Refrigerated cargo ship Port Fairy and a small sailing boat photographed by the Australian photographer Allan C. Green. The original image - here shown digitally hand colorizide by me - is in the Victoria State Library archive. The library does not give a date, but I think Green´s shot is from ab.1930. The 145.5 m ship had accomodation for 12 passengers.
"MV Port Fairy was a UK merchant vessel built in 1928 by Swan Hunter for the Commonwealth & Dominion Line Ltd (or "Port Line") shipping company and sold in 1965 to Embajada Compania Naviera SA of Piraeus. Named after the coastal town of Port Fairy in Australia, she was renamed Taishikan for her final commercial voyage to Hong Kong where she was scrapped."- -
"In 1930 her refrigeration equipment was modified and she carried the first cargo of chilled meat (instead of frozen meat) from Australia; she later worked the same cargo from New Zealand." --
"Port Fairy had an eventful war employed as an ammunition ship.Sailing in fast convoy OL8 from Liverpool to Canada on 22 October 1940, Port Fairy collided with the Canadian destroyer Margaree in rough seas about 300 miles (483 km) west of Ireland (position 53°24′N 22°50′W.). Margaree sank quickly; her captain, four officers and 136 crew were lost. Port Fairy rescued 34 of the survivors.On 9 July 1943 the small Convoy Faith, comprising Port Fairy, the troopships Duchess of York and California, with escorts Iroquois, Douglas and Moyola, sailed Greenock for Freetown, Sierra Leone. Two days later, when the convoy was about 300 miles west of Vigo, it was attacked by 3 Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 40 based at Merignac, near Bordeaux. The precision high-altitude bombing left both Duchess of York and California blazing. Port Fairy picked up 64 RAF survivors from Duchess of York. Both Duchess of York and California were abandoned, and in the early hours of 12 July they were sunk by torpedoes from their escorts as it was feared the flames from the ships would attract U-boats." (Wikipedia)
