SS Indigirka
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: |
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| Owner: |
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| Operator: | 1938: Dalstroi |
| Port of registry: |
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| Builder: | Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Wisconsin |
| Launched: | 20 December 1919 |
| Completed: | May 1920 |
| Identification: |
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| Fate: | sunk 1939 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | cargo ship |
| Tonnage: | 2,689 GRT |
| Length: | 77.3 m (253 ft 7 in) (pp) |
| Beam: | 13.3 m (43 ft 8 in) |
| Propulsion: | 1 x triple-expansion steam engine |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Capacity: | about 1,500 prisoners |
| Crew: | about 40 |
The SS Indigirka (Russian: «Индиги́рка», IPA: [ɪnʲdʲɪˈɡʲirkə]) was an American built steamship that served in the Soviet Gulag system and transported . Launched in 1919 as SS Lake Galva, it served under the names Ripon, Malsah and Commercial Quaker between 1920 and 1938, when it was renamed Indigirka. On its final voyage in 1939 over 700 prisoners perished.
The ship was built at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin as one of the Lake series cargo ships. It was launched on 29 December 1919 as Lake Galva and completed in May 1920 as Ripon. It served as an American merchant ship under various owners as SS Ripon (1920–26), SS Malsah (1926–28), and SS Commercial Quaker (1928–38). In 1938 it was sold to the government of the Soviet Union.
With some modifications the ship was placed in service by the Dalstroi as the Indigirka (Индиги́рка) – named after the river in Siberia – for the transport of prisoners. With a tonnage of 2,689 and a length 77.3 m it was the smallest ship of the Dalstroi fleet and had a cargo hold of 4,700 m³; Bollinger estimated that it could hold 1,500 captives, while Tzouliades indicates that up to 5,000 prisoners might have been transported. That seems to conflict with evidence that the ship was fully loaded when it departed on its final journey with less than 1,500 crew, passengers and prisoners, forcing Soviet authorities to leave behind many others who were supposed to have made the trip.
The Indigirka belonged to a fleet of steamships operated by Dalstroi to transport prisoners from Vladivostok, endpoint of the Transsiberian railway, to Magadan and Kolyma across the Sea of Okhotsk. Travel time was about six days to two weeks to Magadan. A steamer would make about ten trips a year. Conditions were horrendous and many people did not survive. Prisoners were held in the cargo holds where criminals ruled; the guards stayed outside and above and would spray the holds with ice-cold ocean water if things became too unruly. Women prisoners were abused.
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