MS Skaubryn was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 passenger ship

Passenger ship

A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...

 launched in 1950, which sailed between Europe and Australia. She sank in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 in April 1958, after a fire.

Construction and design

Owned by Isak Skaugen, Skaubryn was first intended to be a shelter deck cargo ship for one of his companies, Eikland

I. M. Skaugen

I.M. Skaugen or IMS is a shipping company that operates within petrochemical gases and liquefied petroleum gas and lightering of crude oil and liquefied natural gas . IMS is horizontal integrated and designs, builds, owns and operates its fleet of vessels...

. She was built by the Oresundsvarvet Shipbuilding Company in Norway and launched on October 7, 1950. Whilst being fitted out, Skaugen decided to have her completed as an emigrant liner, and she was transferred to the Howaldtswerke shipyard for completion as a passenger liner

Passenger ship

A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...

. When completed she offered tourist class accommodation for 1,205 passengers, as well as eight twin-bedded cabins accommodating 16 first class passengers on the bridge deck.

Service history

Skaubryns main service was from European ports to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, though she also made a number of sailings to Canada. She was chartered several times, once by the French Government in the mid-1950s to bring troops back from Vietnam. Skaubryn was one of the very last vessels to pass through the Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

 immediately before its closure due to the Suez Crisis

Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...

 of 1956. In late September 1956 the Dutch Government used her for a single voyage from Rotterdam to Halifax and New York. That same year and in early 1957, she was chartered by the British Government

Politics of the United Kingdom

The politics of the United Kingdom takes place within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government...

 to transport troops from Singapore to the UK. The Greek Line

Greek Line

The Greek Line formally known as the General Steam Navigation Company of Greece was a passenger ship line that operated from 1939 until 1975. The Greek Line was owned by the Ormos Shipping Company. The line operated transatlantic and short to long distance voyages...

 chartered her later in 1957 for four round trips from Europe and the UK to Quebec, after which she returned on the Australian emigrant service again.

Sinking

On March 14, 1958, Skaubryn departed Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...

 with 1,288 passengers on board. On March 31, whilst in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 a fire broke out which quickly spread, though all the passengers safely evacuated the ship in her lifeboats. One passenger died due to a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 whilst still in a lifeboat. Thankfully the seas were calm. The first ship to come to her rescue was the Ellerman Lines

Ellerman Lines

Ellerman Lines was a cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late nineteenth century, and continued to expand with the acquisition of smaller shipping lines until it became one of the largest shipping...

 cargo liner

Cargo liner

A Cargo liner is a type of merchant ship which carried general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the nineteenth century, and eventually gave way to container ships and other more specialized carriers in the latter half of the twentieth...

 SS City of Sydney. All passengers were transferred to the City of Sydney, although she could not provide accommodation. The following day, the Lloyd Triestino

Italia Marittima

Italia Marittima S.p.A. is a shipping company with its head office in Trieste, Italy, and run by Evergreen Marine Corporation.-History:It was founded "Österreichischer Lloyd" in 1836 and became one of the world's biggest shipping companies by managing most oversea trade and passenger travel of...

 passenger liner SS Roma

MV Doulos

The MV Doulos Phos was the world's oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship. She is now owned by Mr. Eric Saw, Director and Chief Executive of BizNaz Resources International Pte Ltd in Singapore. She was previously owned by the German charity Gute Bücher für Alle , and was used as a floating ...

 arrived and all passengers were transferred to her.

The fire on the Skaubryn caused great damage to her forward and central superstructure, whilst her stern remained untouched. An attempt was made to tow her to Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

, first by , then by the Dutch Tug Cycloop, however, Skaubryn slowly took on water and she eventually sank on April 6, 1958.