Canton (Id.No. 2508)
1918-1919
Cities in the states of Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Ohio.
(Id.No. 2508: displacement 6,200; length 339'0" (overall); beam 45'1"; draft 19'7.5"; depth of hold 21'0"; speed 8.0 knots; complement 112; armament 1 4-inch, 1 6-pounder)
The single-screw, steel-hulled cargo vessel Hercules, launched on 24 December 1914 by A. Yuick & Zonen of Holland; chartered to the U.S. Shipping Board on time charter between 18 February and 20 March 1918; seized by Customs officers at New York on 20 March 1918 and turned over to the Shipping Board who manned her until 12 June 1918; acquired by the Navy on 12 June 1918; assigned the identification number (Id.No. 2508), she was commissioned as Canton on 18 June 1918, Lt. Cmdr. Odmund Arnesen, USNRF, in command.
Allocated to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, after loading cargo at Brooklyn, N.Y., and Baltimore, Md., Canton cleared Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 July 1918 for Genoa, Italy, in convoy. After discharging aviation material for the Italian Ministry of Shipping, Canton called with her convoy at Corfu, Greece, and La Pallice, France, before taking departure from Gibraltar for New York City. From 18 September to 1 October, she discharged and reloaded cargoes, then sailed in convoy for Sydney, Nova Scotia, jumping-off place for Northern Atlantic convoys. On 8 October, she sailed for English ports, where she delivered cargo, and loaded supplies such as ammunition, no longer needed in the war zone. She returned to New York on 2 January 1919.
Canton was returned to the Shipping Board at Norfolk on 11 March 1919, but continued to operate with a Navy crew. She loaded a cargo of general food supplies and grain at Baltimore, then sailed for Copenhagen, Denmark, where she arrived on 23 April. At Amsterdam, where she arrived on 1 May, she was inspected and, on 10 May 1919, was decommissioned and delivered to the Royal Netherlands Steamship Co.
The ship served under Dutch colors until purchased by Yolac Merve of Istanbul, Turkey [Turkiye] on 30 March 1952, when she was renamed Herguler. Renamed Yolac Merve in 1957, the cargo vessel was sold to Canakcilar Sirketi of Istanbul in 1964 to be broken up for scrap, a process completed by 15 October of that year.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
2 February 2022
