Glasgow And Ships Of The Clyde

News Event

Sunday, April 17, 1966 @ 1000
DATE is correct but ACTUAL TIME is not known - any TIME SHOWN is our estimate for guidance only 		MANCHESTER MERCHANT (1951-1967 General cargo liner of Manchester Liners, Manchester) Own Page

MANCHESTER MERCHANT makes a distress call reporting a fire in a hold
Ship's locationNorth Atlantic about 450 miles from Cape Race, NewfoundlandPort of RegistryManchester (England, UK)
Gross Tonnage7,651

   The U.S. Coast Guard at New York reported that the British freighter MANCHESTER MERCHANT had radioed a distress call asking for assistance in tackling a fire in a hold which is next to a hold containing 600 tons of fuel oil.

   The ship is in the North Atlantic about 450 miles from Cape Race, Newfoundland, and on passage from Jacksonville, Florida with a general cargo to Belfast and Manchester.   She has a crew of 46 and is carrying 12 passengers.

   MANCHESTER MERCHANT was built by Barclay Curle’s Blythswood Shipbuilding Company at Whiteinch, Glasgow in 1951 and is a general cargo ship of 7,651 gross tons and owned by Manchester Liners of Manchester, England.

   The Coast Guard later advised that MANCHESTER MERCHANT had cancelled her earlier distress call and that the fire was now under control.