A Santorini Shipping Dynasty

Sigalas was the name of a maritime family from Oil in the north of Santorini, one of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece, with shipping and trading activities which can be traced back to the late 18th century, operating a number of sailing ships. The name Sigalas is today linked with a vineyard and hotel on the island.

Capt. Georgios Sigalas and Mme. Kadio G. Sigalas Capt. Georgios Alexandros Sigalas (1867-1947) and his wife Kadio had continued with sailing ships, each of which he had commanded, but at the start of the 20th century began to invest in coastal passenger ships serving the Cyclades from Piraeus.

From 1922, when freight rates and ship values were depressed, with the support of the Nomikos and Alafouzos families, also of Santorini, they began to invest in steamships of First World War vintage, moving their office to Piraeus in order to better manage and develop their shipping enterprises. Capt. Sigalas continued to sail as master on his ships and it is understood that he was given the affectionate nickname of “Karvounaki” – “a little piece of coal” – because he had started business transporting coal from Santorini to Russia. After an initial joint venture with Alafouzos which lasted until 1929, the business of George Sigalas & Sons was established.

Their office was managed by the dynamic personality of his wife Mme. “Kera” Kadio G. Sigalas (1885-1967), the daughter of Captain Georgios Nomikos and a cousin of Loucas Nomikos, with their sons Alexandros (1900-1978), who also sailed as master, and Nikolas (1904-66). Mme. Kadio’s granddaughter, Mrs. Kadio Kolymvas, a writer of fine books about Santorini, had divulged that Mme. Kadio had given birth to a total of fourteen children although only seven had survived. another family tragedy was that a newly married daughter was widowed with the suicide in 1929 of Captain Spyros Alafouzos, master of the joint family owned Prorefs which had been built on Tyneside in 1889 as Northwood for W. France & Co. and acquired in 1924.

With the 1903 built Christos Sigalas being wrecked in the north Atlantic during a voyage from Baltimore to Sète in December 1930, the year of purchase, Prorefs was confiscated by the bank while the 1873 built Avydos remained in their fleet until wrecked in 1931. The £7,000 insurance proceeds from the wreck of Avydos and the beginnings of economic recovery in 1935 led to the purchase in the Ais Giorgis, the 1911 built Kadio, the 1902 built Teti and 1904 built Popi S.

The Irvine built Tassia, acquired in 1938 from W. H. Cockerline & Co. of Hull who had traded her as Majestic, was registered in the name of g. Sigalas Sons (Alexander & Nomikos Sigalas). In 1946, after four War years mysteriously used by the United States government as Cockerel under the Panama flag, she was transferred without change of name to Mme. Kadio Sigalas. The ship was beached on Carallones Rocks, Vigo Bay, on 20th May 1951 after springing a leak during a voyage from Casablanca to Brunsbüttel with a cargo of phosphate.

Of the five ships owned by Capt. Georgics and Mme. Kadio Sigalas at the outbreak of the Second World War three were lost. Teti was attacked by Italian aircraft near Gavdos on 2nd April 1941 but escaped only to be sunk during the 23rd April 1941 bombing of Piraeus. She was repaired by the German forces but was wrecked on 16th October 1942 at Pilion. Popi S. was sunk during a bombing at Milos on 21st April 1941, her wreck being scrapped in situ during 1948, and Kadio was lost at Suez on 23rd October 1941 when a fire started in her cargo of gasoline barrels. In addition Fragiscos Georgiou Sigalas, their son, had in 1940 purchased a 1903 built ship which he named Fragiscos but she was bombed in Greek waters in April 1941.

When the War ended their only surviving ships were the Cockerel and the 1908 built Ais Giorgis, a name which the Sigalas family proceeded to adopt for several more ships. This first Ais Giorgis, built at Middlesbrough by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. for Rea Shipping of Liverpool as Queensgarth, which in 1920 became Corfell of Cory Colliers, finally arrived at Savona on 13th October 1952 for breaking.

Purchased in 1946, nominally by Cadio Cia. Nav. S.A., were two 1943 Canadian built former patrol vessels which in 1946 were converted for use as passenger ships, initially trading under the Panama flag between Marseilles, Genoa, Piraeus, Limassol, Beirut, Haifa and Alexandria.

The Owen Sound, purchased in January 1946 and renamed Cadio (above), which after 1947 had operated on Greek domestic services under the banner of Atmoploia G.Sigalas & Sons, was sold in 1950 to Teti g. Mamai, daughter of Kadio Sigalas. Laid up at Perama in 1953 following the government’s refusal to allow her sale to foreign interests, she was broken up at Piraeus in August 1964.

The second vessel was the Lossie, purchased in November 1946 and renamed Teti (above), which raised the Greek flag in May 1949 but was sold in October 1954 to Typaldos Brothers for further conversion.

Alexandros Sigalas, who was by then given the task of managing the family’s fleet, had travelled to New York in 1947 to buy one of the Liberty ships offered by the United States government against a Greek State guarantee. it seems that this ship (above), built at Portland, Oregon, in 1943 as John F. Myers and renamed Santorini, was initially registered in the joint names of Sigalas and Kulukundis but in 1949 became solely owned by the Sigalas family in the name of Mme. Kadio g. Sigalas. in 1965 the ship was sold within Greece for further worldwide trading and finally arrived at Bilbao on 25th June 1969 as Captamihalis for breaking.

Purchased in 1949 was the 1925 Flensburg built Pluto, owned pre-War by Dampfschiffahrts Gesellschaft “Neptun” of Bremen but used by the Kriegsmarine from 1944. This ship, awarded to Greece by the British in 1947, was initially named Evros but then renamed Rita (above) in 1953 and used from 1967 as a static “depot ship” until broken up at Perama in 1969.

Under the name George Sigalas & Sons, Alexandros Sigalas acquired three more ships during 1957/58. These were named Kadio S., Ais Giorgis, seen above as Catharina Wiards, and Capetan Manolis. The first two ships, built in 1917 as War Fox and in 1920 as Zaanstroom, respectively, were however scrapped in 1960 while Capetan Manolis, built by J. L.Thompson in 1928 as Bothnia for America-Levant Line, from 1931 part of Cunard, ran aground near Casablanca on Christmas eve in 1960 and was broken up at Valencia in 1961.

Sigalas and Platis Brothers

Mme. Kadio Sigalas’s sister, Margarita, had two sons named georgics and Evangelos Platis who also sailed as masters. in 1961 they joined Alexandros to form a joint venture named a. Sigalas and Platis Brothers. always paying for the ships from their own resources without recourse to loans and employing crews from Santorini, they had used the shipbroker Nitsis Patrikios who had emigrated to Greece from Braila, Romania.

The first ships to be operated by a. Sigalas & Platis Bros. were the 1924 built Capetan Manolis, above as Headlam’s Fylingdale, purchased in 1961, which was sadly wrecked in March 1962, followed by the 1930 built Margariti, built as Wearwood for Constantine, which sank in 1967.

Traded for three years from 1964 was the Taxiarchis, built at Copenhagen in 1931, and for almost ten years from 1963 the Ais Giorgis, built at Gothenburg in 1931 as Dalhem. Unfortunately her replacement, the 1951 built former Kronoland, renamed Ais Giorgis, suffered a disastrous fire at Santos on 8th January 1974 while discharging a cargo of sodium nitrate.

In 1978, following the death of Alexandros, the firm of a. Sigalas and Platis Brothers was dissolved and their last ships were sold. These final ships, all given Santorini or Thera linked names, had included:-

The 1935 built Theraios (“son of Thera”), acquired in 1964 but chartered back to Rederi a/B Timex as Browind until 1967. She was sold to breakers at Eleusis in October 1978.

Peramataris (above), built in 1941 as Empire Rennie and purchased in 1968 from Hansa who had operated her since 1956 as Rheinfels. She was sold to breakers at Piraeus in February 1979.

Panomeritis (above), built in 1949 as Topeka for Wilh. Wilhelmsen which had operated from 1967 as the Greek flagged Doros. Purchased by Sigalas & Platis in 1972, she was sold to breakers at Split in December 1979.

Thera (above), built in 1960 as Socrates for NV Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Mij and acquired in 1977. at the end of a time charter to SUMA Line (Société Union Maritime et d’Acconage de Côte d’Ivoire) for trading between North Europe and West Africa, Thera arrived at Kaohsiung on 4th January 1980 for breaking.

The 1955 Emden built Ais Giorgis. Delivered to D/S a/S ibis & Albert Harloffs Rederi a/S of Bergen to operate as Karen reed, as which during the 1960s she had been long term chartered to Saguenay Terminals. She had been sold in 1968 to the Italian Sider Line to trade until 1973 as Primrose (above), and then as Splendor. Purchased by Sigalas & Platis in 1976, she was given the name Aghios Nectarios until renamed Ais Giorgis in 1980. The ship was then transferred to the ownership of georgics a. Sigalas who had created Lucinda Shipping as her nominal owning company. Managed by Seaprince Shipping inc., she was laid up at Stylis in February 1982 and broken up at Laurium in 1983. georgics a. Sigalas, born to Alexandros in 1950, entered the family business in the 1970s and in 1984 purchased the 1971 built oriental Pearl which however foundered 3.5nm off Prongs reef Lighthouse, Bombay, on 10th August 1984 during her return voyage to the Far East from Bandar Abbas with a cargo of copper concentrate.

In 1986, the 32,500 dwt bulk carrier Hakuko Maru, renamed Chiliarmenousa (above), was purchased from Japan but, exploiting the rising market, was resold in 1988.

He then proceeded to trade under the name Machado Enterprises inc., in 1990 purchasing the 1979 Brazilian built ‘tweendecker Aghios Porfirios (previous page) until, it seems after being refinanced in 1994, renamed Ais Giorgis 1 (below). This ship was sold in 1996.

It is reported that, from 1998, georgics a. Sigalas, while retaining a share in several dry cargo ships, was employed as a consultant by CS and associates S.A., a naval architecture and marine consultancy company founded in March 1994 by Chryson Sariyannidis.

George Th. Sigalas

Arguably more successful was George Theodorou Sigalas, believed to be a cousin of Capt. georgics Alexandros Sigalas, who had started business in his own name in 1936. it is understood that he may have initially worked with brothers (i.e. Fragiscos Th. Sigalas and Theodorou Sigalas) and that they had entered a joint venture with the Andronicos family.

The firm of Sigalas Bros. and N. Andronicos is linked to three ships operated between 1934 and 1939 which were given the names Myconos and Evdoxia, all built around 1900, an even older ship named Mykonos having been briefly operated by Theodorou Sigalas for about one year until scrapped in 1934.

The name Evdoxia (above as Dionyssios) was also given to a 1903 built ship, jointly owned by Nicolaos M. Andronicos together with John Stephanopoulos and Ph. Phillipacopoulos from 1938 until torpedoed in 1940 during a voyage from Sunderland to Greece with a cargo of coal.

One name adopted for their ships was Agia Varvara (above), the first being owned from 1937 by F. Th. Sigalas & partners and managed from 1955 by George Th. Sigalas. as described below, this ship had a particularly interesting history.

Agia Varvara had been built in 1904 by Anderson, Rodger & Co., Port Glasgow, as Craigronald for Craig Line S.S. Co. Ltd. of Leith and powered by a 3-cyl. III-exp. steam engine giving a service speed of 10 knots.

in 1911 she was purchased by Scarisbrick S.S. Co. Ltd. of Cardiff and renamed Glyndwr. as the ship had no wireless, and so unaware of the outbreak of hostilities, Glyndwr entered the German Baltic port of Danzig on 4th August 1914 and was immediately seized. Modified as a seaplane carrier, on 16th December 1914 she was commissioned into the German imperial Navy as their first seaplane carrier with two rumpler 4B floatplanes on board. reportedly not renamed but known as SMS (Seiner Majestät Schiff – His Majesty’s Ship) Glyndwr, she was soon modified to carry four Friedrichshafen FF.33 floatplanes.

Mainly based at Memel (Klaipeda), Glyndwr served the German imperial navy until the end of May 1915, her aircraft conducting reconnaissance flights, searching for British and Russian submarines along the coast of Courland (Kurzeme in Latvian), the seaplanes occasionally attacking Russian warships. on 4th June 1915, while taking part in a minelaying operation off the Irben Strait, Glyndwr hit a Russian mine west of Windau (Ventspils) and sustained severe damage. returning to Danzig for repairs, she resumed service on 16th December 1915 but was forced to return for further repairs which took until 9th April 1916 to complete. The ship then served off Öresund but, due to continuing technical problems, was decommissioned in September 1916.

Surrendered back to great Britain on 21st January 1919 and then overhauled for commercial trading, she was in 1920 awarded to Quayside Shipping, Newcastle, and renamed Aakenside but soon sold to Pantelis M. Los of Chios to trade as Matheos until purchased by F. Sigalas & Co. in 1937 to become Agia Varvara. on 2nd August 1957 she grounded near Cape Takil, Kerch Strait while on a loaded voyage from Zhdanov (Mariupol) to Alexandria with a cargo of coal. She was refloated but laid up at Kynosoura and broken up locally during July 1959.

Meanwhile a new shipowning company named Compania Maritima Santa Barbara S.A. had been created, its first ship being a “new” Mykonos, built at Rotterdam in 1916 as Jobshaven and acquired in 1951, but broken up at Perama in March 1965. Subsequent purchases were as follows, all given Mykonos linked names and placed under the Costa Rica flag and registered at Puerto Limon:-

1954: Ftelia, built by Charles Hill at Bristol as Annik for French owners but Norwegian owned from 1933. She was wrecked on 22nd August 1955 on voyage from Poti to Boulogne with a cargo of manganese ore.

1956: Tourliani, built by Smith’s Dock, Middlesbrough, in 1927 as rondo for the Pelton S.S. Co. Ltd. of Newcastle. reflagged to Lebanon in 1960, she was wrecked near Landskrona on 12th April 1963 during a loaded voyage from Vlora to Gdynia with drummed asphalt. The wreck was refloated and towed to Hamburg for breaking in June 1963.

A replacement for the ship (above), given the same name, was soon purchased, being the 1943 Canadian built Dartmouth Park which had been trading since 1952 for Soc. Nationale d’Affrètements as S.N.a.6. Suffering a fire on 5th August 1966 in the Arabian Gulf, she was declared a “constructive total loss” and sold to Middle East owners, continuing to trade as Tourliani until broken up at Gadani Beach in May 1974.

In 1967 a “new” Agia Varvara, being the 1943 built Lebanese flagged Loris (above), which had been commissioned at Troon as Empire Jessica and was traded under the Panama flag until April 1974 when broken up at Izmir.

It was in 1959 that George Th. Sigalas and Frangiscos Th. Sigalas had entered a joint venture with Th. Stafilopatis, a. Antoniadis and M. Apesakis, acquiring the Delos, built by S. P. Austin at Sunderland in 1929 as Westburn (above) for James Westoll’s Westwick S.S. Co. Ltd. registered in Beirut, Lebanon, the Delos was broken up at Perama at the end of 1970.

Two further vessels were acquired in 1963, the 1927 Lübeck built Trias (ex Master Komninos K.) which had operated until 1956 as Lica Maersk and was at some point modernised, being renamed Paraportiani (above) under the Panama flag, and the better known vessel Sas (top of next column), built by Short Brothers at Sunderland in 1940 as Hindustan for Common Brothers, which had traded as the Swedish Almen from 1954 to 1963.

Paraportiani, named after a Church on Mykonos island, unfortunately grounded and sank off Zanzibar in October 1967 during a loaded voyage from Galatz to Jeddah via the Cape of good Hope loaded with 4,000 tonnes of bagged wheat when heading to Mombasa for provisions and water. a distress call was received by the Mombasa signal station and relayed to the Kenya Navy base at Mtongwe. The Zanzibar cargo vessel Afrika also intercepted the S.O.S. and arrived on the scene but the Captain refused assistance. By the following day both forward holds and the engine room were flooded and the ship had lost all power. Nineteen of the crew took to the lifeboats and rowed ashore where they were arrested and detained by the green guard, a local Pemba militia unit. During the confrontation one of the crew was shot in the leg and taken to the local hospital for treatment. The lack of a suitable salvage tug, the age of the ship and the nature of the cargo made any salvage uneconomical and within two days the ship began listing to port and broke up in the heavy seas. The loss was attributed to inaccurate navigation by the crew, having been unable to fix the ship’s position due to bad weather and the strong northerly current.

The name Sas derives from the initial letters of the members of the joint venture, i.e. S (Sigalas), A (Antoniadis-Apesakis) and S (Stafilopatis). The ship was however transferred in 1972 from the Stafilopatis partnership into the sole ownership of George Th. Sigalas without change of name.

One notable voyage of the Sas was from Novorossiysk for Dubai with a cargo of cement. Sailing on 29th May 1967, she put into Pylos on 1st June to effect engine repairs but, as a result of the ArabI-Israel “six-day war”, the Suez Canal was closed on 5th June. Sas was consequently obliged to proceed to Dubai via the Cape of good Hope, not arriving until 24th August 1967. it reported that Sigalas had unsuccessfully claimed compensation from the charterer for the extra costs incurred. The Sas was laid up at Piraeus for two years from 4th May 1971 but had again voyaged via the Cape of good Hope at the end of 1973, this time from Wismar to Port Sudan, returning from India to Rotterdam and Liverpool in mid 1974 with a cargo of animal feedstuffs.

In 1975, the Sas made two round trips from Piraeus to Lagos, Nigeria, with cargoes of cement, the first of which was relatively swift, taking just five months from sailing on 15th March. anchoring off Lagos on 5th November 1975 with the second cargo, due to port congestion she did not berth until 15th July 1976, sailing on 29th September for Dakar to load a cargo for Sète.

Sailing from Dakar on 11th October, the Sas put into Las Palmas for repairs which took a month and then, suffering a further problem on sailing, put back on 16th November, finally sailing on 29th December. However on 9th January 1977 she was forced to anchor in Rosas Bay on the Costa Brava due to engine trouble and had to be towed to Sète. She finally arrived back at Piraeus on 16th February 1978 and was immediately laid up, later sailing under tow of the tug Hanseat on 5th July 1979 bound for breakers at Santander where she arrived on 23rd July 1979.

Late in 1976, George Th. Sigalas purchased a “new” Agia Varvara (above), painting her funnel yellow with a narrow black top and broad blue band with a large letter “S” in white. operating as Arma for Empros Lines from 1968 until laid up at Piraeus on 9th September 1976, she had been built for Norships ocean Carriers Ltd. in 1958 as Lord Codrington. as Agia Varvara she had traded worldwide until laid up at Lefkas on 12th February 1982 and was only reactivated in mid 1984 for a single voyage to breakers at Gadani Beach, Pakistan, as Felicity.

In 1983 George Th. Sigalas, in partnership with G.N.Tattos, proceeded to start a new company named Trade Fortune inc., acquiring three ships named Argyroula, San George and San John with funnel colours being black with a broad blue band between two narrow white bands.

Purchased while in lay up in 1983 but without initially changing her name, the 22,600 dwt bulk carrier San Vincenzo, built at Muggiano, La Spezia, in 1965 as Portoria for Genoa owners which had traded as Garden Gemini between 1974 and 1979 and then as San Vincenzo (above) by Vincenzo Frulio of Naples. renamed Argyroula in 1984 under the nominal ownership of Rio Pardo Cia. Nav. S.A., she finally sailed from Piraeus on 10th June 1985 for a single loaded voyage to India before being beached at Alang on 12th August 1985 to be broken up.

The R. S. Dalgleish owned, 1968 Sunderland built, Tamworth which had been operated by Sebastiano Tuillier as Lugano between 1978 and 1982, and then briefly as Brembo in 1983, before being purchased by Sigalas and renamed San George but almost immediately laid up at Piraeus on 11th August of that year. reactivated in 1987 as Union, her management was soon transferred to the “New York Greek” Marinakis (M.K.M.) Chartering inc. who operated her as Prinaritis (above) until sold for breaking at the end of 1993. She was beached at Alang on 15th January 1994 to be broken up as Omali.

M.K.M. Chartering inc. were subsequently awarded the management of the 1969 built lumber carrier Ais Nikolas, the 1971 built bulk carrier Constantinos M., the 1973 built Maria M. and, in 1994, a “new” Prinaritis (above), the latter ship presumably again owned by Sigalas & Tattos. She had been built in 1973 as World Argus and was beached at Alang in September 1998 for breaking.

The 1971 Sunderland built SD14 type Rosario, which had been laid up at Piraeus on 11th January 1983 and reactivated in September 1984 as San John (previous column) for worldwide trading by Sigalas. returning to Piraeus in June 1988, she was then sold to Middle East owners and renamed al Raziqu. Further renamed Delta III in 1992 and Challenge in 1993, she capsized and sank on 2nd August 1993 following engine repairs at New Mangalore outer anchorage during a voyage from Kandla to Luanda with a cargo of sugar, soap and rice.

Trade Fortune Inc. – later acquisitions

The 1972 Muroran built bulk carrier Doric Flame, purchased in 1987 and renamed Flame (above). Under the new name of Flare, adopted in 1989, she tragically broke in two off St.-Pierreet- Miquelon on 16th January 1998. The Flare had left Rotterdam on 30th December 1997 bound for Montreal in ballast and encountered severe storms during most of the Atlantic crossing. Due to the vessel’s water ballast being insufficient and incorrectly distributed, she was trimmed down by the stern with a shallow forward draught, not even reaching her loading manual’s condition for a light ballast, let alone heavy ballast situation. This exacerbated the pounding on her forefoot and led to catastrophic hull failure. Sadly only four of her twenty five crew members survived.

San John I (above), a 1970 Mukaishima built bulk carrier, purchased in 1988. She was sold in 1996 and beached at Alang on 7th April 2000 as Petchrada.

The 1973 Shimizu built bulk carrier Ourios (above), built for T. & J. Harrison as Warrior, which had operated from 1988 as Ourania L., was purchased by Sigalas and Tattos in 1991, and traded by them until sold to Chinese breakers, arriving at Xinhui on 23rd January 1999 for breaking.

By late 1996, when M.K.M. Chartering was dissolved, management of their three remaining ships had been transferred to Mega Shipping Line Corporation of Piraeus. This Company remains in business managing three bulk carriers named Konstantinos (built 1995), Sea Prosperity and Sea Master.

In 1994 Trade Fortune inc. invested in a further ship, a 41,000 dwt bulk carrier named Belle (above), built at Osaka in 1975 as Belladona venture which had been operated since 1980 by N. J. Goulandris as Arbela.

Whereas, by early 1996, Norfolk Shiptrading S.A. had been created to manage the fleet, at the time of writing, in mid 2015, Trade Fortune inc. still operates two bulk carriers, the 2002 built Mimosa, above, (ex Lowlands Mimosa) and 2012 built Fast, below, (ex East). a simplistic approach is now clearly being taken when choosing ship names!

Theodorou Sigalas

It would appear that Theodorou (Th.) Sigalas had subsequently moved to New York and in 1954, together with partners P. D. Madouras and J.G. Poulas, created World Seas Shipping inc. to manage, amongst others, the Liberty ship Chryssi S.M. (above) followed by Alexander S.M. and Georgia S.M., all of which were sold in 1965/6, followed in 1967 by the 1951 Lübeck built Chryssi A.S., the former Elsbeth Wiards.

In 1970 Charalambos Sigalas, who had presumably succeeded Th. Sigalas, created Sigalmar Shipping agency, appointing as London based agents Pergamos Shipping, a business started in 1967 by A.K.Antoniou who, notably, in 1969 had purchased the former Lokoja Palm, renamed Nova (above).

Chryssi A.S. (above) was then placed under Pergamos management along with the Marigoula A.S., built at Emden in 1951 as Carl Fisser and the Theanto A.S. (below), built in Japan in 1953 as Polaris for Rethymnis & Kulukundis, purchased in 1968 and 1970 respectively. in seeking to explain the A.S.” naming policy, is it assumed that the link with Antoniou had effectively commenced in 1967.

The ships’ funnel colours were initially black with a white “S” on a blue circle or diamond over a white band but changed in the late 1970’s to a complex “AS” design.

Regular fleet replacement and modest expansion took place over the following two decades with, for example, the 1960 built orient City, renamed Alexander A.S. (above) and the 1968 built bulk carrier Cape York, renamed Freedom A.S. (next page), being briefly owned in 1972/3 and 1979/80 respectively.

Among the many bulk carriers operated by Pergamos were, from 1973 to 1979, the Mareva A.S. (above), built at Fredrikstad in 1963 as Axel B. Lorentzen, and from 1984 to 1988 the Kypandros A.S., built at Rio de Janiero in 1977 for French owners as Voluta. Three were given the name Siganto A.S. concluding, between 1983 and 1988, with the 1973 Govan built former Irish Pine which in 1994, as Christinaki, sadly sank in the North Atlantic with the loss of all her crew while bound from Liverpool to Vera Cruz with a cargo of scrap metal.

The SD14 type Freedom A.S. (below), purchased in 1983, was however registered in the sole ownership of A.K.Antoniou. When the partnership with Sigalas ended in 1989, Pergamos continued as manager, the ship taking the name of Astron from 1991 until she was sold in 1997. It was around 1991 that the ownership of Pergamos had changed to Athanassios Sotiriou, coincidentally again “AS”.

In 1992 a new partnership named Katsikis & Sigalas Ltd. was created, based at 53-55, Akti Miaouli, Piraeus, by Ioannis Katsikis, formerly of N.S. Lemos & Co Ltd and Charalambos “Harry” Sigalas, formerly of Pergamos Shipping with Theodore Sigalas appointed as technical manager.

One of their first ships was the 1977 built Velos (above), scrapped in 2001, her funnel colours being black with two narrow blue bands on a broad white band.

In 2012 Katsikis & Sigalas Ltd had purchased two large new Chinese built bulk carriers given the names Stahla and Panagia Stenion (above), ships which remain in operation at the time of writing.

Sources include: