Victory Class - The three ships that started Safmarine

Safmarine purchased three Victory ships from the USA, and after modifications to convert them from war use to general dry cargo, they entered service in 1947. They were named “Vergelegen”, “Morgenster”, & “Constantia”. These three ships enabled Safmarine to start a South African based cargo enterprise. They turned out to be very reliable and long lasting. In 1961 their names were changed to “South African Victory”, “South African Venture”, and “South African Vanguard”. In 1966 the prefix South African was changed to S.A..In the engine rooms there were two Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers supplying super heated steam to two Westinghouse turbines geared down to a single shaft, giving 6,000 shp and a speed of 16 knots. For electrical power, two steam turbines drove DC generators.

 

 

 

photographs ©Safmarine ©Brian Ingpen

Refrigerated motor (Scottish Built)

Three refrigerated motor ships “S.A.Letaba”, “S.A.Tzaneen”, and “S.A.Drakenstein” were built for the export of frozen fruit from South Africa to the UK and Europe. They were built in Scotland and entered service in the mid 1960s. They had the same hull design as the dutch built ships as above but, with a different make of main engine, which was a nine cylinder B&W type two stroke low speed diesel engine developing aprox 9,650 BHP and a speed of 17 knots. For electrical power four MAN diesel engines drove AC alternators.

 

 

photographs ©Safmarine ©Brian Ingpen