Victory Class - The three ships that started Safmarine
Safmarine purchased three Victory ships from the USA, and after modifications to convert them from war use to general dry cargo, they entered service in 1947. They were named “Vergelegen”, “Morgenster”, & “Constantia”. These three ships enabled Safmarine to start a South African based cargo enterprise. They turned out to be very reliable and long lasting. In 1961 their names were changed to “South African Victory”, “South African Venture”, and “South African Vanguard”. In 1966 the prefix South African was changed to S.A.. In the engine rooms there were two Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers supplying super heated steam to two Westinghouse turbines geared down to a single shaft, giving 6,000 shp and a speed of 16 knots. For electrical power, two steam turbines drove DC generators.

Photo © Trevor Jones