The Blue Prince

The following notes are edited from partial research resources. Comments, additions and corrections would be appreciated.

During the Second World War, the U.S. Army built a number of Coastal Freighters. (F, FS, FP -- FB referred to ferry boats). Higgins Industries, of New Orleans LA, built contract numbers 135 to 234, delivered between March 1944 and March 1945.

Rather surprisingly, Jane's Fighting Ships (1944-45), nor the 1950-51 edition, appear to mention these vessels as either fleet auxiliaries or Coast Guard vessels.

Contract number FS 138 (or FS-138) became the Zebrinney perhaps as early 1946 or 1947, belonging to Blue Water Shipping Co., St John's, Nfld.

From: Lloyd's Register, 1948-49, Vol. II, M-Z shipowners :

Name: Zebrinney; Rig: Twin Sc(rew)
Official Number : 178508 ; Oil engine ; 1 deck ; cruiser stern
Tonnage : Gross: 512 ; Under deck: 406 ; Net: 245
Built : When : 1944; By whom : Higgins, Inc ; where New Orleans, La.
Owners : Blue Water Shipping Co. Ltd., St John's, Nfld.
Regist'd dimensions : Length : 159.8 ; Breadth : 32.0 ; Depth : 14.6
Port of Registry : St. John's NFL ; Flag : British
Engines : Oil engines ; 24 cy. 6 ¾ - 8 ¾ ; The Buda Co. Harvey, Ill.

Contract number FS 138 (or FS-138) later became the Blue Prince, belonging to Blue Peter Steamships Ltd., St John's, Nfld.

From: Lloyd's Register, 1957-58, Vol. I :

Name: Blue Prince ex-Zebrinney-52; Call sign : VOQS
Official Number : 178508 ; Oil engine ; 1 deck ; cruiser stern
Tonnage : Gross: 697 ; Net: 410 ; Summer Deadwt. : 450
Built : TM [twin motor?] ; When : 1944; By whom : Higgins Industries, Inc ; where N. Os [New Orleans, La.]
Owners : Blue Peter Steamships Ltd. ; Job Bros. and Co. Ltd., St. John's Nfl ; British
Regist'd dimensions : Length : 169' 10" ; Breadth : 32' 7" ; Depth : 11' 0" ; 1 sk len 48
Engines : 4 Oil engines each 6 Cy ; 170 x 220 mm geared to 2 sc. shafts ; The Buda Co. Harvey

From: List of shipping, 1958, Canada, Department of Transportation :

Official Number : 178508 ;
Name: Blue Prince ex-Zebrinney ; equipped with radio
Port of Registry : St. John's, Nfld,
Built : 1944 New Orleans, Louisiana USA / 1948 Lunenburg, N.S.
Dimensions : Length 163.3 ; Breadth 32.6 ; Depth 14.9 ;
Tonnage : Gross: 697 ; Registered: 410 ;
Horsepower : 680 ;
Owner or Managing Owner : Blue Peter Steamships Ltd., St. John's Nfld ;

Note: It is probable that the "1948 Lunenburg" build record included adding bulwarks, as in the image above, compared with an open well deck midships as originally built.

Ownership and Management

FS-138 was certainly built for, and owned by, the US Army in the name of the War Shipping Administration (WSA), itself a spin-off or renaming of the 1936 U.S. Maritime Commission. Sold to civilian interests soon after the end of the Second World War, corporate ownership and management appears to have been transferred to British (Canadian) interests in Newfoundland, with potentially some American involvement particularly in the late 1940s. The Canadian Ministry of Transport, Lloyd's registers, Green's Great Lakes Directory, Penton's Vessels of the Great Lakes (the "Red Book") and other press reports use variously Blue Water Shipping Co. Ltd., St John's, Nfld. (A.H. Monroe, Pres.); Job Bros. and Co. Ltd., St. John's Nfld.; Blue Peter Steamships Ltd., or Co., St. John's Nfld; Fishery Products Inc. of Cleveland Ohio, (J.P. Doucette, Gen. Mgr.); Fishery Products Ltd of St. John's Nfld; possibly other variations. More research is required.

The Blue Prince no longer appears in the Canadian Registry from 1963 onwards. Disposition unknown.

Various, press reports, etc

From the New York Times, December 26, 1947, Page 31 :

Two small freighters, both former Army cargo vessels, made their appearance in New York harbor early this month, reconverted to peace-time use and now employed in the transportation of frozen fish between New York and Newfoundland. The vessels, the Zebrinney and the Zebrula, are owned by the Fishery Products, Ltd., of St. John's, Newfoundland, and during the winter months will be calling regularly at three-week intervals at Jersey City with a cargo of approximately 500,000 pounds of frozen fish.

The craft, acquired by their present owners from the War Shipping Administration last spring, were fitted out with refrigeration machinery designed to keep their perishable cargo at temperatures ranging from five above to five below zero. During the summer months, the vessels operate from Newfoundland to Great Lakes ports and their cargoes are distributed throughout the United States by the owners' American subsidiary, the Fishery Products, Inc., of Cleveland. Now that Great Lakes navigation is blocked by ice, Jersey City has been selected as the winter terminal. From across the Hudson the incoming cargoes of frozen fish are distributed throughout the United States.

The owners maintain a fleet of draggers in northern waters and operate five freezers to store the catch until it can be shipped on the two little freighters. During the summer the vessels carry commercial cargo from Toronto to Newfoundland on their return trips. This new service has been in operation since the spring and is said to be the only public carrier equipped to handle refrigerated cargo on the Great Lakes. The ships carry a crew of thirteen each and now fly the British flag.

From The Scanner : Monthly News Bulletin of the Toronto Marine Historical Society, v. 35, no. 1 (October 2002), p. 9:

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Tuesday, May 20, 1952, reports roughly as follows: Two ships reported missing off eastern Canada are safe in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland ports, while efforts are being made to refloat a third off Malagash in Cumberland County (N.S.)... the Newfoundland freighter BLUE PRINCE, owned by the Blue Peter Steamship Company, of St. John's, ran aground early Sunday. In a dense fog, bound from Charlottetown, P.E.I., to the French island of St. Pierre, the 420-ton ship plowed onto a rocky reef. The government icebreaker SAUREL and the naval tug GLENLIVET II failed in an early attempt to haul the freighter into deep water, and Foundation Maritime was called to the scene.

Built as (a) FS-138 and later (b) ZEBRINNEY (under which name she was a frequent visitor to the Great Lakes), BLUE PRINCE was refloated at high tide on the 21st by ROCKY RIVER, after which the PRINCE proceeded to Pictou, Nova Scotia, shipyards for hull inspection. Included in BLUE PRINCE's cargo were hundreds of pigs, cows and calves, all of which had to be unloaded before the vessel could be placed on drydock. The menagerie was herded into the local fairgrounds while repairs to BLUE PRINCE were completed.

This page is subject to further research.

Bibliography

David H. Grover, U. S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II, Naval Institute Press, 1987. ISBN 0870217666.
Robert E. Johnson, Guardians of the Sea - a History of the U. S. Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present, Naval Institute Press, 1987. ISBN 9780870217203
Malcolm F. Willoughby, U.S. Coast Guard in World War II, Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0870217747

These pages are part of ongoing resaerch; new material and data will be added when available.