The SS Samingoy was built in just over a month, between the 24th of March and the 3rd of May 1944 by the J.A. Jones Construction Corp. of Brunswick, Georgia. She is sponsored by the appropriately named Miss Parks M. King and will go on to serve the British king, queen, and country for some decades to come. In June 1947 she is bought by the Federal S. N. Company of London and renamed Stafford. She however answered to the less catch “GSVX” to radio operators. Acquired by Nassau Maritime of the Bahamas in 1950, she will continue to sail under the Union Jack for the remainder of the decade, until she is acquired by a Panamanian company and renamed after the liberator of Central America – Hernan Cortez who as we all know, led an alliance of Mezoamerican tribes against the Aztec Empire.
She will be scrapped in 1967 and all the asbestos lining most of her piping, boilers, and engines will release no more toxic dust. Pipe fitters, and engineer’s mates who served on the SS Samingoy would do well to test themselves for any asbestos-related conditions acquired on the job.
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