SS Canadian Constructor

History
Canada
Name	SS Canadian Constructor
Owner	Canadian Constructor, Ltd.[1]
Operator	Canadian National Steamships[1]
Port of registry	Halifax, Nova Scotia[1]
Builder	Halifax Shipyards Ltd, Nova Scotia[1]
Launched	24 September 1921
Completed	1922
Out of service	1939
Identification	Call sign VGLZ[1] (from 1934) official number 150465[1]
Fate	Sold
United Kingdom
Name	SS Argos Hill
Namesake	Argos Hill, Mayfield, East Sussex
Owner	Ernels Shipping Co, London[2]
Operator	Counties Ship Management Co Ltd, London[2]
Port of registry	London
Acquired	1939[2]
Out of service	August 1945[2]
Identification	Call sign GTTP[2] official number 150465[2]
Fate	Burnt out
General characteristics
Type	refrigerated cargo ship
Tonnage	7,178 GRT 6,664 tonnage under deck 4,418 NRT[1]
Length	430.0 ft (131.1 m)[1]
Beam	56.2 ft (17.1 m)[1]
Draught	29 ft 2 in (8.89 m)[1]
Depth	34.8 ft (10.6 m)[1]
Installed power	705 NHP[1]
Propulsion	Triple expansion steam engine; screw[1]

SS Canadian Constructor was a 7,178 GRT^[1] refrigerated ship built in 1922 by Halifax Shipyards Ltd in Nova Scotia.

The ship had 12 corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 264 square feet (25 m²) heating her four 180 lb_f/in² single-ended boilers, which had a combined heating surface of 10,848 square feet (1,008 m²).^[1] The boilers fed a 705 NHP triple expansion steam engine that was built by Tidewater Shipbuilders Ltd of Trois-Rivières, Quebec.^[1] Her hull had a 13-ton fore peak tank and a 128-ton aft peak tank.^[1]

The ship's first manager was Canadian National Steamships, which set up a one-ship company, Canadian Constructor Ltd, to own her.^[1]

In 1939 she was sold to Ernels Shipping Co of London, who registered her in London as SS Argos Hill and her placed under the control of Counties Ship Management.^[2] She was damaged in an air attack on Convoy OA 178 in the English Channel on 4 July 1940.^[3]

Argos Hill survived and remained in service until after the surrender of Germany, but was destroyed by fire on 7 August 1945^[2][4] just a week before the surrender of Japan.

• Sedgwick, Stanley; Sprake, R. F. (1977). London & Overseas Freighters Limited 1949–1977. Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 0905617037.
• Sedgwick, Stanley (1993) [1992]. Kinnaird, Mark; O'Donoghue, K. J. (eds.). London & Overseas Freighters, 1948–92: A Short History. Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-68-1.