SS Empire Rest

Updated on Jan 24, 2024

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Name SS Empire Rest Ordered 9 December 1942 Builder Ferguson Shipbuilders		Operator Ellerman City Line Length 77 m

Owner Ministry of War Transport Launched 19 June 1944, as Rayleigh Castle Completed 26 October 1944, as Empire Rest

SS Empire Rest was a British convoy rescue ship that served at the end of World War II, originally laid down as the corvette HMS Rayleigh Castle. Post-war she served as a transport ship until 1948, was sold in 1951, and scrapped in 1952.

Ship history

The ship was ordered from Ferguson Brothers of Port Glasgow on 9 December 1942 as a Castle-class corvette. She was launched on 19 June 1944 as Rayleigh Castle (K695), but further work was then cancelled, and she was eventually completed as a convoy rescue ship on 26 October 1944. Under the ownership of the Ministry of War Transport, and managed by the Ellerman City Line, she sailed on eleven convoys between November 1944 and June 1945, but made no rescues. In November 1945 she sailed to Kiel to repatriate Royal Navy personnel, and was also employed as an transport ship in the Mediterranean in 1947, taking illegal Jewish immigrants from Haifa to internment camps on Cyprus in October that year.

In July 1948 she was laid up at Falmouth, Cornwall, and offered for sale in October 1949. She was eventually bought by Lloyds Albert Yard & Motor Boat Packet Services Ltd. in October 1951. She arrived at Thos W Ward of Briton Ferry, Wales, for scrapping on 6 June 1952.