SS Baltabor – A Baltic Steamer Ship

This steamer ship started its life in 1911 as a Danish-made vessel christened ‘Libaya’ or ‘Libau’, built for use by the East Asiatic Company and leased to a Russian subsidiary out of St. Petersburg. This company was used to service a route linking Russia with the Far East. It served in this capacity until 1918. At the end of WWI, it was again in Danish hands for a short time.

In July 1920, the ship was purchased by the United Baltic Corporation. This newly formed shipping line, founded at the request of King George V, would serve to reestablish trade and tourism between the UK and the Baltic nations (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). Now renamed the SS Baltabor, this steamer was the first vessel purchased by the new corporation and would service the route between Riga and London.

The SS Baltabor would serve as both a cargo vessel and a passenger ship for the small but increasing numbers of tourists interested in visiting the Baltic nations. It was also an important mode of transportation for people heading from Baltic countries to America via London.

At some point in the mid-1920s, after returning to Latvia, Andrejs Blezurs took a job on the Baltabor as an Able Seaman. We have his crew agreement lists for two voyages: 20-Dec-1927 to 14-Jan-1928 and 18-Jan-1928 to 27-Jun-1928. We know that he was also on the Baltabor prior to this but don’t have exact dates. Most likely he was serving the same ship after this date as well.

Around this time, Andrejs decided to settle down and get married. He was married to Olga Rozentals on the 3-Dec-1927. It is likely that he took a short leave for this event, but two weeks later he was signing on again. At this point missions to the other side of the globe were out for this reckless flyboy. He had previously sailed to places like southern Europe, the USA, South America and Australia. However, family was now a priority. Working on the Baltabor was a perfect job for Andrejs. He had lived for almost a decade in the UK during the war years (1914-1923), joining the UK Merchant Marine in 1919. His English language skills and his desire to stay closer to Riga were a perfect match for this Riga to London route. I was able to find Andrejs’s UK Merchant Marine ID documents using the website FindMyPast (although I found out that he was using the Anglicised name ‘Andrew’ during his time in the UK).

The Baltabor’s crew lists are fascinating to examine in detail! The crew complement included mainly men from the UK, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In each document, you get to see every man’s address on land, what ship they served on before, when and where they signed up for this mission, their age, their position onboard, how much money they made for the job and when and where they were discharged (or deserted in some cases such as #43 in this document). This crew list was available from the Maritime History Archive in Canada which holds 70% of all UK crew lists for the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Some of the crewmen were as young as 18 but most were in their 20s and 30s with several up into their 40s. Andrejs, at 39 would have been one of the older ones. Andrejs made £9 per month, which was twice as much as an Ordinary Seaman but much less than an officer or engineer.

The document also gives details about the ship, including ship name & number, owner’s name, tonnage, engine horsepower, port of registry, number of crew, and destination & dates of the voyage. The SS Baltabor was registered in London, had a gross tonnage of 1319, a 138-horsepower engine and employed 35 crew, 8 of which were sailors.

I can’t be sure how long Andrejs remained working on the Baltabor, but it could easily have been until his sudden death in November 1929. If he had still been working on the Baltabor at that time, he would not have been employed on it for much longer, as the ship ran aground in Dec 1929 on Naissaar (formerly Nargen) Island off the coast of Tallinn, Estonia.

There were no casualties, but the ship’s hull was badly damaged and due to winter conditions salvaging the ship was not possible until the following march when the ships Meteor and Karin successfully re-floated the ship and got it back to the Tallinn shipyard.

Upon closer inspection in the shipyard, it was clear that the ship was very heavily damaged. The United Baltic Corporation wanted to declare the SS Baltabor a wreck. But there were ongoing disputes with insurance providers. It took several months before it was clear there were no buyers for an old damaged, virtually obsolete cargo ship. It was sold for scrap and after two decades of use, the SS Baltabor was removed from service.

This is the last known ship that any of the sailors in the Zekants family served on.