Istrar
Ship Number
301
Vessel Type
Cargo Ship
Built
Belfast
Slip Number
4
Launch Date
14 March 1896
Delivered
4 June 1896
Owner
Edward Bates & Son
Weight
4582 grt
BP Length
400 feet
Breadth
46 feet
No. of Screws
Single
Speed (approx)
Propulsion
Triple expansion constructed in Belfast
Official No.
105394
Registered
Liverpool
Fate
Torpedoed
Istrar

[Photograph belongs to Stuart Smith. Photographer unknown.]
Completed for the Steam Ship Co. of Edward Bates & Son, Liverpool.
In October 1914 she and her sister Imani were chartered to Brocklebank Line to help maintain their service to India which was reduced by the Government direction of their ships onto the Atlantic trade. She was requisitioned by the Government in 1916 but released back to the company to replace the loss of SS Springwell.
She did not have a long wartime service with Brocklebank, as on 2 December 1916 she was on voyage Liverpool to Calcutta and was about 120 miles out of Alexandria when she was hit by a torpedo in No5 hold. The U-boat U-39  then surfaced and commenced to shell the ship until she sank with the loss of one crewman. The Chief Engineer, Mr. D. Boughton, was taken aboard the U-boat as prisoner. The Master was spared that indignity as it was reported that he was a very rotund figure and the U-boat commander said that he would not be able to go down the conning hatch.