Dagan was a freighter, built by H.C. Stulchen Sohn at Hamburg, West Germany, and completed in November 1954. It was registered at 5,099 gross tons, 117.65 metre long and able to carry 7,035 tons of cargo.
Dagan was one of the earliest Israeli freighters to come through the St. Lawrence Seaway. The vessel made one appearance on the Great Lakes in 1959, the year the waterway opened, and a total of 18 visits to the end of 1967.
In 1969, Dagan was sold to First Delta Shipping Inc. and registered in Panama as Beta. It was renamed Reading I in 1972 and then back to Beta later that year. The name was changed to Leonidas A. in 1973 and finally to Cork, for Seamar Navigation, of Panama in 1979.
On October 11, 1982, the former Great Lakes caller ran aground north of Cuba on the Cay Sol Bank. At 28 years of age and badly damaged, the ship was abandoned by the crew and the owner the next day.
Cork was eventually refloated, sold to American shipbreakers, towed to Brownsville, Texas, and broken up for scrap in 1985 – 1986.
Source: Niagara This Week
