View source for Counties Ship Management

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox company
|name= Counties Ship Management Co Ltd
|logo= 
|caption= 
|fate= 
|predecessor= 
|successor= [[London & Overseas Freighters]]
|foundation= 1934
|founder= [[Eddie Kulukundis|Manuel Kulukundis]],<br>[[Mavroleon family|Basil Mavroleon]]
|defunct= 
|location= London
|owner= 
|key_people= 
|industry= [[Ship transport]]
|products= 
|revenue= 
|net_income= 
|num_employees= 
}}

'''Counties Ship Management Co. Ltd.''' ('''CSM''') was an ocean-going merchant shipping company based in the [[United Kingdom]]. During the [[World War II|Second World War]] CSM merchant ships made a substantial contribution to supplying the British war effort, at a cost of 13 ships lost and 163 officers and men killed.

==Founding of Rethymnis & Kulukundis==
In 1920 Manuel Kulukundis (1898–1988) from the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] island of [[Kasos]] moved to London, England and started work in a shipping office.<ref name=CSM1>{{cite web |url=http://www.lof-news.co.uk/CountiesHistory/Counties1.htm |title=Counties Ship Management 1934–2007 |work=LOF–News |page=1 |access-date=30 June 2010 |archive-date=30 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330194244/http://www.lof-news.co.uk/CountiesHistory/Counties1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1921 he and his cousin Minas Rethymnis founded the Rethymnis & Kulukundis [[shipbroking]] business in London.<ref name=CSM1/> R&K was nominally a ship management company, but through a network of family and business relationships this was increasingly intertwined with actual ownership by members of the Kulukundis and related families.<ref name=CSM1/>

==Royal Mail Case==
The [[Royal Mail Case]] criminal prosecution of [[Owen Philipps, 1st Baron Kylsant|Lord Kylsant]], director of the [[Royal Mail Steam Packet Company]] (RMSP), in 1931 led to the liquidation of that company in 1932. RMSP was restructured as [[Royal Mail Lines]] and companies connected with it also had to restructure. One of these was [[Elder Dempster Lines]], whose fleet included 24 [[World War I|First World War]] standard cargo ships that it had to sell quickly and at low cost in order to survive.<ref name=CSM1/> R&K and its Greek associates bought many of the Elder Dempster ships, and with Greek banks and British shipping companies created a new company called Tramp Ship Development Co Ltd to facilitate this.<ref name=CSM1/>

R&K also started owning ships in its own right.<ref name=CSM1/> At first they were registered in Greece, but from 1934 some R&K ships were registered in the UK.<ref name=CSM1/> R&K gave the ships a "house" image by giving each one a name beginning with ''"Mount"''.<ref name=CSM1/> Their funnels were black with a white band above a blue band, and a five-pointed red star straddling the boundary between the two bands.<ref name=CSM1/> The white and blue bands denoted R&K's Greek heritage.<ref name=CSM1/> Other shipping companies had previously used a red star as a badge, notably [[Robert Kermit Red Star Line]] (1818–67) and [[Red Star Line]] (1871 onwards).

==Growth of Rethymnis & Kulukundis==
Kulukundis had a Greek ship-owning company, Kulukundis Shipping Co SA, whose ships were managed by R&K. Its ships included the ''[[SS Empire Conveyor|Illinois]]'' which it bought from [[Compagnie Générale Transatlantique]] in 1934, renamed ''Mount Pentelikon'' and registered in [[Piraeus]].

R&K bought old second-hand vessels and established a nominally separate British company to own each ship.<ref name=CSM1/> Surrey Steamship Co. Ltd. was created to own ''Box Hill'',<ref name=CSM1/> which [[Hawthorn Leslie and Company#Shipbuilding|Hawthorn Leslie]] at [[Hebburn]] on the [[River Tyne]] had built in 1920 as the {{SS|Glentworth||2}}.<ref name=wreck68499>{{cite web |url=http://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?68499 |title=SS Box Hill [+1939] |last1=Lettens |first1=Jan |last2=Racey |first2=Carl |date=2001–2010 |work=The Wreck Site |access-date=30 June 2010}}</ref> Sussex Steamship Co. Ltd. was created to own {{SS|Bury Hill||2}}, which had been built by [[Richardson, Duck and Company]] at [[Thornaby-on-Tees]] in 1917 as the ''Cardigan''.<ref name=CSM1/> They were followed in 1935 by the First World War standard cargo ship ''Hampton Hill'' which had been built in 1919 as ''War Jasper''.<ref name=CSM1/> Acquisitions in 1936 included two more First World War standard ships: the ''Campden Hill'' and the ''Muneric''. Other 1936 acquisitions included ''Inverleith'' which had been built as a [[Tanker (ship)|tanker]] but converted to a [[Bulk carrier|dry cargo ship]].<ref name=CSM1/>

R&K also bought new ships. [[William Hamilton and Company|William Hamilton & Co]] built {{SS|Mount Ida||2}} for R&K in 1938, who created Atlanticos Steam Ship Co to own her and registered her in [[Piraeus]], Greece. On 9 October 1939 she ran aground on Ower Bank in the [[North Sea]] off [[Norfolk]], England. The [[Cromer Lifeboat H F Bailey III ON 777|Cromer Lifeboat ''HF Bailey'']] rescued all hands but one later died of his injuries.

In 1934 R&K created Counties Ship Management Ltd (CSM) to manage ships owned by both its own companies and others.<ref name=CSM1/> CSM ships had a buff funnel with a black top, and a red letter "C" inside a red circle on the buff part.{{sfn|Talbot-Booth|1942|p=832}}

Between 1936 and 1939 CSM companies bought ten second hand dry cargo steamships.<ref name=CSM1/> Some were old. ''[[SS Lambridge|African Prince]]'' was a First World War B type standard merchant ship built in 1917 and became ''Pentridge Hill'' under CSM's Dorset Steamship Company in 1936.<ref name=CSM1/> {{SS|Clan Macvicar||2}} had been built in 1918 and became ''Dover Hill'' under CSM in 1936.<ref name=CSM1/> Others were more modern, such as the 4,318 ton ''Peebles'' which had been built by [[William Doxford & Sons]] in [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]] in 1930 and launched as {{SS|Gracechurch||2}}.<ref name=U499>{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/499.html |title=Mill Hill |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2010 |work=uboat.net |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=30 June 2010}}</ref>

CSM continued to create single-ship companies for some of its new acquisitions. Brockley Hill Steamship Co Ltd. was created in 1939 to buy the 5,297 ton ''Penteli'', which had been built by [[Caird & Co.]] in [[Greenock]] in 1919 as the ''War Burman''.<ref name=U1005>{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1005.html |title=Brockley Hill |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2010 |work=uboat.net |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=30 June 2010}}</ref> Ernels Shipping Co Ltd. seems to have been created in 1939 to buy the 7,178 ton {{SS|Canadian Constructor||2}}, which had been built for [[Canadian National Steamships]] by [[Halifax Shipyards]] in [[Nova Scotia]] in 1922 and was renamed ''Argos Hill''.<ref name=ShipsListCGMM>{{cite web |url=http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/cgmm.htm |title=Canadian Government Merchant Marine CGMM, Montreal 1918–1928 |last=Swiggum |first=S. |date=1997–2010 |work=The Ships List |publisher=S. Swiggum & M. Kohli |access-date=30 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308113014/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/cgmm.htm |archive-date=8 March 2010 }}</ref> Other CSM companies were expanded to own more than one ship.<ref name=CSM1/>

The majority of CSM's early ships were resold at a profit by 1939. ''Pentridge Hill'', for example, was sold to [[William Reardon Smith|Sir Wm. Reardon Smith & Sons]] who renamed her ''Botlea''.<ref name=CSM1/> Exceptions included Sussex Steamships Co's 4,542 ton {{SS|Bury Hill||2}} which was wrecked off the coast of West Africa in 1936<ref name=BoT>{{cite book |title=Wreck report for "Bury Hill", 1937 |last1=Harris |first1=John |last2=Whittingham |first2=Wallace |last3=Stockwell |first3=Henry |year=1937 |publisher=[[Board of Trade]] |location=London |url=http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports/14138.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312090512/http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports/14138.asp |url-status=usurped |archive-date=12 March 2012 |access-date=2 June 2011}}</ref> and ''Pearlstone'' which reverted to her owners in 1938.<ref name=CSM1/> The remaining few ships continued with CSM into the Second World War.

Ship-naming policies varied between the CSM companies. Many had entirely English names, but ''Akri Hill'' (built in 1924) referred to the family's Greek background.<ref name=CSM1/> ''Argos Hill'' sounds half-Greek but is in fact a hill in [[Mayfield and Five Ashes#Argos Hill|Mayfield, East Sussex]], England. All Tower Steamship Co. ship names began with ''"Tower"'', such as ''Tower Bridge'' and ''Tower Field''.<ref name=CSM1/> ''Michael E'' and ''Marietta E'' (see below) were Kulukundis family names.<ref name=CSM1/>

==CSM's Second World War fleet==
In 1940 several Kulukundis brothers moved to the safety of the USA, leaving [[Eddie Kulukundis|John Kulukundis]] and his cousin [[Mavroleon family|Basil Mavroleon]] to manage the CSM fleet.<ref name=CSM1/> From 1940 onwards CSM in turn was controlled by the [[Ministry of War Transport]].<ref name=CSM1/>

British Government support enabled CSM to acquire new ships instead of second hand ones.<ref name=CSM1/> Six were completed for CSM in 1940. ''Kingston Hill'', ''Lulworth Hill'', ''Marietta E'' and ''Richmond Hill'' (II) were new steamships while ''Putney Hill'' and ''Tower Grange'' were new motor ships.<ref name=CSM1/> By 1943 all except ''Richmond Hill'' had been lost, along with the pre-war second-hand steamships ''Dover Hill'', ''Mill Hill'' and ''Brockley Hill'' (I).<ref name=CSM1/>

Three more new steamships were completed for CSM in 1941: ''Pentridge Hill'' (II) and the [[CAM ship|catapult armed merchantmen]] (CAM ships) ''Michael E'' and ''Primrose Hill'' (I).<ref name=CSM1/> Only ''Pentridge Hill'' survived the War.<ref name=CSM1/>

In 1942 [[William Doxford & Sons]] in [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]] built two motor ships for Putney Hill Steamships: ''Coombe Hill'' and ''Tower Hill'' (II).<ref name=CSM1/><ref name=LOF1/> Both survived the War.<ref name=CSM1/> CSM made no more acquisitions until 1946.

==War losses==
CSM sustained heavy war losses in the [[World War II|Second World War]], starting with Surrey Steamships Co's 5,677 ton ''[[SS Glentworth|Box Hill]]'' which struck a mine on 31 December 1939.<ref name=wreck68499/>

The 4,318 ton ''[[SS Gracechurch|Mill Hill]]'' was built in 1930 and acquired by CSM in 1936.<ref name=ShipsListSutherland>{{cite web |url=http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/bjsutherland.htm |title=B.J. Sutherland & Co., Ltd. Newcastle upon Tyne 1892–1954 |last=Swiggum |first=S |date=1997–2010 |work=The Ships List |publisher=S Swiggum, M Kohli |access-date=1 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610202006/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/bjsutherland.htm |archive-date=10 June 2010 }}</ref> On 16 August 1940 a U-boat torpedoed her in the North Atlantic.<ref name=U499/> She was laden with pig iron and scrap steel, and quickly sank with the loss of all hands.<ref name=U499/>

The 7,628 ton {{SS|Kingston Hill||2}} was built in December 1940.<ref name=U979>{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/979.html |title=Kingston Hill |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2010 |work=uboat.net |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=30 June 2010}}</ref> She was damaged by [[Luftwaffe]] bombing in February 1941 but was repaired.<ref name=U979/> She was torpedoed and sunk in June 1941.<ref name=U979/>

The 5,216 ton {{MV|Putney Hill||2}} was completed in 1940.<ref name=U1852>{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1852.html |title=Putney Hill |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2010 |work=uboat.net |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=30 June 2010}}</ref> In June 1942 a U-boat sank her with one torpedo and fired 53 rounds from its deck gun.<ref name=U1852/>

The 5,226 ton {{MV|Tower Grange||2}} was completed in 1940.<ref name=U2442>{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2442.html |title=Tower Grange |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2010 |work=uboat.net |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=30 June 2010}}</ref> A U-boat torpedoed and sank her in November 1942.<ref name=U2442/>

The 5,297 ton ''[[SS Burgondier|Brockley Hill]]'' was built in 1918.<ref name=U1005/> In 1939 CSM set up a one-ship company, Brockley Hill Steamship Co Ltd, to buy her.<ref name=U1005/> On 29 June 1941 ''[[German submarine U-651|U-651]]'' torpedoed and sank her.<ref name=U1005/> All hands were rescued by another British cargo steamer in the same convoy.<ref name=U1005/>

The 4,241 ton ''Tower Field'' ran aground and broke in two in 1941.<ref name=CSM1/> She was salvaged and rebuilt, and the British [[Ministry of War Transport]] (MoWT) took her over as {{SS|Empire Tower||2}}.<ref name=CSM1/> on 5 March 1943 she was torpedoed and sunk.<ref name=CSM1/>

The 7,628 ton {{SS|Lulworth Hill||2}} was completed in 1940. She was torpedoed by an Italian submarine in March 1943.<ref name=RM>{{cite web |url=http://www.regiamarinaitaliana.it/Smg%20classe%20Marconi.html |title=Sommergibili Classe Marconi |last=Piccinotti |first=Andrea |date=2000–2006 |work=La storia della Regia Marina Italiana nella seconda guerra mondiale |publisher=Andrea Piccinotti |access-date=1 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091023054215/http://www.regiamarinaitaliana.it/Smg%20classe%20Marconi.html |archive-date=23 October 2009 }}</ref> 14 men had survived the sinking but after 50 days adrift in a liferaft only two were rescued alive.<ref name=BUFVC>{{cite web |url=http://radio.bufvc.ac.uk/lbc/index.php/segment/0132700020001 |title=Fifty Days |work=The LBC/IRN Audio Archive |publisher=British Universities Film & Video Council |access-date=1 July 2010}}</ref>

Two of CSM's 7,628 ton cargo steamers were equipped as [[CAM ship]]s, each having a [[aircraft catapult|catapult]] on her bow to launch a [[Hawker Hurricane variants#Sea Hurricanes|Hawker Sea Hurricane]]. {{SS|Michael E||2}} was the UK's first CAM ship, completed in May 1941. She was torpedoed and sunk on her maiden voyage on 2 June 1941. {{SS|Primrose Hill||2}} was completed in September 1941. In October 1942 a German submarine sank her with torpedo and shellfire.

The 7,628 ton {{SS|Marietta E||2}} was completed in June 1940.<ref name=U2713>{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2713.html |title=Marietta E. |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2010 |work=uboat.net |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=30 June 2010}}</ref> In March 1943 a U-boat torpedoed and sank her in the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa.<ref name=U2713/>

The 5,818 ton<ref name=PeoplesWarDover>{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/36/a5268936.shtml |title=The Story of the SS Dover Hill in Russia, 1943 |last=Craig |first=David B |date=23 August 2005 |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=2 July 2010}}</ref> ''Clan Macvicar'' had been completed in 1918. CSM had acquired her in 1936 and renamed her {{SS|Dover Hill||2}}. In February 1943 she was at anchor in northern Russia when a ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' 500&nbsp;kg bomb crashed through her decks and buried itself in coal in her bunkers without exploding.<ref name=PeoplesWarDover/> Volunteers from her crew took two days and nights to dig {{convert|22|ft|m}} down into the coal to reach the bomb, which a Soviet bomb disposal specialist then defused.<ref name=PeoplesWarDover/> All 19 volunteers were afterwards decorated for bravery.<ref name=PeoplesWarDover/> ''Dover Hill'' was salvaged and taken over by the [[Ministry of War Transport]]. On 9 June 1944 during the [[Normandy landings]] she was [[Scuttling|scuttled]] as a [[Mulberry harbour#Corncobs and Gooseberries (breakwater ships)|Corn Cob]] [[block ship]] for a [[Mulberry harbour#Corncobs and Gooseberries (breakwater ships)|Gooseberry Harbour]].

CSM's final wartime loss was the 7,178 ton<ref name=ShipsListCGMM/> refrigerated steamer ''Argos Hill''. She was built in 1922 as {{SS|Canadian Constructor||2}}. Ernels Shipping Co of London bought her in 1939, renamed her ''Argos Hill'' and placed her under CSM management. She was damaged in an air raid on [[Convoy OA 178]] on 4 July 1940<ref name=Slader55>{{harvnb|Slader|1988|p=55}}</ref> but survived and remained in service until after the [[German Instrument of Surrender|surrender of Germany]]. She caught fire on 7 August 1945, just a week before the [[surrender of Japan]], off [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] ({{coord|41|35|N|54|54|W}}).<ref name=ShipsListCGMM/><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Ship on Fire in Atlantic |date=9 August 1945 |page=4 |issue=50216 |column=F|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS69419273/TTDA |via=Gale}}</ref> She was towed into [[Bay Bulls, Newfoundland and Labrador|Bay Bulls]] on 13 August and considered a [[constructive total loss]].<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Shipping Movements |date=17 August 1945 |page=9 |issue=50223 |column=C|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS151863569/TTDA |via=Gale}}</ref><ref name=Merchant482>{{cite book |title=The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939 |first=Roger |last=Jordan |publisher=Chatham Publishing |location=London |year=1999 |page=482 |isbn=1-86176-023-X}}</ref>

By the end of hostilities CSM had lost 13 ships totalling 81,111 tons, with the deaths of 163 officers and men.

==Post-war development==
[[File:Empire Celia.jpg|thumb|''Putney Hill'' (Formerly ''Empire Celia'') in 1948]]
In 1946 a CSM company bought ''[[List of Empire ships (N)#Empire Nairobi|Empire Nairobi]]'', a standard [[Empire ship]] that had been built by [[Short Brothers of Sunderland|Short Brothers]] in February 1945.<ref name=CSM1/> CSM renamed her ''Dover Hill'', after the earlier ship that had survived an unexploded bomb and then been scuttled in the Normandy landings. CSM sold her in 1951 to new owners who renamed her ''Basil''. She changed owners and names several more times before being scrapped in [[Istanbul]] in 1968.

Also in 1946 the MoWT placed the Empire Ship {{SS|Empire Celia||2}} under CSM management. In 1948 the MoWT sold her to Putney Hill Steamships who renamed her SS ''Putney Hill'' after {{MV|Putney Hill}} that was sunk in 1942.

[[File:StateLibQld 1 202867 Westmoor (ship).jpg|thumb|''Westmoor'', which became ''Akri Hill'']]
In 1947 Dorset Steamships acquired the [[Empire ship]] ''[[List of Empire ships (M)#Empire Mandarin|Empire Mandarin]]'', which the Shipbuilding Corporation Ltd. in [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]] had completed in 1942.<ref name=LOF1/> Dorset Steamships renamed her ''Lulworth Hill'', replacing an earlier ship of the same name.<ref name=CSM1/> Also in 1947, Akri Steamships bought ''Westmoor'' from Moor Line and renamed her ''Akri Hill''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.sunderlandships.com/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=101354 |title=Westmoor |work=Wear Built Ships |publisher=Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust |access-date=21 May 2022}}</ref>

In about 1947–48 CSM companies bought seven [[Liberty ship]]s from the UK Government.<ref name=CSM1/> None remained under CSM control for very long.<ref name=CSM1/>

In 1948 seven [[tanker (ship)|oil tankers]] joined the fleet.<ref name=CSM1/> ''Cardium'', a 1931-built 8,300 ton motor tanker{{sfn|Talbot-Booth|1942|p=432}} bought from [[Royal Dutch Shell|Anglo-Saxon Petroleum]], was renamed ''Hawthorn Hill'' but the other six tankers were not renamed.<ref name=CSM1/>

In 1950 the CSM fleet was radically expanded with 34 Canadian [[Park ship|"Fort and Park" ships]].<ref name=CSM1/>

==London & Overseas Freighters==
{{main|London & Overseas Freighters}}
In 1948 the cousins founded a new company, [[London & Overseas Freighters]] Ltd. They intended it to be a tanker company but in 1949–50 it took over ten dry cargo ships from three R&K companies: Dorset Steamship Co Ltd, Putney Hill Steamships Co Ltd and Tower Steamship Co Ltd. In order to give the merged fleets a single "house" identity, in 1950 LOF renamed all of its ships, giving each one a name beginning with ''"London"''.

Dorset Steamships' freighter ''Lulworth Hill'' (II) became ''London Builder''.<ref name=LOF1/>

''Richmond Hill'' (II), built in 1940 by [[Bartram & Sons]] in [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]] for Putney Hill Steamships became the ''London Craftsman''.<ref name=LOF1>{{cite web |url=http://www.lof-news.co.uk/History%20%26%20Headers%201-2-3/lof1.htm |title=London & Overseas Freighters 1941–97 |work=LOF–News |page=1 |access-date=29 June 2010 |archive-date=23 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723113309/http://www.lof-news.co.uk/History%20%26%20Headers%201-2-3/lof1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ''Pentridge Hill'' (II), built in 1941 by Bartram & Sons for Dorset Steamships, became the ''London Dealer''.<ref name=LOF1/>

The freighters ''Coombe Hill'' and ''Tower Hill'' (II) became LOF's ''London Artisan'' and ''London Banker'' respectively.<ref name=LOF1/>

Another Dorset Steamships' vessel, ''Charmouth Hill'', which became LOF's ''London Mariner'' in 1950, had been completed in [[Hartlepool]] in 1943 as the ''[[List of Empire ships (P)#Empire Peak|Empire Peak]]''.<ref name=LOF1/> Tower Steamships' ''Tower Grange'', which became LOF's ''London Trader'', had been completed by the Shipbuilding Corporation Ltd. in 1945 as the ''[[List of Empire ships (M)#Empire Morley|Empire Morley]]''.<ref name=LOF1/>

Putney Hill Steamships' ''[[SS Empire Celia|Putney Hill]]'' (II) was transferred to LOF but confusingly was at first renamed ''Castle Hill''. In 1950 LOF renamed her again as ''London Statesman''. In 1951 LOF sold her to [[Panama]]nian owners who renamed her ''Morella''.

Three [[Liberty ship]]s were transferred to LOF. {{SS|Samflora||2}}, which CSM had renamed ''Primrose Hill'' (II), was built in 1943.<ref name=CSM1/> When transferred to LOF she was renamed ''London Vendor''.<ref name=CSM1/> LOF sold her in 1952 and she was subsequently renamed several more times.<ref name=CSM1/> She was scrapped at [[Onomichi]], Japan in 1968.<ref name=CSM1/> {{SS|Samdon||2}}, also built in 1943, had become the ''Mill Hill'' with CSM, and unlike other transferred ships retained her CSM name with LOF.<ref name=CSM1/> LOF sold her in 1951 and her subsequent owners renamed her ''Educator''.<ref name=CSM1/> {{SS|Samleven||2}} had been built in 1944 and sold in 1947 to a CSM company, Tramp Shipping Development Co, which renamed her ''Bisham Hill''.<ref name=CSM1/> She was transferred to LOF in October 1951 and sold in January 1952 to Liberian owners wno renamed her ''Nausica''.<ref name=CSM1/>

==CSM after 1950==
In 1950 the CSM fleet was radically expanded with 34 Canadian [[Park ship|"Fort and Park" ships]].<ref name=CSM1/> However, during the 1950s LOF became the Kulukundis family's main shipping company and the CSM fleet was reduced in size.<ref name=CSM1/> ''Dover Hill'' (II) was sold in 1951.<ref name=CSM1/> CSM's last wartime standard cargo ship was ''Denmark Hill'', which had been built as the "Fort" ship ''Fort Mattagami'' and was sold for scrap in 1968.<ref name=CSM1/>

In 1966 CSM took over a modern dry cargo ship.<ref name=CSM1/> ''Clarkspey'' had been built in 1960, but had been bareboat chartered to [[Port Line (shipping)|Port Line]] who renamed her ''Port Campbell''. When her charter expired CSM bought her and renamed her ''Kings Reach''.<ref name=CSM1/> CSM sold her in 1970.<ref name=CSM1/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources & further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Sedgwick |first1=Stanley |last2=Kinnaird |first2=Mark |last3=O'Donoghue |first3=K.J. |title=London & Overseas Freighters, 1948–92: A Short History |orig-year=1992 |year=1993 |publisher=[[World Ship Society]] |isbn=0-905617-68-1 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Sedgwick |first1=Stanley |last2=Sprake |first2=R.F. |title=London & Overseas Freighters Limited 1949–1977 |year=1977 |publisher=[[World Ship Society]] |isbn= 0905617037}}
*{{cite book |last=Slader |first=John |title=The Red Duster at War |year=1988 |publisher=William Kimber & Co Ltd |location=London |isbn=0-7183-0679-1 |pages=55, 63, 143–144, 241, 278 }}
*{{cite book |last=Talbot-Booth |first=E.C. |title=Ships and the Sea |orig-year=1936 |year=1942 |edition=7th |publisher=[[Sampson Low]], Marston & Co Ltd |location=London }}

[[Category:Ships of Counties Ship Management|*]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1934]]
[[Category:Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom]]