The SS Samoland was built between the 10th of April and May 20 1944 by the J.A. Jones shipbuilding company in Georgia. Like with most ships of a similar name, Uncle Sam used it as an extent of friendship towards the ally across the Atlantic and put her under the services of E. R. Management Corp. of Liverpool. Upon the expiration of her lease in the spring of 1947, she was bought by Dover Navigation Co. to act as a merchant cargo until her scrapping in 1968.
Liberty class ships with an EC2-S-C1 type hull were never intended to last the war and continue service after more than a couple of years, let alone decades after. Consequently, not a lot of thought went into their construction and cheap but fast building solutions were favored. Uncovered asbestos fiber was to be found throughout the SS Samoland, either covering pipes, boilers, engine parts, and radio equipment. The vicissitudes of war were such that most of its crew wasn’t much preoccupied about the toxic mineral that kept vital parts of their ship safe from extreme temperatures and weather action.
760-621-6147