Pelikan was a 3,264 ton refrigerated cargo ship

Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

 which was built in 1934. She was seized by the United Kingdom and renamed Empire Alde in 1945. In 1946, she was renamed Pelikan. In 1947 she was renamed Pacuare, she was scrapped in 1958.

History

Pelikan was built by Bremer Vulkan Schiff- und Maschinenbau

Bremer Vulkan

Bremer Vulkan AG was a great German shipbuilding company located at the Weser river in Bremen-Vegesack. It was founded in 1893 and closed in 1997 because of financial problems and mismanagement....

, Bremen

Bremen

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

 as yard number 712 and launched in 1934, being completed in January 1935. She was owned by the Afrikanische Frucht-Cie AG and managed by F Laeisz, Hamburg. In 1940, ownership passed to the Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

 although Lloyds Register continued to show Pelikan as a merchant ship. In 1945, Pelikan was seized at Brunsbüttel

Brunsbüttel

Brunsbüttel is a town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany that lies on the mouth of the Elbe river, near the North Sea. It is the location of the western entrance to the Kiel Canal, the eastern entrance being located at Kiel-Holtenau...

 and ownership passed to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed Empire Alde, under the management of the Southern Railway

Southern Railway (Great Britain)

The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...

 and later Kaye, Sons & Co. In 1946, Empire Alde was sold to Elders & Fyffes Ltd

Fyffes Line

Fyffes Line was the name given to the fleet of passenger-carrying banana boats owned and operated by the UK banana importer Elders & Fyffes Limited.-History:...

, regaining her original name of Pelikan before being renamed Pacuare in 1947. She was to serve until 1959, when she was sent to Troon

Troon

Troon is a town in South Ayrshire. It is situated on the west coast of Scotland, about eight miles north of Ayr and three miles northwest of Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. Lying across the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran can be seen. Troon is also a port with freight and ferry services...

 for scrapping, arriving on 22 September.

Official number and code letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers

IMO ship identification number

The IMO ship identification number is made of the three letters "IMO" followed by the seven-digit number assigned to all ships by IHS Fairplay when constructed. This is a unique seven digit number that is assigned to propelled, sea-going merchant ships of 100 GT and above...

.

Pelikan used the Code Letters

Code letters

Code letters were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of radio, code letters were also used as radio callsigns.-History:...

DJNP until 1945. Empire Alde, Pelican and Pacuare used the UK Official Number 181664 from 1945-59