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Anna Salen - 1950
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* Although this information has been compiled in good faith,
please refer to primary sources for confirmation and further research.

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[ Voyage Details | Passenger List ]


The ANNA SALEN was under the command of Captain R. Enander when she left Nordenham, Germany and headed for Western Australia. She was owned by the Salen Rederierns Steamship Line and Stockholm was her port of registry. She had a Net Tonnage of 7819.62, a Gross Tonnage of 11672.28 and carried 1500 European immigrants bound for Australia.

She docked in Fremantle on December 31, 1950 and a first hand account of the voyage also explains why the ship docked in Fremantle instead of Melbourne as originally planned. As a result, Western Australia's population increased by 1500 that day and Victoria missed out.

Photographs taken on board the ship should prove to be quite interesting and more detailed information about the ship itself is given on a separate page. (The brief information given above came from the ship's passenger list which is transcribed below.)

A detailed history of the vessel reveals that the ANNA SALEN was originally built in 1939 as the MORMACLAND by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co in Chester for Moore-McCormack Lines. She was a 11,672 gross ton ship, length 494ft x beam 69.2ft, single screw and a with a service speed of 17 knots. In 1940 she was taken over before completion by the US Navy and refitted as an auxiliary aircraft carrier. In 1941 she was commissioned by the British Royal Navy as HMS ARCHER and was used for convoy protection duties.

She collided with and sank the American SS BRAZOS on Jan 13, 1942, was badly damaged and towed stern first to Charleston. In 1945 she was taken over by the Ministry of War Transport, renamed ARCHER and refitted as a cargo ship. Managed by the Blue Funnel Line and renamed EMPIRE LAGAN, she was returned to the US Maritime Commission in 1946.

Purchased by Sven Salen of Stockholm and registered under the ownership of Rederi A/S Pulp, she was rebuilt as a passenger ship with accommodation for 600 single class passengers. Used as an emigrant ship on various routes, she started a single round voyage between Bremen and Quebec on July 2, 1953.

Sold to Cia Nav.Tasmania, Piraeus in 1955, she was renamed TASMANIA and placed on the Piraeus - Melbourne service of the Hellenic Mediterranean Line. In 1958 she was rebuilt to 7,638 gross tons and in 1961 was sold to China Union Lines, Taipeh and renamed UNION RELIANCE. On Nov 7, 1961 she collided with the Norwegian tanker BERAN in the Houston Ship Channel and was beached on fire. Towed to Galveston on Nov 11, she was sold in Jan 1962 to be scrapped at New Orleans.

SOURCES

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* Although the following passenger list has been sorted alphabetically it has been left in family groups.

ship line

Passenger List
"ANNA SALEN"
[ 1950 ]



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Apr 9, 2001
Rob Nelson.
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