Indus was a 2,834 ton 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 Germany in 1945 and launched as Sasbeck. She was seized uncompleted at Lübeck in 1946 and renamed Empire Ardle. In 1947 she was renamed Lewis Hamilton and then in 1950 she was renamed Indus. In 1968 she was renamed Falcon and then Sea Falcon, serving until 1971 when she was scrapped.

History

Indus was built by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft is a German shipbuilding company located in Flensburg. The company is trading as Flensburger and commonly abbrevated FSG.-History:...

, Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

, Germany and launched as Sasbeck on 27 March 1945. In May 1945, Sasbeck was one of 502 ships seized by the Allies after Germany was overrun at the end of the Second World War. Sasbeck was one of the eleven uncompleted ships that was allocated to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. She was found at Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

 in an uncompleted state and passed to the Ministry of Transport. She was renamed Empire Ardle and completed in November 1946. In 1947, she was sold to the Rodney Steamship Co, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and renamed Lewis Hamilton, serving until 1950 when she was sold to C H Abrahamsen, Stockholm and renamed Indus. After eighteen years service with Abrahamsen's, Indus was sold in 1968 to the Seabird Navigation Corporation, Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

, being resold to the Lilly Navigation Corporation, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 in 1969 and renamed Sea Falcon. In 1970, Sea Falcon was sold back to Seabird, and served with them until 1971 when she was scrapped in Avilés

Avilés

Avilés is a city in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main towns in the Principality of Asturias.The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, in a land that belonged to the sea, surrounded by small promontories, all of them having an altitude of less than...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. She arrived for scrapping on 15 July 1971.

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...

.

Empire Ardle and Lewis Hamilton had the UK Official Number 181527. Indus had the Swedish Official Number 9218.