“Park Victory ”:
Another victim of the Baltic Sea

	ILLUSTRATION: HÅKAN SJÖSTRÖM

”Towards the end of the 1930’s, it was realised in the USA that more than 90 per cent of the merchant ships were approaching twenty years of age and most of them were only in the 10–11 knot range. At this stage, the US Maritime Commission was set up with the Merchant Marine Act. The Commission began an ambitious long-range merchant shipbuilding programme, which envisaged delivery of fifty ships a year during the following ten years – 500 new vessels totalling nearly 4 million tons.
Before the European hostilities began, the delivery of vessels was doubled. In 1940 it was doubled again to 200 ships a year. In 1941, it was realised that this was far too low compared to losses. After the Pearl Harbour attack in December of 1941, the Americans were facing the fact that only large-scale serial shipbuilding would be a solution, as more ships were being lost than being built. The first “emergency”-type merchant ship –“the Liberty – was put into production. It was evident at this stage that more shipyards were needed.
The Liberty ship was to become extremely important and more than 2,700 units were built. She had some disadvantages – the most important being that she was still slow. In 1943, the Maritime Commission was planning a fast type of cargo ship and the most important became known as the Victory Ship.
The gross tonnage of the Victory type was 7,601 and the deadweight 10,750 t. The length was 139 m and breadth 19 m. Her 6,600-shp steam turbines gave a speed of 16.5 knots. The fuel consumption at full speed was nearly 40 tons. All ships had names with the suffix “Victory”.

The last voyage
The “Park Victory” was completed by the Permanente Metals Corporation, Richmond, California in May 1945, and did not see any war action. The next year, she was converted by Todd Shipyards, Brooklyn, to a livestock carrier with a capacity of 850 heads. The cattle were part of a food and rehabilitation programme to help Europe.
After a few voyages, she was re-converted for carrying general cargo and spent some time in the Pacific seaboard. Early in 1947, she continued to carry American products to Europe. Her last voyage started in December 1947, when she arrived at Hampton Roads to load coal for Helsinki, Finland. She sailed on December 11 under the command of Captain Allen Louis Zepp.
During the voyage, the destination was changed to Turku and the coal was to be consumed by the Vuoksenniska Iron Works. The “Park Victory” arrived at Utö pilot station in the early evening of December 24, and it was decided that the vessel would first anchor. The weather was cold with patches of fog, and at times the visibility was reduced to zero due to “blizzards”.

Aground off Utö
The decision to anchor was quite normal under these circumstances. Visibility was poor and the darkness was approaching. Also, the Turku harbour tug crews and rope men had gone home. The pilot stayed on board.
The crew of 48 seamen prepared to spend Christmas comfortably warm at the roads. Towards evening, the wind started to increase but the captain did not put to the sea.
At midnight, it was realised that she was dragging her anchor and soon the chain parted. It was completely dark and her position was not known for sure. It took some time to get the steam turbines working, and soon she was aground for the first time. The engines were now running and for the next two hours, the “Park Victory” tried to get back to sea or to stay in deep water amongst the rocks. The next grounding was so severe that the engine room started to flood.
The crew rushed to abandon the vessel without preparations or co-ordination, and with a total lack of information. The crew had no appropriate clothing, and some unwisely jumped overboard in these severe conditions. The lifeboats were lowered too quickly, and some men went overboard in the process.
The plight of the vessel was finally realised at the island of Utö and boats were sent out to help. The crew of the first lifeboat was rescued from a small islet after two hours, and it took two more hours to find the other drifting boat. Once the men were safe and warm, it was realised that 10 were still missing.
The following summer, a service was held at sea. A chandelier with 10 candles in Utö Chapel still reminds us of the souls lost on that fateful Christmas Eve of 1947.
//Hannu Vartiainen

 

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