Ingénieur Général Haarbleicher was a cargo ship which was built in 1944 for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) as Empire Call. In 1945 she was sold to the French government and renamed Ingénieur Général Haarbleicher. In November 1945, she ran aground on Stromboli and broke in two. Declared a total loss, she was scrapped in 1947.
The ship was built by William Hamilton & Co Ltd, Port Glasgow. Yard number 462,[1] she was launched on 10 February 1944 and completed in July.[2]
The ship was 433feet long, with a beam of 56feet and a depth of 34feet. She had a GRT of 7,067 and a NRT of 4,759. She was propelled by a triple expansion steam engine which had cylinders of NaNinches, 39inches and 70inches diameter by 48inches stroke. The engine was built by Harland & Wolff, Glasgow.[3]
Empire Call was built for the MoWT. She was operated under the management of Gibbs & Co Ltd. She was allocated the United Kingdom Official Number 169509 and used the Code Letters GCWK. Her port of registry was Greenock.[3]
Empire Call was a member of a number of convoys during the Second World War.
In 1945, Empire Call was sold to the French government,[2] who renamed her Ingénieur Général Haarbleicher and placed her under the control of the Ministère de la Marine Merchande. She was operated under the management of Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. Her Code Letters were changed to FPPK and her port of registry to Marseilles.[6] The ship was named in honour of a French engineer who had been shot by the Germans during the Second World War.
On 18 November 1945, Ingénieur Général Haarbleicher departed Marseilles bound for Saigon, French Indo-China. On 20 November. she ran aground on Stromboli, Italy in fog. The tug Hippopotame was despatched from Bizerte on 26 November, followed by the Camille Porch from Marseilles on 28 November. Camille Porch was carrying divers and pumping equipment. On 3 December, work started to unload the ship's cargo into barges brought from Messina, but during the evening of 4 December a storm blew up. The ship was abandoned at 02:15 on 5 December and later broke in two. She was declared a total loss. Ingénieur Général Haarbleicher was scrapped in situ in 1947.[7]
