S.S. Dimitrios N. Bogiazides

A cargo ship built in 1908 at Hoboken, Belgium by Chantiers Naval Anversois. 3495 grt.


The ship is referred to many times by Lowry for not apparent reason except we must assume he was intrigued by the name. As ever with Lowry he incorrectly spells the name as the Dimitrios S. Boglazides. Originally a German steamer named the Ingelfingen (1908-1912), she was in turn Danish (Orissa), Russian (AZ) and British (Maid of Corfu), before acquired by the Greek company N.D. Bogiazides & Sons, and re-named the Dimitrios N. Bogiazides from 1924-1939. As the Alba, she sailed under the Panamanian flag (1939-1942), but was seized by the Germans and as the Aquila sunk by British aircraft off Midtugulen, North Norway (8 Nov. 1944).

Lowry refers to her  in 'Goya the Obscure'; "King Goya, late trimmer of the Dimitrios S. Boglazides bound for the Spice Islands" ('Goya The Obscure' Pg. 274; again in Ultramarine as "On an old Greek bastard of a tramp steamer - they piled her up on Lundy in the end - called , what do you think? I remember the name because I had to paint it on the lifebelts: the Dimitrios N. Bogliazides.... We had a hell of a time, back in 1923, this was. We were bringing a cargo of timber from Archangel to Garston, you know." (Ultramarine Pg 72); in the poem 'From Helsinki to Liverpool with Lumber' (Collected Poetry 77), she steams down the Mersey; and in the poem 'Reflection to Windward'  (Collected Poetry 124) she rolls seaward on high tempestuous seas. She turns up in Lowry's screen-play, Tender is the Night (Pg 239) arriving too late to rescue a doomed Dick Diver.

Lowry maybe referring to the ship or S.S. Fagervik in his short story 'Hotel Room In Chartres', when he describes a ship with "stacks of timber from Archangel beside her" (Psalms Pg. 23)

We can assume that Lowry saw the ship in the Mersey and noted the name. There is a record at Lloyds concerning a claim against the ship:

Salvage or towage-Services rendered by tug Brockenhurst to steamship Dimitrios N. Bogiazides in River Mersey- Anchors down-Wind strong but moderating -Disputed position of vessel as regards north wall-Request for tugs - Whether evidencing danger - Practice -Evidence-Pilot in charge of defendant vessel (foreign) approached by plaintiffs-Comments by Bateson, J.- Held, that the steamship was in no substantial danger and that the services rendered were no more than towage services. Volume 37, 1930