SS Boccaccio
SS Boccaccio was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1919. She was a War Standard Type C ship: one of several standard designs issued by the UK Shipping Controller. Lloyd Royal Belge built her in Glasgow. She was launched as War Zenith, but completed the following month as Tunisier. She was in Belgian ownership until 1932.
In 1932, Italian owners bought Tunisier, and renamed her Boccaccio. In 1937, she was carrying arms to the Nationalist part of Spain when a bomb exploded aboard her, sinking her off the coast of Brittany. One member of her crew was killed, but a Dutch cargo ship rescued 31 survivors.
Building
LRB built the ship at its own shipyard in Jordanvale, Glasgow, as yard number 11. Ships built for the Shipping Controller were given names prefixed with War, so she was launched on 12 November 1919 as War Zenith. However, LRB policy was to give each ship a French-language demonym ending in -ier, so she was completed that December as Tunisier.The ship's registered length was, her beam was, her depth was, and her draught was. Her tonnages were and. She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine built by David Rowan & Co of Glasgow. It was rated at 359 NHP, and gave her a speed of.
Changes of ownership
LRB registered Tunisier at Antwerp. Her code letters were MTUR. LRB got into financial difficulties during the Great Depression, and in 1930 it was taken over by Compagnie Maritime Belge. The merged company was named CMB.In 1932, Adria Società Anonima di Navigazione Marittima bought Tunisier, renamed her Boccaccio, and registered her in Fiume in the then Italian Province of Fiume, which is now Rijeka in Croatia. Her code letters were NGQT. By 1934, her call sign was IBLE, and this had superseded her code letters. In December 1936, the Adria shipping company became part of a new state-owned corporation, 'Tirrenia' Società Anonima di Navigazione.