SS Clan Matheson ( 1919 ) Clan Matheson was a 5 , 614 GRT cargo ship that William Hamilton & Co Ltd of Port Glasgow built in 1919 as Clan Morgan for Clan Line Steamers Ltd . She was sold in 1948 and renamed Harmodius . In 1951 she was sold again and renamed Claire T . In 1955 she was bought by the Ministry of Transport ( MoT ) which renamed her Empire Claire . She was scuttled on 27 September 1955 with a cargo of obsolete chemical materiel . Description . William Hamilton & Co Ltd built her as yard number 311 . She was a sister ship to and . She was laid down in 1917 and launched on 18 February 1919 as " Clan Morgan " , and completed in April that year . She was long , with a beam of and a depth of . She had a NRT of 3 , 458 and tonnage under deck of 6 , 348 . She had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of heating three single - ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . These produced steam at 180 lb / in for a single three - cylinder triple expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller . David Rowan & Co Ltd of Glasgow built the engine , which had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke and was rated at 517 NHP . History . Pre - war . " Clan Matheson " was ordered by Australian Steamship Ltd , Sydney in 1917 as the 4 , 360 GRT " Bogong " . It was later decided to rename her " You Yangs " . The contract was sold to Clan Line Steamers Ltd on the orders of the British Shipping Controller . Her design was modified and she was lengthened . " Clan Matheson " was placed under the management of Cayzer , Irvine & Co Ltd , who registered her at Glasgow . Her United Kingdom official number was 141086 and her code letters were JWPR . In 1934 her code letters were replaced with the call sign GQMW . " Clan Matheson " was a cargo ship , and also served as a cadet training ship . In 1924 the Levuana Moth ( " Levuana iridescens " ) was a serious pest to coconut palms in Fiji and a biological solution was devised . A similar moth , " Artona catoxantha " was known to be parisitized by " Ptychomyia " and " Apanteles " , so it was decided to use these parasites to eradicate the Levuana Moth . The parasites had to be imported from Singapore to Fiji . Most ships at that time sailed not direct but " via " Australia , which would have meant putting the parasites into quarantine in Australia . Clan Line operated ships in the area . In July 1924 was sailing from Singapore to Fiji " via " other ports , and " Clan Matheson " was also due to sail from Java to Fiji . " Clan Mackay " took the parasites to Surabaya , Java , where they were transferred to " Clan Matheson " for onward shipment to Fiji . No " Apanteles " survived , but the " Ptychomia " did and their introduction succeeded in eradicating the Levuana Moth within two years . Second World War . In the Second World War " Clan Matheson " sailed in convoys . OG 3 . In October 1939 " Clan Matheson " carried general cargo from Britain to East Africa . She joined Convoy OG 3 , which formed at sea on 17 October 1939 and took her as far as Gibraltar . OG 22 . " Clan Matheson " was a member of Convoy OG 22 , which formed at sea on 18 March 1940 bound for Gibraltar . HX 228 . In February 1943 " Clan Matheson " loaded sugar and general cargo in North America . She was due to join Convoy HX 228 , which left New York on 28 February 1943 and reached Liverpool on 15 March , but instead she returned to port . HX 229 . The following month " Clan Matheson " , carrying general cargo , mail and a passenger , joined Convoy HX 229 and carried the convoy ' s Vice Commodore . HX 229 left New York on 8 March 1943 bound for Liverpool , and " Clan Matheson " was meant to sail with the convoy as far as Loch Ewe , but she was unable to maintain speed and put into Halifax , Nova Scotia . Post war . In 1948 " Clan Matheson " was sold to British & South American Steam Navigation Co Ltd , which renamed her " Harmodius " and appointed Houston Line Ltd to manage her . In 1951 she was sold to the Heron Steamship Co Ltd of London who renamed her " Claire T " . In 1953 she was sold to the Romney Steamship Co Ltd , serving until 1955 when she was purchased by the MoT and renamed " Empire Claire " . As part of Operation Sandcastle she was loaded with obsolete war materiel which included confiscated German munitions containing Tabun . Loaded with 16 , 000 bombs , On 27 July 1955 " Empire Claire " was towed out of Stranraer and scuttled in the North Atlantic 800 miles northwest of County Donegal , Ireland at . Commemorative postage stamp . On 19 September 2013 Royal Mail issued a set of six postage stamps commemorating the British Merchant Navy . The set includes three different designs of £1 . 28 stamp , one of which is a painting of " Clan Matheson " under way in a heavy sea .