# Rusting beauty aground



## Vestron (Feb 1, 2012)

Hello

I have been searching for any information about the ship on the attached picture for a long time, and I´m wondering if anyone here can point me in the right direction.
All I know is that the picture is taken at the bay of Mumbai, India in 1998. I haven't been able to find records of a matching wreck in the area, so she might have been broken up sometime after that. Could it be one of the old ships that Juhl & Ehrhorn used to deliver from Denmark to Bangladesh and Africa? It has been suggested that she could have been built by Cia. Comercio e Navegacao i Brazil during the seventies, but although I have found some similar looking vessels there has been nothing substantial so far. I have been told that if anyone can help me, you guys can - so here´s hoping for the best!

Many thanks in advance


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## TOM ALEXANDER (Dec 24, 2008)

That picture looks suspiciously like Alang and ready for breaking. Long way from Mumbai. I'm not familiar with the area never having been there physically, but? It could be that the photographer was quartered in Mumbai, hence that reference.


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## John Rogers (May 11, 2004)

Great photo of a once good looking ship.

John


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## Vestron (Feb 1, 2012)

I agree, Tom. Alang would make a lot of sense. Only thing is, the picture was captioned "1998 ship aground in Mumbai bay", accompanied by some other pictures of the city. Inconclusive as this may be, it´s my only clue really.

What about the colours of the funnel? Can anybody derive anything from those? It looks like it has the letters J E across it, but they are so degraded it´s hard to tell for sure. It might be L F as well...
(J E pointed me towards Juhl & Ehrhorn but although their house flag looks entirely different, I'm not shure what their funnel colours were back in the days)
I´ve tried enhancing the picture in Photoshop to get a clearer view of the faint traces of her name, but to no avail. It looks like "Quidelo" something, but I haven´t been able to find a matching vessel. Below the original name there are a few darker letters that seem to spell "Juhu 584" or something like that. Juhu beach would be in the area, but were any ships broken up there on a regular basis?

Thanks for your help so far!

@John: Yes, she's very good looking. Too bad I didn't take the picture myself, I wouldn't have left until I knew her name


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## Vestron (Feb 1, 2012)

Answering my own question here, but I think I finally got her!
Apparently she's the *Zheng Dong*, a cargo ship built in 1964, GT 11188. She is said to have hit the rocks off Carter Road, Mumbai during a storm in June 19th 1996. All attempts to refloat her failed and she had to be broken up on site.
There are (and were) several vessels named Zheng Dong, but I haven't found any further info on this particular one so far. Does anybody here know more? Previous names, builder, things like that... Almost there now - it would be great to finally put this one to rest


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## cueball44 (Feb 15, 2010)

Vestron said:


> Answering my own question here, but I think I finally got her!
> Apparently she's the *Zheng Dong*, a cargo ship built in 1964, GT 11188. She is said to have hit the rocks off Carter Road, Mumbai during a storm in June 19th 1996. All attempts to refloat her failed and she had to be broken up on site.
> There are (and were) several vessels named Zheng Dong, but I haven't found any further info on this particular one so far. Does anybody here know more? Previous names, builder, things like that... Almost there now - it would be great to finally put this one to rest


She looks similar to "Zhen Jiang", but it is not her. I think some of these ships had different names since their launch days.


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## Vestron (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks for having a look, Cueball. I think it´s very probable that Zheng Dong was just her last name (so to speak There are some remains of a much longer name to be seen on the picture, but my forensic skills just aren't sharp enough to determine what it is. I think there's an article about her on Lloydslist but I haven't been able to register with them in order to read it. I'll give that another try, though.


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## Vestron (Feb 1, 2012)

At last! A big thanks to member A.D Frost for clearing things up:

"built 1964 H.C.Stulcken as CIUDAD DE BOGOTA for Flota Mercante Grancolombiana.Sold r/n ZHENG DONG for scrapping at Mumbai"

The name fits perfectly with the faint traces to be seen on the picture. She was part of a regular service between various Colombian ports and the Port of Houston (which was the destination for her maiden voyage btw.) There are also some legal do***ents that mention her involvment in drug smuggling in 1973.

Thanks to all of you for showing interest and I'm really amazed by the amount of knowledge so generously shared at this site!


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## carimar (Oct 10, 2007)

Hi all, as CIUDAD DE BOGOTA she was sold to chinese shipbreakers and arrived Shanghai 5.12.1988. but as common practise, during that time, china has used some of that scrap destined ships (depends of the condition) for further use in the china inland coastal service. she was renamed ZHENG DONG, and nobody informed Lloyd's register and so on. if she had not been grounded off Mumbai, nobody would having even known that she lived for some 8 more years. a picture of her was also shown in Lloyd's list, and i've informed them, that she might be the former CIUDAD DE BOGOTA.


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## duquesa (Aug 31, 2006)

Flota Mercante were once a very fine company with good, well run ships.


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## Vestron (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks for the information. The Stülckenwerft in Hamburg built three of these ships for the Flota Mercante Grancolombiana and at the time they were considered to be state of the art and of excellent quality. I've tried to figure out the reason for her grounding, but all I've come up with so far is that a storm was involved. She sat on the beach for some time before being scrapped so people were able to climb aboard and look around. Apparently her engines and pumps were in a very sorry state after many years of negligence, suggesting poor maneuverability in difficult weather as one possible reason for her fate. There were plans to turn her into a hotel, but too many of the locals were against it.


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