" ... I would right now add a few remarks on the arrested Bates' CORTLAND and her three sisters: I had seen the freshly renamed CORTLAND in Bremerhaven around 1967, just after she had been arrested in Rotterdam as SAPPHIRE ETTA and later sold by auction. Before that, in 4-65, I had seen and photographed her already in Bremen as the OVERSEAS EVA "Seen Below". The WHITEHALL was the former BARBARA LYKES, which I had photographed on the River Weser in 12-62. The BOWLING GREEN was the former GULF TRADER, (then owned by Lykes affiliate Gulf & South America St. Co.). I knew her quite well as she had visited Bremen and Bremerhaven several times from the late 40ties thru the late 50ties as Waterman St. Corp.'s CITRUS PACKER. I don't recall exactly, however, when I had seen her - must have been already in the mid-Fifties, but I didn't do any photographs. There was a fourth one, the DIGBY, the former SAPPHIRE GLADYS, which was also detained at Rotterdam in 1967, sold at auction and renamed. I photographed her as the NATALIE in Bremerhaven already in 8-65. This one, however, was not detained in Saigon later on - unlike the above mentioned three ships-, but she was sold to other owners. The three ships that were under detention in Saigon had gotten involved in a dispute with two Vietnamese cement companies in mid - 1968. All three arrived at Saigon one after another with cement bulk cargoes from Taiwan, destined for Vietnamese cement companies. As they got into that dispute the whole thing was regarded as being detrimental to the South Vietnamese Government and the economy of the nation. Therefore the government stated that the ships were not allowed to leave until the matter was settled. The matter dragged on, however, and five years later the ships were still under detention on the Saigon River. Finally, in 1973, a US buyer bought the three vessels and resold them to Taiwanese breakers. Within a few days in July, 1973, all three ships were towed away to Kaohsiung, where they were scrapped in August / Sept. 1973. The fourth one, the DIGBY, however, which was not detained at Saigon, was sold for further trading, renamed the GRAND MADONNA and finally was scrapped in Kaohsiung in Sept. 1972. I enclose pics of the OVERSEAS EVA (43), (I took her in Bremen, Germany in 4-65), the BARBARA LYKES (44), (I took her on the River Weser, approaching Bremen, in 12-62), and of the NATALIE (44), (I took her in Bremerhaven in 8-65). .."

Mr. Gerhard L. Mueller-Debus
Aug.,2008

Overseas Eva (43), Bremen 4-65

Natalie (44) Bremerhaven, 8-65