Finland’s first modern ocean
cargo liner

When “Aurora” made her last voyage under the Finnish flag in 1964, she was the oldest vessel in the fleet of Finland South-America Line (Finland Syd-Amerika Linjen – Suomen Etelä-Amerikan Linja), often referred to as AL in everyday conversation. There has never been another Finnish ocean liner service as legendary as the AL. AL’s vessels plied the Atlantic for more than 50 years. Southbound, they mainly carried Finnish forest products to South America, while coffee was among the most important cargoes on the return leg.

	ILLUSTRATION: HÅKAN SJÖSTRÖM

AL was founded in 1926, but it was possible to introduce newbuildings on the trade until the late 1930s. In December 1936, a 7,300 DWT cargo motor vessel was ordered from Crichton-Vulcan in Turku. At the time, this was by far the largest cargo vessel to be built in Finland, and it was also Finland’s first oceangoing motor-driven cargo vessel.
“Aurora” was delivered on December 22, 1938. The shiny white liner was AL’s first-ever motor vessel and started a new era in Finnish liner traffic. Her first voyage started on New Year’s Eve from Kotka with Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires as destinations.
After delivery of the sister vessel “Atlanta” in April 1939 and the Swedish-built “Bore X” in January 1939, AL had three brand-new vessels, which corresponded in capacity to five old vessels on the same trade.
A new feature was the rather high service speed of 15 knots and a refrigerated cargo hold for the transport of fruit. The trio became an instant success. They gave the AL service a totally new profile – and also improved the economy.
Unfortunately, World War II ended the trend of positive developments. With the German occupation of Norway and Denmark, the passage to the Baltic Sea was closed in the spring of 1940. The blockade created a short but hectic era in Finnish foreign trade, called the Petsamo-traffic. Virtually all of Finland’s overseas export and import went through the small port of Petsamo by the Arctic Ocean – a territory which was taken by the Soviet Union after the war.
“Aurora” made several voyages from Petsamo. When Finland was at war again in the summer of 1941, now with Germany as its ally, “Aurora” was on a northbound voyage from South America. Her destination was changed to New York, where a fire broke out, destroying the midship section. After extensive repairs, she was taken over by the American government and traded as “Rosemount” under the Panama-flag for the rest of the war. After tough negotiations, she was returned to her original owners in 1946.
As a “souvenir” from America, “Aurora” brought the first navigational radar to Finland. She had been equipped with radar in the US and “Aurora” thus became the first Finnish merchant vessel to carry this revolutionary invention.
It was a quite war-weary vessel that was returned to its owner. The well-built ship was itself in good condition, but the main engine had to be replaced in 1954, after just 16 years of service. “Aurora” was to serve her owners faithfully for yet another ten years before she was sold to Greece in 1964. As “Ioannis”, she traded under the Greek flag until 1971, when she was broken up in China.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström

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