Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Bow view of S.S. PRINCE RUPERT CITY at Penarth Head, c.1936.

The Reardon Smith Line was without doubt Cardiff's best-known shipping firm and was far and away the port's largest shipping enterprise during the inter-war years. Founded in 1905 by Captain William Reardon Smith, almost all the company's ships bore names with the 'City' suffix. The Prince Rupert City was a 4,749 gross ton steamer built at West Hartlepool in 1929; she is seen here arriving at Cardiff, c. 1937. On 2 June 1941 she was bombed and sunk by German aircraft north-east of Cape Wrath, with the loss of four crew members.

Source: Shipping at Cardiff: Photographs from the Hansen Collection 1920-1975 by David Jenkins, 1993.

S.S. PRINCE RUPERT CITY (4749 gt). Built 1929 by William Gray, West Hartlepool. She was the sixth of eleven vessels built by the company for William Reardon Smith & Sons Ltd of Cardiff. On 3 March 1941 she was sunk by enemy aircraft off the north coast of Scotland with the loss of four lives.