SS FORDSDALE

Photographer Frederick Garner Wilkinson (1901-1975)

Date2 August 1924

Object number00041502

NameGlass plate negative

MediumEmulsion on glass

Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection

Terms

DescriptionSS FORDSDALE is shown leaving Sydney Harbour for Brisbane on Saturday 2 August 1924. FORDSDALE was operating for the White Star Line and was capable of carrying refrigerated cargo.HistorySS FORDSDALE was a steel twin-screw steamship of 9674 ton vessel involved in general trade on the international market to countries including Britain. Built at Commonwealth Dockyard, Cockatoo Island Sydney in 1924 and owned by Australian Commonwealth Line of Steamers it operated for the White Star Line from 1924 to 1928. The twin screw steamer had a refrigerated cargo space and was registered at Melbourne. In 1933 its management was taken over by Shaw, Savill & Albion Line and during World War II was involved in commercial and war services in the eastern Mediterranean. Its later years saw the vessel change ownership and name a number of times. In 1952 it was sold to the Hong Kong based Audax Shipping Co and renamed OCEAN NEPTUNE. In 1954 it was renamed PACIFIC TRADER and operated for the Pacific Union Lines. In 1956 it was called ATLANTIC CONCORD and operated for Atlantic Bulk Carriers. In 1958 it was named JUI YUNG and managed by the Chinese Maritime Trust. It was eventually broken up in Japan in 1959.SignificanceThis photograph is part of the F G Wilkinson Photograph Collection, comprising more than 700 glass plate negatives of ships in Sydney Harbour between 1919 and 1936. The collection provides an extensive and well-documented coverage of the changing styles of shipping in the port of Sydney before the gradual decline of the coastal trade, and in a period which was probably the peak reached by commercial shipping in Australia. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.