The turret ship Mokatam’s long goodbye
For some years after the end of World War II an ungainly hulk of a ship lay moored at Stockton, Newcastle, NSW. It was a battered old rustbucket that ended up in Newcastle as part of the postwar flotsam that drifted around the Pacific in the conflict's confusing aftermath. I'd seen photos of the ship lying there, and was often curious about its extremely odd shape. It's hull was unlike other ships, with a huge bulging section down low, and I wondered what the reason was this peculiar form. In time I learned the ship's name…
