MV

Motor ship

A motor ship or motor vessel is a ship propelled by an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The name of motor ships are often prefixed with MS, M/S, MV or M/V.- See also :...

 Sovetskaya Latviya (Soviet Latvia) was a transport ship operated by the Dalstroy

Dalstroy

Dalstroy , also known as Far North Construction Trust, was an organization set up in 1931 by the Soviet NKVD in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Chukotka region of the Russian Far East, now known as Kolyma. Initially it was established as State Trust for Road and...

 concern of the NKVD

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

. One of its main uses was to transport prisoners as forced labour in the Kolyma

Kolyma

The Kolyma region is located in the far north-eastern area of Russia in what is commonly known as Siberia but is actually part of the Russian Far East. It is bounded by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Sea of Okhotsk to the south...

 camps system

Gulag

The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...

.

Prior to Soviet ownership

The ship was originally christened Childar when launched on 25 November 1925. It was operated as a merchant vessel for several years by the Norwegian line Wiel & Amundsen Rederi A/S, based in Halden

Halden

is a both a town and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The seat of the municipality, Halden is a border town located at the Tista river delta on the Iddefjord, the southernmost border crossing between Norway and Sweden.-History:...

.

Childar ran aground on 4 May 1934 at the entrance to the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

 in the United States while en route to Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, South Africa. Four seamen were killed in this incident.

The ship was eventually was repaired at Porsgrunn

Porsgrunn

is a town and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Porsgrunn....

 and re-launched in May 1935 as MS Aakre by another Norwegian line, Rederi A/S Henneseid (Thoralf Holta).

In 1939, it was purchased by the Latvian United Shipping Company (Apvienotā Kuģniecības Akciju Sabiedrība), in Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

, Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, and renamed Hercogs Jēkabs, in honour of Duke Jacob of Courland

Jacob Kettler

Jacob Kettler was a Baltic German Duke of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia . Under his rule, the duchy was brought to its greatest peak in wealth and engaged in colonization.- Life :...

. It was planned that she would maintain a monthly cargo service between Riga and New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

In Soviet service

When Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, all merchant vessels were nationalised by the Soviet state, including Hercogs Jēkabs. Some of the ships were within the immediate control of Soviet authorities and were thereby impressed into the service of the Soviet-controlled Latvian State Sea Shipping Company. However, many Latvian-registered ships outside of Soviet-controlled waters defected and turned themselves over to control of other nations. The exception to the last rule was Hercogs Jēkabs, which even though outside the reach of Communist authorities along the coast of Chile, nonetheless attempted to sail to the USSR. A dispute about ownership and control was resolved in the favor of the USSR and in time the ship voyaged for Vladivostok. The ship was renamed Sovetskaya Latviya in 1942, around which time it entered service for the NKVD and Dalstroy.

It was struck from the Soviet register in 1967.

Sources

• http://www.warsailors.com/freefleet/norfleeta1.html
• Bollinger, Martin J., Stalin’s slave ships: Kolyma, the Gulag fleet, and the role of the West, Praeger, 2003, 217 p., ISBN 0275981002