Part 12 - Irish Merchant Ship, Cape Town

Black and white print

An image of the ‘Irish Plane’ docked at Cape Town in South Africa. The ‘Irish Plane’ was built in 1949 by William Gray & Company in Hartlepool, England, for Irish Shipping Limited. This state-owned company was established in 1941, soon after the outbreak of the Second World War with the object of providing the ships necessary to supply Ireland’s import needs. The 'Irish Plane' served only a short number of years with the Irish Shipping company. It was sold to a Pakistani shipping firm in January 1960 and was eventually scrapped in Karachi in 1971