The "Maywood" at sea. She was the last ship owned by J. T. Duncan & Company Ltd. and had been on charter to the Admiralty. She joined the fleet in 1930, but in the 1930's depression struck and with the scarcity of cargoes available, she, and two other ships were laid up at Barry for a few years. She was built at Renoldson's yard at South Shields on the Tyne in 1923.
Trade increased and by 1937 a new ship was added to the Duncan fleet. Mr. P. M. Heaton in his excellent book "Welsh Shipping - Forgotten Fleets", he states that in January 1941, whilst undergoing compass trails in Barry Roads, she struck a mine and was badly damaged, being beached at Barry Island. Following makeshift repairs, she was re floated and returned to service bunkering merchant ships for Russian convoys at Loch Ewe.
He goes on to inform us that by the mid 1950's "she was left trading in an age when the South Wales collier was a thing of the past, and in 1958 she was laid up at Penarth. Preparations were made for her to undergo a further survey, but industrial action at the ship repairers intervened and by the time this dispute had been settled the freight market had dropped making her return to service uneconomical." As a result, on the 16th November 1959 she left Penarth in tow, having been sold to Belgian shipbreakers at Zelzaete. [218] [219]
