This was the first of two ships in the Federal Steam fleet to be called Huntingdon. The second was a motor ship that was built in Scotland in 1948, transferred to P&O in 1973 and scrapped in 1975.[1]
Münsterland's registered length was 520.7 ft (158.7 m), her beam was 64.2 ft (19.6 m) and her depth was 38.1 ft (11.6 m).[5] As built, her tonnages were 11,305 GRT and 7,067 NRT. Her holds had 409,583 cu ft (11,598 m3) of refrigerated cargo space.[6]
Federal Steam operated a cargo liner service between New Zealand, Australia and the UK, bringing refrigerated produce to the UK and general cargo to Australia and New Zealand. The company lost three cargo ships to enemy action in the First World War.[8]
The UK Government supplied Münsterland and her three sisters to Federal Steam as reparations. Federal Steam named its ships after English counties or county towns. Friesland became Hertford, Sauerland became Norfolk, Wendland became Cumberland and Münsterland became Huntingdon.[9]
By 1930 Huntingdon's tonnages had been slightly revised to 10,951 GRT and 6,929 NRT, and her navigation equipment included wireless direction finding.[5]
Plan of a triple-expansion piston engine with Bauer-Wach exhaust turbine system
By 1931 Bremer Vulkan had supplied Huntingdon with a pair of Bauer-Wach exhaust turbines. Each turbine was powered by the exhaust steam from the low-pressure cylinder of one of her piston engines, and drove the same propeller shaft as that piston engine via a Föttingerfluid coupling. The turbines increased Huntingdon's fuel efficiency, and raised her total power to 1,270 NHP.[10]
In 1934 the call sign GJFZ replaced her code letters. By 1940 her navigation equipment included an echo sounding device and her tonnages were revised to 10,946 GRT and 6,806 NRT.[11]
Second World War service
In the Second World War Huntingdon continued her regular trade between New Zealand, Australia and the UK. She sailed mostly unescorted, with convoy protection only in the North Atlantic. She used both the Cape of Good Hope route via South Africa and the trans-Pacific route via the Panama Canal.[12]
Loss
On 19 February 1941 Huntingdon left the Firth of Clyde with Convoy OB 288.[13] At 0235 hrs on 24 February the Italian submarine Michele Bianchi hit Huntingdon with one torpedo, which blew a large hole in the port side of her number one hold. Her Master, Captain Styrin, ordered his crew to abandon ship. All the crew got safely away in the lifeboats, which then stood clear of the ship. It was snowing and bitterly cold.[14]
Michele Bianchi fired a second torpedo, which hit Huntingdon at 0312 hrs. Huntingdon broke in two and sank in ten minutes. The 3,748 GRTGreekcargo shipPapalemos rescued all 67 of her crew.[14]
^"List of vessels fitted with refrigerating appliances". Lloyd's Register(PDF). Vol. I. London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
^Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (1921). Mercantile Navy List. Board of Trade. p. 430. Retrieved 26 January 2021 – via Crew List Index Project.
Waters, Sydney D (1939). Clipper Ship to Motor Liner; the story of the New Zealand Shipping Company 1873–1939. London: The New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd.
