Mecca:

This ship was a pleasure to research as she had a wonderful history. The Mecca started life as the Lady Rodney, one of 5 of the Lady Boats of the Canadian National Steamship Line. The 5 ships were named Lady Hawkins, Lady Drake, Lady Somers, Lady Nelson, and Lady Rodney....all named after wives of famous British Admirals who won fame for their exploits in the Caribbean. The Lady Rodney built to an A.T. Wall & Co. of Liverpool design at Cammel Laird (Yard No. 944) for the Canadian National Steamship Line. She was launched on 30 November 1928 and completed April 1929 as a passenger liner design for "Western Service" in the Caribbean (Bermuda, Bahama, and Jamaica). She was 128.1 meters in length and 18.4 meters in beam with 2 Triple-Expansion engines which provided her with a speed of 14-knots. She was designed to carry 125 first class passengers only.

During WWII the "Lady Boats" were used as troop and cargo carriers in support of the European theatre. Lady Hawkins, Lady Drake, and Lady Somers were all sunk by torpedoes in the Caribbean. The Lady Nelson was struck by a torpedo while pierside in St. Lucia, but was refloated and converted into Canada's first hospital ship in Mobile, Alabama. The Lady Rodney, which had been taken over by the Department of National Defense in June of 1942 served as a troopship between Canada, Newfoundland, and Labrador. She survived the war unscathed and was used as a repatriation ship after the war in order to return Canadian veterans and their brides from Rotterdam and Antwerp to England, and then on to Canada.
Between 1942 and 1945, the Lady Rodney sailed 109,640 miles transporting 59,568 service personnel. In November of 1945 she was transferred to the United Kingdom service for repatriation duties. In this year alone, she sailed 55,283 miles and carried 6,719 passengers.

From 1946 the Lady Rodney returned to sailing in the Western Service of the C.N.S.S. until it was announced in November of 1952 that both the Lady Nelson and Lady Rodney would be retired at the end of that year's summer season, with her last sailing being a round-trip passage from Montreal on the 25th of October returning to Montreal where she was retired and put up for sale

She was purchased in 1953 from Canadian National Steamship Ltd., Montreal and renamed Mecca. She was then taken over in 1961 by the United Arab Maritime Co., Alexandria, where she made passages between ports in North Africa and Jeddah, possibly providing transport for pilgrims making the Hajj. On 07 June 1967, the ship was scuttled at kilometer 7 of the Suez Canal as a blockship.

When the Suez Canal was finally being cleared of blockships and other obstruction in 1974 and 1975, the Mecca was the largest and one of the most challenging wrecks to remove. She was eventually cut into 10 seperate pieces by the use of shear charges in order to lifted out of the canal where she was left on the banks of the canal.

A sad ending to a ship that served her owners well........
egypt
ladyrodney
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