Titanic may be the best-known ship built in Belfast, but there's another popular ship built here that has become a tourist attraction far from Northern Ireland.
The MV E Evangelia was built at Harland and Wolff in Belfast in 1942 as a merchant ship named Empire Strength. It was built for the UK Ministry of War Transport, and was operated by Blue Star Line from 1942 to 1961.
The ship left Belfast on December 22, 1942, arriving in Liverpool the next day. From here, it took on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Sydney, arriving in the Australian city on March 20.
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During the Second World War, Empire Strength seems to have continued to run between Australia and Britain via Panama. From 1944, the ship was also involved in shipping frozen meat from Buenos Aires to Britain and the Mediterranean.
The ship went through a number of names during its service. It was renamed Saxon Star in 1946 and Redbrook in 1961.
In 1965, the ship was bought by Greek shipowners, who renamed it E Evangelia. On October 15, 1968, E Evangelia was sailing from Yugoslavia to Romania when it ran aground in the Black Sea off Costinesti.
The ship was declared a total loss, and the ship remains as a wreck at Costinesti. Its back is broken, two large areas of plates are missing from the starboard side, and the entire ship's superstructure has collapsed.
However, Costinesti is a popular seaside resort in Romania, and the wreck of E Evangelia remains a local attraction to this day.
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