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50-569: SS Gairsoppa was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1919 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941. 85 of her complement were killed, and only one person survived. When she was sunk, her cargo included 7 million ounces of silver bullion . In 2012 and 2013 a US company recovered part of the bullion, and in 2014 the Royal Mint struck 20,000 silver coins from it. Gairsoppa

100-495: A sea anchor to lay to until dawn, and then set sail and set a course east. The boat's rudder was broken, so Ayres used an oar to steer. The boat was victualled with drinking water, hardtack , and cans of condensed milk . Ayres rationed the provisions, but the drinking water ran out after eight days. In the first seven days, all but seven men died from either exposure or drinking seawater . The boat's remaining occupants contracted frostbite . On 1 March 1941 Ayres' boat sighted

150-631: A convoy of 30 merchant ships bound for Liverpool . However, heavy weather slowed the convoy, and Gairsoppa ' s bunkers ran low. On 15 February her Master , Captain Gerald Hyland, detached her from SL64, reduced her speed to 5 knots (9 km/h) to conserve coal, and changed course for the nearest sheltered anchorage, which was Galway Bay in neutral Ireland for bunkering . A German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft circled Gairsoppa at 08:00 on 16 February. Then U-101 sighted her at 1800 hrs, but heavy seas delayed its attack. U-101 fired

200-504: A convoy to the UK. Her cargo included 2,600 tons of pig iron, 1,765 tons of tea, 2,369 tons of general cargo, 200 tons of silver ingots and coins, and a consignment of mail. The silver was worth £600,000 in 1941, and was destined for the Royal Mint to mint new coins. Gairsoppa ' s crew comprised 11 UK officers, crewmen, and DEMS gunners; 84 lascars ; and one Chinese carpenter. On 30 January 1941 Gairsoppa left Freetown with SL 64:

250-426: A larger contact area. Molds may be either solid "massive" design, sand cast (e.g. for pig iron), or water-cooled shells, depending upon heat transfer requirements. Ingot molds are tapered to prevent the formation of cracks due to uneven cooling. A crack or void formation occurs as the liquid to solid transition has an associated volume change for a constant mass of material. The formation of these ingot defects may render

300-625: A merchant ship's prefix, denotes that it is a T urbine S teamer. Famous cargo ships include the 2,710 Liberty ships of World War II , partly based on a British design . Liberty ship sections were prefabricated in locations across the United States and then assembled by shipbuilders in an average of six weeks, with the record being just over four days. These ships allowed the Allies in World War II to replace sunken cargo vessels at

350-740: A molten melt. Single crystal ingots (called boules ) of materials are grown (crystal growth) using methods such as the Czochralski process or Bridgeman technique . The boules may be either semiconductor (e.g. electronic chip wafers , photovoltaic cells ) or non-conducting inorganic compounds for industrial and jewelry use (e.g., synthetic ruby, sapphire). Single crystal ingots of metal are produced in similar fashion to that used to produce high purity semiconductor ingots, i.e. by vacuum induction refining. Single crystal ingots of engineering metals are of interest due to their very high strength due to lack of grain boundaries . The method of production

400-540: A name beginning with "G"; either before they were launched; or between launch and completion. Gairsoppa was the first of four "B" type ships that BI acquired from Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company , who had shipyards on the River Tyne at Hebburn and Jarrow . Palmers also built War Zebra , which BI renamed Gurna ; War Llama , which BI renamed Gamaria , and War Reynard , which BI renamed Garmula . Palmers built Gairsoppa at Hebburn as yard number 894. She

450-541: A narrow channel between Indonesia and Singapore / Malaysia , and cargo ships are still commonly targeted. In 2004, the governments of those three nations agreed to provide better protection for the ships passing through the Straits. The waters off Somalia and Nigeria are also prone to piracy, while smaller vessels are also in danger along parts of the South American coasts, Southeast Asian coasts, and near

500-571: A rate greater than the Kriegsmarine 's U-boats could sink them, and contributed significantly to the war effort, the delivery of supplies, and eventual victory over the Axis powers. Liberty ships were followed by the faster Victory ships . Canada built Park ships and Fort ships to meet the demand for the Allies shipping. The United Kingdom built Empire ships and used US Ocean ships . After

550-417: A single screw , driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine built by Palmers. It was rated at 517 NHP or 3,000 ihp , She achieved 11.7 knots (21.7 km/h) on her sea trials . BI registered Gairsoppa at Glasgow . Her official number was 141924 and her code letters were KCRV. The ship was equipped for wireless telegraphy from new. On 29 April 1930 Gairsoppa grounded at Fulta Point in

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600-484: A spread of two torpedoes at 2328 hrs and a third torpedo at 2332 hrs, all of which missed. At 0008 hrs on 17 February U-101 fired a fourth torpedo, which hit the starboard side of Gairsoppa ' s number 2 hold. The ship caught fire and settled by the bow. At 0020 hrs U-101 fired a fourth torpedo as a coup de grâce , but it missed. Gairsoppa ' s crew abandoned ship in three of her lifeboats , and she sank about 20 minutes after being hit. Her reported position

650-433: Is increasing: with bunker fuel consumption at 278 million tonnes per year in 2001, it is projected to be at 500 million tonnes per year in 2020. International standards to dramatically reduce sulphur content in marine fuels and nitrogen oxide emissions have been put in place. Among some of the solutions offered is changing over the fuel intake to clean diesel or marine gas oil, while in restricted waters and cold ironing

700-593: Is via single crystal dendrite and not via simple casting. Possible uses include turbine blades . In the United States, the brass and bronze ingot making industry started in the early 19th century. The US brass industry grew to be the number one producer by the 1850s. During colonial times the brass and bronze industries were almost non-existent because the British demanded all copper ore be sent to Britain for processing. Copper based alloy ingots weighed approximately 20 pounds (9.1 kg). Ingots are manufactured by

750-724: The Caribbean Sea . A category designation appears before the vessel's name. A few examples of prefixes for naval ships are "USS" ( United States Ship ), "HMS" ( Her/His Majesty’s Ship ), "HMCS" ( Her/His Majesty's Canadian Ship ) and "HTMS" (His Thai Majesty's Ship), while a few examples for prefixes for merchant ships are "RMS" ( Royal Mail Ship , usually a passenger liner), "MV" ( Motor Vessel , powered by diesel ), "MT" (Motor Tanker, powered vessel carrying liquids only) "FV" Fishing Vessel and "SS" ( Screw Steamer , driven by propellers or screws, often understood to stand for Steamship ). "TS", sometimes found in first position before

800-510: The European Union is planning stricter controls on emissions. Cargo ships have been reported to have a possible negative impact on the population of whale sharks. Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2022 that whale sharks , the largest species of fish, have been disappearing mysteriously over the past 75 years, with research pointing to cargo ships and large vessels as the likely culprits. A study involving over 75 researchers highlighted

850-682: The Hooghly River in West Bengal . She was refloated undamaged under her own power later that day. By 1930 Gairsoppa ' s call sign was GCZB. In 1934 this superseded her code letters. Toward the end of 1940 Gairsoppa left Calcutta bound for the UK. In the first week of January 1941 she called at Durban and Cape Town in South Africa . On 22 January she arrived off Freetown in Sierra Leone , where she waited to join

900-526: The Jog Falls near Gerusoppa, which India's British rulers called Gairsoppa Falls. Gerusoppa was once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire , and has the remains of a 16th-century Jain temple . In 1919 and 1920 BI acquired 16 new "B" type cargo ships from various UK shipbuilders. The Shipping Controller had ordered each of them with a standard " War ____ " name. BI renamed each of them with

950-566: The Lizard Lighthouse on the coast of Cornwall . The men were too weak to row, but they shortened sail. As they neared the shore, in Caerthillian Cove, in the parish of Landewednack , a wave overturned the boat, drowning four of the men. Another wave righted the boat again, and Ayres dragged himself, the radio officer, and a deck hand back into the boat. Another wave overturned the boat a second time. The three men clung to

1000-402: The 7,000,000 ounces (200 tonnes) of silver from Gairsoppa , and also 600,000 ounces (17 tonnes) of silver from the wreck of another BI ship, Mantola , that a U-boat had sunk in 1917, and whose wreck is only about 60 nautical miles (110 km) from Gairsoppa ' s. On 25 September 2011 Odyssey announced that, using an ROV , it had found and identified Gairsoppa ' s wreck. It is on

1050-408: The canal locks a ship can fit in, water depth ( draft ) is a limitation for canals, shallow straits or harbors and height is a limitation in order to pass under bridges. Common categories include: [REDACTED] The TI-class supertanker is an Ultra Large Crude Carrier, with a draft that is deeper than Suezmax, Malaccamax and Neopanamax. This causes Atlantic/Pacific routes to be very long, such as

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1100-426: The cast ingot useless and may need to be re-melted, recycled, or discarded. The physical structure of a crystalline material is largely determined by the method of cooling and precipitation of the molten metal. During the pouring process, metal in contact with the ingot walls rapidly cools and forms either a columnar structure or possibly a "chill zone" of equiaxed dendrites , depending upon the liquid being cooled and

1150-461: The cooling of a molten liquid (known as the melt) in a mold. The manufacture of ingots has several aims. Firstly, the mold is designed to completely solidify and form an appropriate grain structure required for later processing, as the structure formed by the cooling of the melt controls the physical properties of the material. Secondly, the shape and size of the mold is designed to allow for ease of ingot handling and downstream processing. Finally,

1200-429: The cooling rate of the mold. For a top-poured ingot, as the liquid cools within the mold, differential volume effects cause the top of the liquid to recede leaving a curved surface at the mold top which may eventually be required to be machined from the ingot. The mold cooling effect creates an advancing solidification front, which has several associated zones, closer to the wall there is a solid zone that draws heat from

1250-455: The crew, and bags of mail destined for the UK. The great depth of the wreck preserved the mail from the decaying effects of oxygen, light, and heat. However, being submerged in water for seven decades also made the mail very fragile. There were 717 letters: the largest amount of mail yet recovered from a shipwreck. It took four years to conserve them; stabilising them; reassembling letters that had fragmented; and transcribing their texts. The mail

1300-548: The danger posed to whale sharks by shipping activities in various regions, including Ecuador, Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, Oman, Seychelles, and Taiwan. See also, similar role:- Empire ship , Fort ship , Park ship , Ocean ship . Ingot Ingots are generally made of metal, either pure or alloy, heated past its melting point and cast into a bar or block using a mold chill method. A special case are polycrystalline or single crystal ingots made by pulling from

1350-514: The goods carried aboard the ship for hire, while "freight" refers to the act of carrying of such cargo, but the terms have been used interchangeably for centuries. Generally, the modern ocean shipping business is divided into two classes: Larger cargo ships are generally operated by shipping lines : companies that specialize in the handling of cargo in general. Smaller vessels, such as coasters , are often owned by their operators. Cargo ships/freighters can be divided into eight groups, according to

1400-446: The keel, but the radio officer was swept away. Ayres and the deck hand reached the shore. The deck hand got onto a rock, but a wave swept him off and he was killed. A group of three evacuee schoolgirls was walking on the clifftop and saw the incident. One of the girls ran down to the beach, while another alerted a local farmworker, Brian Richards, who was also a member of HM Coastguard . He arrived in time to pull Ayres unconscious from

1450-621: The lascars who were killed are commemorated on a roll of honour, one copy of which is held at Chittagong War Cemetery in Bangladesh , and the other at the Indian Seamen's Home at Mumbai in India . In November 1941 Ayres was made an MBE for his efforts to save his shipmates. Lloyd's of London awarded him Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea . He spent nine months on full pension to recover, and then returned to sea with BI. He later

1500-621: The liquid melt alloy compositions. Continuous casting methods for ingot processing also exist, whereby a stationary front of solidification is formed by the continual take-off of cooled solid material, and the addition of a molten liquid to the casting process. Approximately 70 percent of aluminium ingots in the U.S. are cast using the direct chill casting process, which reduces cracking. A total of 5 percent of ingots must be scrapped because of stress induced cracks and butt deformation. Plano-convex ingots are widely distributed archaeological artifacts which are studied to provide information on

1550-706: The locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway . The earliest records of waterborne activity mention the carriage of items for trade; the evidence of history and archaeology shows the practice to be widespread by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, and as early as the 14th and 15th centuries BC small Mediterranean cargo ships like those of the 50 foot long (15–16 metre) Uluburun ship were carrying 20 tons of exotic cargo; 11 tons of raw copper, jars, glass, ivory, gold, spices, and treasures from Canaan , Greece , Egypt , and Africa . The desire to operate trade routes over longer distances, and throughout more seasons of

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1600-606: The long voyages south of Cape of Good Hope or south of Cape Horn to transit between Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Lake freighters built for the Great Lakes in North America differ in design from sea water–going ships because of the difference in wave size and frequency in the lakes. A number of these ships are larger than Seawaymax and cannot leave the lakes and pass to the Atlantic Ocean, since they do not fit

1650-538: The minting of new silver coins. In September 2013 some of the silver was delivered to the Royal Mint, now based in Llantrisant , Wales , to be minted into coins. In April 2014 the Royal Mint announced that it would strike 20,000 commemorative 1/4 ounce coins from the silver, each with a face value of 50 pence, but priced at £30. Other artefacts that Odyssey recovered from Gairsoppa included artefacts used by

1700-452: The mold is designed to minimize melt wastage and aid ejection of the ingot, as losing either melt or ingot increases manufacturing costs of finished products. A variety of designs exist for the mold, which may be selected to suit the physical properties of the liquid melt and the solidification process. Molds may exist in the top, horizontal or bottom-up pouring and may be fluted or flat walled. The fluted design increases heat transfer owing to

1750-558: The sea. Ayres was carried to a local house, and then admitted to the cottage hospital at Helston . The bodies of the radio officer, deck hand, and two of the lascars were recovered, and are buried in the yard of St Wynwallow's Church, Landewednack . The 11 European officers and men who were killed are commemorated on panel 51 of the Second World War monument at Tower Hill Memorial in London . The Chinese carpenter and 69 of

1800-475: The seabed at a depth of nearly 4,700 metres (3 miles). The New York Times published on its website a video that Odyssey had made of the wreck. Odyssey stated that it believed the wreck held a total of about 240 tons of silver. In July 2012 it was reported that Odyssey had recovered 1,400,000 ounces (40 tonnes) of silver in 1,203 ingots, and landed them at Bristol in England. Odyssey was to keep 80 percent of

1850-518: The ship while it is in port. The process of removing sulphur from the fuel impacts the viscosity and lubricity of the marine gas oil though, which could cause damage in the engine fuel pump . The fuel viscosity can be raised by cooling the fuel down. If the various requirements are enforced, the International Maritime Organization 's marine fuel requirement will mean a 90% reduction in sulphur oxide emissions; whilst

1900-593: The smaller shipping companies and private individuals operate tramp ships. Cargo liners run on fixed schedules published by the shipping companies. Each trip a liner takes is called a voyage. Liners mostly carry general cargo. However, some cargo liners may carry passengers also. A cargo liner that carries 12 or more passengers is called a combination or passenger-run-cargo line. Cargo ships are categorized partly by cargo or shipping capacity ( tonnage ), partly by weight ( deadweight tonnage DWT), and partly by dimensions. Maximum dimensions such as length and width ( beam ) limit

1950-411: The solidifying melt, for alloys there may exist a "mushy" zone, which is the result of solid-liquid equilibrium regions in the alloy's phase diagram , and a liquid region. The rate of front advancement controls the time that dendrites or nuclei have to form in the solidification region. The width of the mushy zone in an alloy may be controlled by tuning the heat transfer properties of the mold or adjusting

2000-533: The type of cargo they carry. These groups are: Specialized types of cargo vessels include container ships and bulk carriers (technically tankers of all sizes are cargo ships, although they are routinely thought of as a separate category). Cargo ships fall into two further categories that reflect the services they offer to industry: liner and tramp services. Those on a fixed published schedule and fixed tariff rates are cargo liners. Tramp ships do not have fixed schedules. Users charter them to haul loads. Generally,

2050-413: The value and 20 percent would go to HM Treasury . On 23 July 2013 it was reported that Odyssey had recovered a further 1,574 ingots, totalling almost 1,800,000 ounces (51 tonnes). This increased the cumulative total of silver salvaged to 110 tons: a record for both the amount of precious metal salvaged, and the depth from which it was raised. This represented 99 percent of the insured bullion that Gairsoppa

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2100-796: The war many of the ships were sold to private companies. The Ever Given is a ship that was lodged into the Suez Canal from March 25 to 28, 2021, which caused a halt on maritime trade. The MV Dali , which collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore , Maryland , United States , on 26 March 2024, causing a catastrophic structural failure of the bridge that resulted in at least 6 deaths. Due to its low cost, most large cargo vessels are powered by bunker fuel , also known as heavy fuel oil, which contains higher sulphur levels than diesel. This level of pollution

2150-509: The world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade . Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built of welded steel , and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped. The words cargo and freight have become interchangeable in casual usage. Technically, "cargo" refers to

2200-580: The year, motivated improvements in ship design during the Middle Ages . Before the middle of the 19th century, the incidence of piracy resulted in most cargo ships being armed, sometimes quite heavily, as in the case of the Manila galleons and East Indiamen . They were also sometimes escorted by warships . Piracy is still quite common in some waters, particularly in the Malacca Straits ,

2250-643: Was a War Standard "B" type steamship: one of a set of designs ordered by the UK Shipping Controller in large numbers to replace merchant ships lost during the First World War . She was launched as War Roebuck , but renamed before she was completed. The British India Steam Navigation Company (BI) owned and managed her throughout her career. The ship was named after either the village of Gerusoppa in Karnataka , southern India, or

2300-471: Was carrying. Lloyd's record of war losses suggests that other Government-owned silver, uninsured, may have been aboard the ship. However, Odyssey stated that it had not found any of the uninsured silver. Correspondence between the Royal Mint and the Bank of England in 1941, after Gairsoppa was sunk, reveals that it was feared that they were within two months of running out of silver, and might have to suspend

2350-490: Was in the Western Approaches at 50°00′N 14°0′W  /  50.000°N 14.000°W  / 50.000; -14.000 , about 300 nautical miles (560 km) southwest of Galway Bay. The boats became separated in the heavy sea. Two of the boats, and their occupants, were never seen again. The other boat, commanded by Second Officer Richard Ayres, contained eight European and 23 lascar crew. Ayres used

2400-483: Was launched as War Roebuck on 12 August 1919, renamed Gairsoppa , and completed on 17 October that year. Her lengths were 412.0 ft (125.6 m) overall and 399.3 ft (121.7 m) registered. Her beam was 52.2 ft (15.9 m), her depth was 28.5 ft (8.7 m), and her draught was 25 ft 3 in (7.70 m). Her tonnages were 5,237  GRT , 3,227  NRT , and 8,150  DWT . She had berths for four passengers. Gairsoppa had

2450-684: Was promoted to Captain, joined the Royal Naval Reserve , and then became a BI cargo superintendent, first in India and later in Malaya . He retired in 1964, and died in 1992. In 1989 the UK government invited tenders to salvage Gairsoppa ' s silver bullion. Deepwater Recovery and Exploration Ltd submitted the only bid received. In 2011 the Government awarded a contract to a US company, Odyssey Marine Exploration , to find and salvage

2500-568: Was restored by two conservators at AOC Archaeology in Edinburgh and two at the Postal Museum, London . In 2018 the museum displayed some of the mail and other artefacts in an exhibition called "Voices from the Deep". Cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo , goods , and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply

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