RMS Magdalena (1948)

RMS Magdalena
History
United Kingdom
Name	Magdalena
Namesake	Magdalena River in Colombia
Owner	Royal Mail Lines
Port of registry	London
Route	England – South America
Ordered	1946
Builder	Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Launched	11 May 1948
Completed	18 February 1949
Maiden voyage	9 March 1949
Out of service	25 April 1949
Identification	United Kingdom official number: 182955 Call sign GFQD
Fate	Ran aground 24 April 1949; later sunk
General characteristics
Type	Passenger & refrigerated cargo liner
Tonnage	17,547 gross register tons (GRT) 9,886 net register tons (NRT) 9,725 tons deadweight (DWT)
Length	570 ft 1 in (173.76 m) o/a 540 ft 0 in (164.59 m) p/p
Beam	73 ft 3 in (22.33 m)
Draught	28 ft 9 in (8.76 m) (SLL)
Installed power	18,000 shp (13,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × steam turbines, double reduction geared to drive twin screws
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h)
Capacity	529 passengers 460,000 cubic feet (13,000 m3) refrigerated cargo space
Crew	251

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Position where Magdalena was wrecked off Brazil.

Magdalena was a 17,547 GRT passenger and refrigerated cargo ocean liner that Harland and Wolff built in Belfast in 1948 for Royal Mail Lines (RML). Launched on 11 May 1948, she was the third-largest ship being built in a UK shipyard at that time.

Built as a replacement for a ship lost during the Second World War, she was to serve on route between England and the east coast of South America. She was wrecked on her maiden voyage in 1949, the sixth ship built by Harland and Wolff to suffer this fate. The insurance payout of £2,295,000 was the largest made at the time for a marine casualty in the United Kingdom. Due to changing trading conditions RML decided not to build a replacement vessel.