The Ericbank, Rowenbank,Maplebank, and Ivybank. All served the company well as ‘stopgaps’ after WW2 until new buildings arrived from the building yards of Harlands in Belfast and Wm Doxfords in Sunderland.
These standard ships had a good capacity, a reliable steam engine, and were especially useful for bulk cargoes with only 2 modest sized deeptanks. All of them served on the phosphate run which they suited, running mainly between Australian and New Zealand ports and loading in Ocean Island, Nauru and sometims Makatea. One, the Kelvinbank, was wrecked at Ocean island. (See some voyage accounts and photos on this site). The crewing was mainly European and the lively and often drunken antics in port were a feature remembered by those who sailed in them.
