Fremantle Star 2

Blue Star's M.V. "Fremantle Star" 2

Built:

Cammell Laird & Company Ltd., Birkenhead

ON:

301127

Dimensions:

519' 0" x 70' 3" x 30' 0" feet

Tonnage:

Gross: 8403 Net: 4949

Propulsion:

8-cyl S.C.S.A Burmeister & Wain oil engine by Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast

Type:

Refrigerated Cargo Liner

Launched:

30/12/59 (Yard No. 1290) as Fremantle Star 2 for Blue Star Line Ltd.

Completed:

4/1960

Transferred:

1965 to Lamport & Holt Line Ltd. (Blue Star Line Ltd. managers)

Transferred:

1965 to Blue Star Line Ltd.

Collided:

5/05/1965 Egyptian passenger vessel Mecca in the Gulf of Suez

1975:

Blue Star Ship Management Ltd. appointed as managers

Sold:

1975 to Caxton Marine Enterprise Corp. (Blue Star Ship Management Ltd. managers), Singapore and renamed Catarina

Sold:

1979 to Nan Long Steel & Iron Co. Ltd., Taiwan and arrived at Kaohsiung, 30/11/1979 to be broken up

Demolition commd:

4/01/1980

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Fremantle Star ~ Probably Fotoflite

Fremantle Star ~ Port Melbourne ~ 1964 ~ Photograph © Ian Nicholls

Fremantle Star - Photograph © Ron Baker

Fremantle Star on the stocks at Cammell Laird's, Birkenhead ~ Photograph © Harry N. Owen

Fremantle Star just after launch, with Pierhead, Liverpool in background


Fremantle Star under tow after launch in the Mersey ~ Photographs © Harry N. Owen

Fremantle Star ~ Peter Stacey Collection

Fremantle Star ~ Liverpool, Aug 1973 ~ Photograph © Gwilym Davies ~ PMSC

Fremantle Star in the Panama Canal by Wallace Trickett

Fremantle Star - Golden Gate, San Francisco

A series of photographs from Peter Stacey's Collection


Vancouver, B.C., Canada ~ July 1967	New Plymouth ~ 1974	Honolulu ~ 1974


Queens Quay, Auckland ~ 1974	Queens Quay, Auckland ~ 1974	Fiji ~ 1974


Engine room Gang ~ 1974
Photographs © Andrew Barker



Fremantle Star departing Honolulu August 1977 ~ Photograph © Andrew Barker


Fremantle Star laid up at Barry, South Wales 1978 - Photographs © Peter Moore

Various Blue Star ships were laid up in Barry, South Wales over several summers in the late 1970's. This was brought on partially by the trade sanctions imposed against South Africa's Apartheid system. Ships which normally carried out the South African Fruit Trade during the season, were no longer able to trade to South African ports. Barry became a Blue Star Car Park, with a steady rotation of vessels including the Andalucia Star 2

See: Barry Docks as it is today (July 2007)

Fremantle Star - General Arrangement Plan - Courtesy Peter Stacey

The Mecca embedded in the Fremantle Star in the Gulf of Suez

On the 5th May 1965 the Indian Steamship Companies vessel Indian Merchant (7,659/44) suffered engine trouble and was in danger of going aground, when about 12 miles south of Ras Garib, in the Gulf of Suez. The Fremantle Star came to her aid and took her in tow. A number of vessels had passed the two ships, when the Egyptian passenger vessel Mecca, approached passing the Fremantle Star and her tow on her port side. When the Mecca was abeam of the Blue Star vessel suddenly and without warning she turned hard to port and crashed into the Fremantle Star , just forward of the bridge. The Mecca had an ice reinforced raked bow, which sliced into No. 3 hold on the port side, stopping the Fremantle Star in her tracks, and at the same time allowing her tow to start to creep up on her. The Captain of the Indian Merchant had witnessed the entire incident, and luckily his engine room staff had managed to repair the problem, allowing them to slip the tow and make her way to a nearby safe anchorage.

The Egyptian Master of the Mecca was all for backing out, but Captain Harry Windle of the Fremantle Star advised him to remain where he was until the damage could be assessed. It was quickly realised that the Fremantle Star would not sink if the Mecca reversed away. So this was slowly carried out with boxes of Australian apples spilling out of the gaping hole in the port side, as the Mecca retreated. The Fremantle Star then proceeded slowly towards Suez, which she reached safely, but heavily down by the bow. At Port Said, she was dry docked and repaired, and like the Indian Merchant, soon returned to service.

Collision details kindly provided by Tony Atkinson


The *Fremantle Star* shown towing the Indian Merchant and after being rammed by the Mecca ~ Photographs © John Anderson


Internal damage and pages from an Egyptian magazine after the incident ~ Courtesy John Anderson


				In dry dock 1965

Catarina photographed through the gloom at Kaohsiung, Taiwan from the

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Updated: 23-04-2008