Finding and Saving the Last Antique Freighters by Michael J. Krieger In 1966 as a naive young man, I concluded a contract with the Indonesian government which "allowed " me to buy timber that their soldiers were cutting in Sumatra. Subsequentl y I fo und myself chartering and sailing the o ldest and cheapest freighters I could find into the jungle ri vers of Sumatra to pick up my cargo. The ships were wonderful , old , prewar steamers of between 1,500 and 5,300 deadweight tons. It was, as they say, the best of times and the worst of times. The risks involved in chartering ships to that remote area were enormous . The Indonesian army was not exactl y the world 's best trading partner and I was greener than the healthiest lawn . Still , it was heady business fo r a twenty-sixyear-old and one that I never fo rgot. Nor could I fo rget the shi ps. They were built during the ' thirties in England , Scotl and and Norway; with their majestic steamer funn els and massive triple-expansion eng ines, they were vesti ges of another era . Below deck, they gleamed with po li shed hardwoods, exqui site pane ling and old-world j oinery of a quality never to be seen again-on either freighter or liner. The men were out of another time, too. The crews were Hong Kong or Singapore Chinese. T he bosuns, also Chinese, were usuall y powerful , stoic and silent men. They projected an aura of dependability and confidence that permeated the whole ship . The Scandinavian o ffi cers were mostly old China hands who had been kicking around every rum port between Yokohama and Sidney since before the war. They drank, they had di gnity and they knew their business. For me, the ex perience-while sometimes fin anciall y terrifying-was an advanced education in the real wo rld . I eventuall y left the Far East and the shipping business . Ten years later I left business altogether and began writing. Among my plans was to document the oldest freighters (and their people) still sailing in various parts of the world . The ships were disappearing at a faster rate than anyone realized , and so was a way of life entirely different from the containeri zed world of the intermodal freight system. During the late 1970s and earl y 1980s a shift in economic conditions around the world created an overabundance o f cargo carri ers relati ve to the ava il able freight. New ships, sometimes onl y fo ur or fi ve years o ld , could be purchased fo r little more than their scrap value , and old vessels were scrapped ri ght and left as ship owners traded fo r better vessels. Today, apart fro m Great Lakes bulk carriers, there are probabl y no prewar freighters over 2,000 gross tons still in 42
The Yattero on.Lake Miilar, Stockholm , where she was built in 1916 . Photo by Judy Howard.
servi ce. They are, generall y speakin g, extinct. Even some of the old vessels I managed to fi nd and record in my book Tramp' have been scrapped in the few years since I was on them- the Savi/co of 1938 , the Lambros of 1940-49, and the Buga of 1926. What will become of the few remaining antique coasters? Wi ll the maritime mu seums of the worl d come to their rescue at the last moment and snatch them fro m the j aws of the ship breakers? Probabl y not. There are far more square-ri gged ships in the world 's maritime museums than there are fre ighters fro m the age of steam . To my knowledge, there is onl y one prewar cargo vessel saved in any mariti me museum- the Robin of 1899 , preserved in London by the Maritime Trust of Great Britain . If the las t antique fre ighters are to be saved , it will require action by individuals. Thi s is not as farfetched as it might seem . 2 What vessels do still ex ist are some of the last prewar coasters, built between 1900 and 1925. There are perh aps twenty to twenty-five still operating and basica ll y in their ori ginal condition . The majority of these vessels are to be fo und in Norway, Finl and , Denmark and Turkey; a few others are scattered th roughout Afri ca, Asia and Latin America. Most of these coasters would be relati vely simple to restore to the ir ori ginal configurations, at least as far as hull and dec khouse are concerned . Some of them 1. Tramp: Sagas of High Adventure in. the Van ishing World of the Old Tramp Freighters, Michael J. Kri eger, fwd. Peter
Stanford (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1986 , l43pp, illus, $38hb/ppd ; available fro m Sea History Press , 132 Maple St. , Croton-on-Hudson, NY 11 2 17). 2. A major effort to restore the sieamer Yavari (1862-70) is underway on Peru 's Lake Titicaca, under the direction of Meriel Larken. This World Sh ip Trust project was written up in SEA HISTORY 4 1.
still have the ir ori g inal chain steerin g, auxiliary steerin g and quadrants. In virtuall y all cases, they have been repowered with diesel engines, though some of the replacements are themselves antiques. Many of the smaller coasters would make wonderful yachts. They are usuall y between 1OOft and l 50ft long; they have quarters for a dozen or more passengers and crew, bunker capacity to cross oceans and they can generall y be well ballasted . They are also as pleasing to the eye as any twelve-meter yac ht. They may be more ex pensive to maintain than some yachts, but that is more than o ffset by their comparati vely low purchase price . T he present owners would all as k a price that will all ow them to purchase a more modern vessel, but there is still a glut of cargo vessels in many parts of the world , and that will not necessaril y inflate the cost too much . Jn most cases a coaster could be purchased fo r no more than $200,000. For the buyer, bes ides the joy of owning one of the rarest and most unique ships in the world , there is the additiona l benefit of a tax deduction if eventuall y the ship is given to a maritime mu seum . If you are interested in findin g and buying an antique coaster, you can find the names of ship brokers th rough the embassy or consul ate of the country concern ed. A letterto a reputabl e ship broker should bring results. Should yo u purchase an o ld coaster, I would apprec iate a note with the name o f your vessel, a few specs and if possible a photograph , sent in care of the NMHS . Two owners who might a lready be interested in selling the ir ships are: Mr. G. Akar , owner of the Aksel ( 19 13), Aksel Deni zc ilik Ye Tic. A.S., Karamuistafapasa Sok . No. 30, Kat 2 Karakoy, Istanbul , Turkey; and Mr. H. Kalkavanalar, owner of the Nebil ( 19 14) , Lak lavan H .A., Adaham Kat, Eski Gumruk Sokak , Kara koy, Istanbul , Turkey. w SEA HIISTORY , SUMMER 1987