The Greek shipowner Antonis (or Anthony) D. Manthos had in 1949 established a business in New York called Admanthos Ship Operating Co. Inc. to operate two newly acquired EC-2 type “Liberty” ships named Tainaron and Aktion. Manthos, whose operations were described by a former seafarer as “small but very good and honest”, had married Thetis Hadjilias, a daughter of the well established shipowner Elias Emmanuel Hadjilias whose other daughter Calliope had married the illustrious Manolis Kulukundis.

Two years earlier, in 1947, the Liberty Ship E.A. Peden had been jointly purchased with Emmanuel P. and Georgios P. Hadjilias. Given the name Sounion, she was sold in 1949 and replaced by the former Frontenac Park, given the name Akron, which was managed from London by Hadjilias and, later, by Mavroleon until sold to Japanese breakers in 1963. The former Fort Perrot, given the name Dorion, was similarly purchased in 1952. She was renamed Apollonia in 1959 but was soon sold to clients of Goulandris before also being scrapped in 1963 as Antonios S.

AKRON at Vancouver on 14th May 1954. (Walter E. Frost – City of Vancouver Archives)

DORION at Vancouver on 7th January 1954. (Walter E. Frost – City of Vancouver Archives)

The Manthos family then proceeded to purchase on their own account additional World War II built ships, of which several were modified to increase their cargo capacity at minimum cost. Funnel colours were normally yellow with diagonal blue stripes on a white band although on some later ships the stripes were painted horizontally.

A full list of the modified ships can be seen in the following table:

Manthos owned Liberty Ships

Although the first Aktion, the former Minor C.Keith, was sold in 1951, another Liberty ship, Thomas Cresap, was purchased in the same year and given the name Sunion. She was lengthened in 1959, then renamed Zermatt in 1960 (Greek flag) and Epiros in 1962. Meanwhile, on switching from the U.S.A. to other flags, the Tainaron, built in 1943 as Howard A.Kelly, was renamed Aktion in 1954, Olympos in 1960 (Greek flag, lengthened in 1962) and Olympian in 1966. The former Ezra Meech, a Liberty purchased in 1956 and renamed Rion, was sold in 1958 and replaced in the fleet by a T2 tanker which was lengthened, converted for dry cargo in 1959 and renamed Drepanon in 1961.

AKTION (ex TAINARON) in the Great Lakes in 1959, before lengthening in 1962 when named OLYMPOS. (Malcolm Cranfield collection)

The lengthened OLYMPOS (ex AKTION ex TAINARON) in the Delaware River on 19 September 1965. (late Francis Palmer – Dave Boone collection)

DREPANON in the Delaware River. (Arthur P. Cooley)

Lengthened Liberty Ships – background

Between 1954 and 1962 almost fifty Liberty ships were “stretched” by adding a cargo hold forward of the bridge. Initially Daniel K. Ludwig had lengthened five of these ships at his leased shipyard at Kure. These had included the Percy Jordan, a former Liberty tanker nominally owned by his Seatankers Inc. of Monrovia, which he switched to the British flag in 1960 before being sold in 1965. Other New York based Greek owners who had lengthened their EC-2s had included the Goulandris owned Orion Shipping & Trading of New York (example: Andros Fairplay), Theodoracopoulos (National Shipping) and John Theophilos Vatis (example: Armar, the former Sammont).

PERCY JORDON off South Wales in April 1960, when under the British flag. (Des Harris)

ANDROS FAIRPLAY at Wilmington, Cal. (Frank A.Gerhardt collection)

NATIONAL FORTUNE in Bidston Dock, Birkenhead, on 11th April 1956. (George Wilson)

ARMAR at Vancouver on 27th July 1966. (Walter E.Frost – City of Vancouver Archives)

North Atlantic Shipping Agency Limited

North Atlantic Shipping Agency Limited was created by the Manthos family in January 1967 to directly manage their growing London based fleet. This had included the Marathon, a former T2 tanker purchased in 1960 which had been converted to dry cargo in 1962, at that point renamed Marathonian.

MARATHONIAN sailing from Durban. (Trevor Jones)

A tanker named Stephanie, purchased in 1965, had soon been resold and replaced by a dry cargo ship, the former Cape Wrath of Lyle, built in 1960, which was acquired with her sister ship Cape Sable, renamed Elisabeth. These two ships remained in the Manthos fleet until 1974. Another tanker, given the name Lindos, was purchased in 1967 but sold in 1971 to be replaced by the 1960 built Epiros, sold in 1982 while the 1962 built bulk carrier Sounion, the former Ross Mount, also acquired in 1971, was sold in 1975. Among the family’s final London managed ships were the 1965 bulk carrier Drepanon, the former Swiss owned Romandie purchased in 1974 but sold in 1977, and the 1963 built tanker Rion, the former Polycastle, purchased in 1980 and renamed Saga in 1982 but sold in 1983.

The tanker STEPHANIE (ex BRAHEHUS) in the St. Lawrence River in September 1966. (Norman Pester)

The tanker EPIROS’60. (www.greekshippingmiracle.org)

STEPHANIE (ex CAPE WRATH) arriving at Cape Town. (Ian Shiffman)

RION’63 in June 1981. (FotoFlite)

Meanwhile two identical ore carriers, Cerro Altamira and Cerro Bolivar, were purchased in 1969 with a continuing charter to U.S. Steel/Navios Corporation until 1972. While the first of these, renamed Aktion, was then sold, the second, renamed Tainaron, was in 1975 converted for use as a drilling ship and was the only ship in the London managed Manthos fleet from 1983 until sold in 1987 to become Viking Driller.

TAINARON discharging iron ore in Bidston Dock, Birkenhead on 10th January 1971. (Paul Boot)

1973 surgeries

In 1973 the Manthos family had purchased four ships for the purpose of creating two larger ships by surgery, selling the left over parts for scrap. These ships were as follows:

1. The 1944 built bulk carrier Garanda which as Aspronisos had been converted in 1962 from a T2 tanker by her then owner Northern Ships Agency Inc., New York, which had sold her in 1966 to Trinity Shipping Inc. As their Lake Placid she had in October 1969 suffered an engine room explosion at Antwerp and in July 1970 was towed to Rotterdam for repairs. There she was purchased by Wall Street Marine Inc., a company created in 1966 following the collapse of E.C.Stamatiou’s Marine Managers Inc. Following repairs she traded as Garanda until arriving at Amsterdam from Albany (NY) at the end of 1971. She then remained idle at Amsterdam until purchased by Manthos and sent in tow to Santander, where she arrived on 8th June 1973, for her forepart to be joined to the after part of the 1959 built tanker Fatum.

LAKE PLACID passing Hoek van Holland, under tow for Rotterdam, on 8th July 1970.

2. Fatum, which had been built as Monsoon, immediately on being purchased by Manthos, was renamed Akron and sent to Santander, arriving on 23rd May 1973. Following surgery she sailed by the end of 1973 as a dry cargo ship, serving Manthos until sold to Pakistan breakers in 1982. It is understood that her new cargo handling gear, i.e. steam winches and derricks, was obtained from yet another ship. Her bridge and deck officers’ accommodation was positioned in the centre of the ship.

FATUM departing from Boston in February 1971. (William Schell)

3. The 1951 built tanker Chevron Brussels, which had been modified and lengthened in 1966, was laid up in Singapore Roads on 19 May 1972. On purchase by Manthos she was renamed Brussels and sent to Hong Kong, arriving on 10 April 1973, where her forward and cargo sections were joined to the after section of the 1955 built tanker Thordis.

CALTEX BRUSSELS (as lengthened) at Wellington on 14th November 1966.

4. Thordis had been laid up at Grimstad on 4 October 1971. Initially sold to Lorentzens of Oslo, she was renamed Thomas but remained idle until purchased by Manthos, arriving at Hong Kong on 28 May 1973. Following surgery she sailed by October 1973 as Kassos, still as a tanker, but by May 1974 was renamed Souli.

THORDIS passing Hoek Van Holland, inbound for Rotterdam, on 10th July 1970.

Summary

AKRON sailing from Cape Town in March 1975. (Ian Shiffman)

SOULI (FotoFlite)

United States based tanker operations

A new U.S. built and flagged tanker named Thetis was delivered to Admanthos management in 1959 and a further company, named Admanthos Shipping Agency Inc., was created in New York in 1961. Thetis was sold in 1975 but the tanker fleet began to grow in the 1980s with acquisitions such as the 1974 built Esso Hong Kong, traded as Mercator between 1983 and 1988, and concluding with a series of four, named Nomad, Galahad, Sinbad and Trinidad, acquired between 1988 and 1991 and all serving Manthos for ten years.

MERCATOR in June 1986. (FotoFlite)