MISS MARIA in Tilbury
Jack Willis
Jack Willis
Jack Willis
Jack Willis
Jack Willis
The bulkcarrier MISS MARIA in Tilbury dry dock and being manouvered in the docks. She was one of the last vessels to be in the dry dock. The second photo shows her rudder post being removed. The last two photos shows her after dry dock as the numbers indicating her draft are very clean. RWJ ?
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The bulk carrier MISS MARIA (18,672 tons gross, 32,280 deadweight) was built at Sunderland in 1971 for a well-known British company. One of two sisterships, she was completed as CHESHIRE for Bibby Bros & Co, Liverpool, and placed with its subsidiary Britain Steamship Co Ltd. Bibby’s “shires” were regular visitors to Tilbury Docks up to the 1960s on the company’s regular liner service from the East. When this trade declined, the company focused on bulk carriers and tankers and only very occasionally was its remaining smaller cargo vessels seen at Tilbury.
Bibby kept CHESHIRE for 12 years and she was then sold off to a Greek outfit and renamed MARIA. Two years later, her owner, Erotocritos Shipping Co of Cyprus renamed her MISS MARIA. Ship manager was Shipping & Produce Co Ltd, of London, of which the senior director was John Tsakiris …. the T on the funnel was from the initial of his surname. As can be seen from Jack’s photo, the name MARIA and the port of registry Limassol are centred on the stern, with MISS off centre to the left.
MISS MARIA’s visit to Tilbury was in July and August 1990, and she left on 11 August in ballast for Tampa, USA. Sold in 1994, she had four more names in less than two years and a not very successful end to her career. As the Panamanian flagged GOLDEN SUNLIGHT, she was seized for debt at the ancient Chinese port of Ningbo in January 1998, sold a few weeks later to Indian shipbreakers, but was not broken up until 2003.
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