The cargo ship Empire Heywood (often Empire Haywood written) was an Empire ship of the type PF (B) , which during the Second World War by the British Ministry of War Transport was procured (MoWT). The Empire Heywood was not operated by the MoWT, but on its behalf by the shipping company Hain Steamship Company from St. Ives . The ship was used for supply convoys to the British colonies in Asia. On August 22 and 23, 1942, Japanese air forces attacked Allied convoys off the coast of Burma in which the Empire Heywood was traveling. However, it was not hit by bombs or torpedoes.
In 1944 the shipping company Saint Line Ltd, London, took over the operation of the ship. In 1947 the Empire Heywood was sold by MoWT to Saint Line and renamed Saint Gregory .
While the ship was administered by Saint Line for the MoWT after World War II, the Empire Heywood was used as a deportation ship in connection with the British naval blockade of Palestine against illegal Jewish immigration and the decision of the British government to deport it to camps on Cyprus . On August 14, 1946, 1,290 imprisoned immigrants in Famagusta were disembarked for the first time by the Empire Heywood and the Empire Rival . Just four days later, on August 18, the Empire Heywood was the target of a Palyam attack in the port of Haifa , during which explosive charges were attached to the hull by Ha'Chulya divers . The ship was damaged but could be repaired. Another two days later, the Empire Rival was the target of a Palyam attack.
The last years of the Empire Heywood have been characterized by frequent changes of ownership and name. In 1962 the Saint Line sold the ship to the Stuart Navigation Company in Hong Kong. The new ship owner named the Empire Heywood in Andros order. Just one year later, the ship was sold to World-Wide Shipping, Escort Shipping Company, Hong Kong, and renamed Abiko . The last sale, this time without a name change, was made to the Pine Steamship Company, Hong Kong in 1965. On March 15, the ship was removed from the fleet list and scrapped from March 22, 1967 at the Lee Sing Company in Hong Kong.
Web links
Image of the Empire Heywood in the port of Famagusta, at GettyImages.de
