SS Meriones was a Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo steamship. She was launched in 1921 on the River Tyne as one of a class of 11 ships to replace many of Blue Funnel's losses in the First World War.
In 1941 the Second World War Meriones became stranded on a sandbank in the North Sea. An attempt to salvage her was disrupted by enemy air attacks, and she became a total loss.
Blue Funnel Line named its ships after characters from Greek mythology. Meriones was a warrior in Homer's Iliad.
A new class of Blue Funnel Line ships
Blue Funnel Line lost 16 ships in the First World War. Thereafter the company replaced its fleet, mainly with a class of 11 new steamships of about 460 ft registered length, 58 ft beam and tonnage of about, all launched between 1920 and 1923.
Blue Funnel ordered members of the new class from five different shipyards. Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company built two: SS Automedon at Jarrow and Meriones at Hebburn, both launched in 1921.