SS Ypiranga

The S.S. Ypiranga was a German-registered cargo-steamer owned and operated by Hamburg-America Line (now Hapag-Lloyd AG ) shipping company. It was built in 1908 by Germania Werft and is 448.4’ x 55.3’, with a maximum gross burden of 8,142 tonnes. After launching, the Ypiranga was found to be notoriously unsteady at sea. This was remedied by installing two water tanks near the fore and after masts on the upper deck, connected by a flying bridge. The flow of water between the tanks, controlled by regulating the movement of the air in the side branches, served to steady the ship in rough water, and she gained the reputation of being particularly steady after installation. Her sister ship "Corcovada" was similarly outfitted.

In September 1910, Ypiranga carried the German crews from the battleships SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and SMS Weissenburg back from the Ottoman Empire, after both ships had been sold to the Ottoman Navy.

The Ypiranga’s 26th voyage in April 1914 was its most notable; from Hamburg to the Mexican port of Veracruz, where it was fined by the U.S. for delivering arms and ammunition to the government of Victoriano Huerta in an event coined the "Ypiranga Incident".

The ousted Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz, accompanied by his family, boarded the Ypiranga at the docks of Veacruz, on Wednesday, May 31, 1911, toward Europe. He was exiled in France.

The Ypiranga served until 1919 when it was ceded to Britain as war reparations and placed under White Line Management. In 1921 Anchor Line assumed control of the ship and renamed it the Assyria; it was used in their Bombay run. A Portuguese company purchased the ship in 1929 and renamed it the Colonial for use in their Lisbon-Mozambique/Angola run. In 1950 there were plans to scrap the ship, however, during the trip it broke free of its tug and wrecked near Campbeltown.