The SS Samfoyle was built between the 8th of February and the 23rd of March 1944 by the J.A. Jones Construction Company from Brunswick, Georgia. She was sponsored by Mrs. Harry Debutts and delivered to the British Ministry of War Transportation upon launch. The Cunard-White Star Line will be the Samfoyle sole operator. The British will officially buy the ship from Uncle Sam on the 18th of April 1947, upon which date she takes the name of Vardulia, with the radio call sign of MYTN. Her relatively long career as a Liberty cargo of the EC2-S-C1 type ends in 1968, when she is unceremoniously scrapped off the shores of her adoptive country.
Asbestos was used extensively in her construction, for lining the pipes that went throughout the ship and heat-shielding boilers, engine parts, steam valves, and radio equipment. In fact, the dangerous mineral was so omnipresent that we’d be surprised if the vital tea-making equipment that was probably found in all areas of the ship wasn’t itself lined with it.
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