Casgliadau Arlein

Bow view of S.S. JARAMA entering Cardiff Docks.

Built 1920 as RONALD (2) by Robert Duncan & Co Ltd., Port Glasgow (engines by David Rowan, Glasgow) for A/S Hektor (Nils Bugge), Tonsberg. Built as the world’s first purpose built whale factory ship, with boiling / cooking equipment installed by Jarlso Shipyard. She was based at Deception Island, Antarctica from 1920 – 1931. 1933 – Laid up at Tonsberg. The boiling equipment was removed in 1938. 1939 – Sold to S. Bartz-Johannessen (Knarrevik Silolijefabrikk A/S, Bergen) and converted to a fish-oil factory. 1940 – Sold to Cie. Maritime Belge (Lloyd Royal) SA, Antwerp, and renamed MAFUTA. She was under Allied command during WW2. 1945 – Returned to her owners. 1948 – Sold to Spermacet Whaling Co Ltd, Panama, and renamed JARAMA. Rebuilt as a factory ship and based at Cape Lopez in the French Congo as a”floating land station”. 1949 – Ownership transferred to Soc. Jarama Congolais de Peche de Baleines (Sopecoba), Paris, and registered in French Congo. 1952 – Retired as a factory ship and used as an oil tanker. She was in a collision off Tunisia in June 1952. 1955 – Sold to Eisen & Metall Lehr & Co., KG, Bremerhavn for breaking up. (Source: Ulf W. Gustavsen, the book "On All Sea - Ships in Anders Jahres shipping")