Shipbucket

GULF SHIPPER

This represents her appearance when I sailed on her in 1980.

GULF SHIPPER was one of five cargo ships of Maritime Administration C3-S-37d type built for Gulf & South America Steamship Company in 1964. The five ships, which carried twelve paying passengers in addition to break-bulk cargo, were named Gulf Merchant, Gulf Shipper, Gulf Trader, Gulf Banker and Gulf Farmer. They operated between the U.S. Gulf Coast and the West Coast of South America, and were known as the "Andes-Class". Begun in 1947 as a joint venture of Grace Lines and Lykes Lines, GSA's operation, along with it's five Andes-class ships, was completely taken over by Lykes in 1971.

All five of the Andes-class ships eventually ended up in MARAD's reserve fleet. Although Gulf Shipper was scrapped in 2009, I believe at least three of these ships may still exist in the Reserve Fleet.

It was unusual that all five of the Andes-class ships always retained their original names. They were not renamed after being taken over by Lykes, nor later, after they were turned over to MARAD and assigned to the Reserve Fleet.

LOA: 492 feet
Beam: 69 feet
Displacement: 11,000 tons
Steam Turbine, 1 shaft (note - there were two funnels, side-by-side)
Speed: 18 knots

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