost of £300 per person. She broke the Liverpool to Callao record, which included ports of call, in 1914 when she completed the voyage in 32 days 22 hour 40 mins. In the October she returned to the UK in a faster time and missed the holocaust of the German victory at Coronel by a few hours. She was converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser in March 1915 and served on the Northern patrol with the 10th Cruiser Squadron. On 7th November 1919 she was returned to PSNC and her first commercial voyage was back to the UK via the Panama Canal and New York. She was modernised and converted to burn oil in 1923. In 1933 she was replaced by the Reina del Pacifico and realised £14580 when she was sold for scrap and broken up by Hughes Bolckow at Blyth in June of the same year.

PONDEROSO was built in 1911 by H & C Grayson at Liverpool with a tonnage of 285grt, a length of 115ft 4in, a beam of 25ft 1in and a service speed of 9 knots. She was a tug and served a various South American stations. At the time the Buenos Aires & Pacific Railway Co. operated a tug with the same name and which attended PSNC ships at Buenos Aires which caused a lot of confusion. She was sold to Chile during 1938/39 and her subsequent disposal is unknown.

ANDES (1) was built in 1913 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 15620grt, a length of 570ft, a beam of 67ft 3in and a service speed of 17 knots. Laid down for PSNC she was transferred to Royal Mail and launched on 8th May 1913. However, she commenced her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Valparaiso for PSNC on 26th May before joining the Southampton to River Plate service for Royal Mail. In April 1915 she was converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser. On 29th February 1916, with her sister the Alcantara, she engaged the German raider Greif which was masquerading as the Norwegian ship, Rena. Both the Alcantara and the Grief were sunk and the Andes picked up the survivors including 115 Germans. During 1917 she was initially deployed in the Atlantic with convoys before repatriating submarine crews, who had been trapped by the Russian Revolution, from Murmansk. After the war she returned to commercial service and after a refit at Belfast during January 1919 resumed the River Plate run. In 1929 she was converted into a cruise liner at the Gladstone Dock in Liverpool and renamed Atlantis. She was present at the Spithead Review which was part of King George V's Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1935. In August 1939, when she was at Danzig during a cruise, she was recalled to Southampton where she arrived on 25th August and was converted into hospital ship No.33 with 400 beds. With 130 medical staff she was initially based at Alexandria. In April 1940 she returned to Norwegian waters to assist with the evacuation during which time she was bombed twice. Later in the same year she moved to the Indian Ocean where she remained for two years. In 1942 she was based at Diego Suarez and took part in the Madagasgar operation. During 1943 she was used to repatriate prisoners of war including the transportation of Italians to Lisbon and Germans to Gothenburg. Between 1944 and 1946 she was used as a hospital ship and for repatriation duties during which time she steamed some 280,000 miles and carried 35,000 wounded servicemen. In 1948 she was chartered for 4 years to carry emigrants from Southampton to Australia and New Zealand. On completion of the charter in 1952 she was laid up in the Clyde prior to being sold for scrapping at Faslane.

CALBUCO was built in 1913 by Lytham Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Lytham, Lancashire with a tonnage of 55grt, a length of 62ft 2in, a beam of 15ft 1in and a service speed of 9 knots. She was a steam tug built to tow the barges used to replenish the coal hulks and was subsequently sold in 1925.

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