Coastal trading vessels , also known as coasters or skoots , are shallow-hulled merchant ships used for transporting cargo along a coastline. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through reefs where deeper-hulled seagoing ships usually cannot (26-28 feet), but as a result they are not optimized for the large waves found on the open ocean. Coasters can load and unload cargo in shallow ports . For European inland waterways, they are limited to a 33,49 m beam.
8-450: Leander was a 989 GRT coaster that was built in 1925 by Atlas Werke AG , Hamburg , Germany . The British Royal Navy captured her in November 1939 and impressed her into service as Empire Crusader . She was bombed and sunk in 1940. The ship was built in 1925 by Atlas Werke AG , Bremen . The ship was 224 feet (68 m) long, with a beam of 33 feet (10 m). She had
16-498: A 5-inch (127 mm) stern gun , 3-inch (76.2 mm) bow anti-aircraft gun and Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft gun . These were removed after the war. After the war many of the ships were sold to private companies all around the world. Major coastal trading vessel shipyards include: Empire ship#Coastal Tankers Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
24-499: A Soviet merchant ship. On 9 November the British destroyer HMS Isis captured her off Vigo. Her captain attempted to scuttle Leander , but was forcibly prevented from doing so by the rest of her crew. Leander was escorted into Falmouth, Cornwall , arriving on 13 November. Leander was declared to be a prize of war . She was passed to the MoWT and renamed Empire Crusader . She
32-425: A depth of 13 feet 9 inches (4.19 m). She was assessed at 989 GRT . The ship was propelled by a triple expansion steam engine . Leander was built for Neptun Line, Bremen. On 18 February 1931, she caught fire off Domesnaes , Latvia and was abandoned by her crew. When World War II broke out, she was in port at Vigo , Spain . Unable to get food, she attempted to reach Germany disguised as
40-516: The United Kingdom used Empire ships type Empire F as merchant ships for coastal shipping. British seamen called these "CHANTs", possibly because they had the same hull form as Channel Tankers (CHANT) ; initially all the tankers were sold to foreign owners and therefore there was no conflict in nomenclature. The USA and UK both used coastal tankers also. UK used Empire coaster tankers and T1 tankers . Many coasters had some armament, such as
48-574: The convoy, she was bombed by Junkers Ju 87s of Fliegerkorps VIII, StG 2 , off St Catherine's Point , Isle of Wight in the Kanalkampf phase of the Battle of Britain . Her cargo of coal caught fire and the crew abandoned ship. Of her crew of nine, plus six DEMS gunners, four were killed. The ship capsized and sank at 50°25′52″N 1°42′16″W / 50.43111°N 1.70444°W / 50.43111; -1.70444 . Her Chief Engineer, James Cowper,
56-514: Was assessed as 1,042 GRT. She appears to have entered service for the British in March 1940. Empire Crusader sailed in British coastal waters, mostly between Plymouth , Devon and Seaham or Sunderland , County Durham . On 7 August 1940, Empire Crusader departed from Southend , Essex as a member of Convoy CW 9 , bound for the Yarmouth Roads . The next day, in the third aerial attack on
64-569: Was awarded an MBE , and Acting Able Seaman William Robson was commended, for their part in rescuing the ship's Second Mate. Coastal trading vessel During World War II there was a demand for coasters to support troops around the world. Type N3 ship and Type C1 ship were the designations for small cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Both were use for close to shore and short cargo runs. The Government of
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