Clansman - January 1977

During World War II, the Liberty Ship "Ocean Verity" was built in USA  under a lend lease agreement and chartered by Clan Line. After the war, the ship was subsequently bought by Clan Line Steamship Company and renamed Clan Keith.

When eventually taken out of service, the ship's bell was given to Capt. C.W.B. Mitchell. who during his sea-going days had sailed in the ship as Chief Officer. Capt. Mitchell had meanwhile been promoted ashore to the Management of the Company's Head Office and by that time had a daughter, coincidently christened Verity.

In 1968, the Clan Line Steamship Company received a letter from the Rev. Felix A. Dias Abeysinghe, the Vicar of All Saints Church, Galle Fort, asking whether in view of the company's long association with the Port of Galle, they could help in locating a Bell for his Church. The letter was passed to Capt. Mitchell, where again fate took a hand as his own Grand Parents had lived in Galle the  century before and thus was only delighted to help. (His Grand Father was the Engineer who constructed the railroad to Galle).

Correspondence followed, culminating in the Bell being delivered in Galle in time for the Midnight Service on 31st December, 1968. Sadly, Capt. Mitchell died in 1976 after a long illness shortly before he would retire.