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M.V. CHILIAN REEFER, glass negative
3/4 Port Stern view of M.V. CANADIAN REEFER, Cardiff Docks c.1936.
The distinctive 'JL' funnel mark on this vessel betray its owners as J. Lauritzen of Copenhagen . The Chilean Reefer, built in 1936, was one of a number of refrigerated motor vessels built for Lauritzen in the late 1930s to carry fruit from the Mediterranean and West Africa to northern European ports. This view of the 4,360 gross ton vessel was taken at Cardiff, c.1937. (Source: Shipping at Cardiff: Photographs from the Hansen Collection 1920-1975 by David Jenkins, 1993.)
M.V. CHILIAN REEFER (1831gt). Built 1936 by Nakskov Skibsværft A/S, Nakskov, Denmark, for J. Lauritzen of Vesterhaven. She was on a voyage to New Zealand when Germany invaded Denmark in April 1940, and the vessel was intercepted by the British and taken to Singapore where she was requisitioned by Ministry of War Transport, London (managed by Alfred Holt & Co.). 1941 - Intercepted, shelled and sunk by German battleship GNEISENAU on the 16th March, about 200 miles east of Cape Race. Twelve of her crew died.