Stad Schiedam was a cargo ship which was built in 1942 as Empire Fortune by John Readhead and Sons Ltd, South Shields, County Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was transferred to the Dutch Government in 1943 and was renamed Van Honthorst. She was sold to the Halcyon Lijn in 1945 and renamed Stad Schiedam, serving until she was withdrawn in 1961. She was scrapped in 1962. Description The ship was long between perpendiculars ( overall), with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was assessed at , , . The ship was propelled by a 2,000 ihp triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke. The engines were built by John Readhead & Sons Ltd. It drove a single screw propeller. The engine could propel the ship at a speed of . History Empire Fortune was built in 1942 as yard number 531 by John Readhead and Sons Ltd, South Shields, County Durham for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was launched on 9 November 1942 and completed in January 1943. Her port of registry was South Shields. The United Kingdom Official Number 1609049 and Code Letters BFFG were allocated. She was operated under the management of Clan Line. Empire Fortune departed from the River Tyne on her maiden voyage on 9 February 1943 to join Convoy FN 939, which had departed from Southend, Essex the previous day and arrived at Methil, Fife on 10 February. She sailed the next day with Convoy EN 195, which arrived at Loch Ewe on 13 February. She sailed with Convoy JW 53 on 15 February and arrived at the Kola Inlet, Soviet Union on 27 February. Empire Fortune remained at the Kola Inlet until 1 November when she departed with Convoy RA 54A, which arrived at Loch Ewe on 14 November. She then joined Convoy WN 505A, which sailed on 16 November and arrived at Methil two days later. She joined Convoy FS 1276, which sailed that day and arrived at Southend on 20 November. On 7 December 1943, Empire Fortune was transferred to the Dutch Government and renamed Van Honthorst. She was operated by NV Stoomvaart Maatschappij "Rotterdam", Rotterdam. The Code Letters PIDK were allocated. Her port of registry was The Hague. Carrying stores bound for Naples, Italy, Van Honthorst sailed from