LEFKIPOS, photographed passing Portishead on 3rd April 1968 outbound from Avonmouth, exactly fifty years ago, was on a voyage charter to Anchor Line. She had sailed from Bombay on 5th January bound for Avonmouth, Liverpool and Glasgow via Karachi and Kandla where she loaded crushed bones for discharge at Cardiff.

LEFKIPOS was a pre-war standard Doxford type built at Sunderland in 1936 as WEARPOOL for Sir R.Ropner & Co. which had been founded at West Hartlepool in 1870.

Launched on 9th June 1936, WEARPOOL was completed in just two months. Sold by Ropner in 1954 to Ragnar Källström of Sweden, she traded until 1964 as ADELSO, primarily for the carriage of iron ore from the Swedish ports of Lulea & Oxelösund.

Purchased in 1964 by the Greek domiciled Skarasteel Shipping Company (A. & G. Eleftheriou & Co. Ltd) and managed by Union Commercial S.S.Co. (Mark Scufalos). LEFKIPOS was in 1971 renamed DIMITROS as which finally arrived at La Spezia in October 1979 to be broken up after a period of inactivity in the Piraeus district in the spring of 1975 followed by long term lay-up.

This photograph and caption can also be seen in my book Bristol Port and Channel Nostalgia, published by Coastal Shipping of Portishead.