Finland Steamship Company's Emigrant Ships

S/S POLARIS

Passenger steamer, one deck

Passengers

I: 60

II: 18

III: -

Ice class

I C

Tonnages

1,623 GRT

867 NRT

1,452 tdw

Length over all

77.61 m

Breadth

10.56 m

Draught

5.56 m

Engine

Triple steam engine 3 cy. by the shipbuilders.

Horse powers

1,250 IHP

Speed

11.5 knots

13.5.1912

Completed by Stettiner Oderwerke A. G., Stettin/Grabow, as S/S Prinzessin Sophie Charlotte for Neue Dampfer Co. A. G., Stettin.

8.1914

Seized by Russians at Petrograd. Used as transport steamer by the Russian Navy and renamed S/S Rcy.

4.7.1915

Converted to auxiliary minelayer and renamed S/S Ilmen by the Russian Navy.

1918

Intercepted on Apr. 9 by the German auxiliary cruiser Möwe on the Finnish coast and brought to Tallinn. Used as mother ship for German Baltic minesweepers (Suchverband Ostsee) as S/S Prinzessin Sophie Charlotte.

1922

Recovered by Neue Dampfer Co. A. G., and renamed S/S Preussen.

1924

Owners amalgamated with Stettiner Dampfer Compagnie A. G., Stettin.

1931

Sold to Renata Dampfschiffs Gesellschaft in Stettin Th. Gribel Kom. Ges. a Akt., (Rudolf Christian Gribel), Stettin.

17.10.1933

Acquired by Finska Ångfartygs Aktiebolaget, Helsinki, and renamed S/S Polaris.

Sailed on Helsinki - London and Helsinki - Antwerp lines.

29.1.1942

Explosion and fire on board in Turku while under repair at Chrichton-Vulcan.

15.1.1945

Surrendered as war reparations to the Soviet Union and renamed S/S Sestroretsk.

Operated by Baltic Shipping Co., Leningrad on Leningrad - Helsinki - Stockholm - Copenhagen - London line.

1954

Re-engined with two oil engines 4 SA each 8 cy. by Görlitzer Masch., Görlitz.

1954

Transferred to Murmansk Shipping Co., Murmansk.

1970

Sold to Brodospas for demolition at Split, where arrived on Nov. 24.

Demolition started on Jan. 25, 1972.

Source: The Ships of Our First Century : The Effoa Fleet 1883-1983. Ed. by Matti Pietikäinen & Bengt Sjöström. Keuruu 1983, 231 p. ISBN 951-99438-5-4.