SS Ben Robertson was a Liberty ship, Maritime Commission hull number 2432, built during World War II and named for Clemson University alumnus (Class of 1923), journalist, and war correspondent Benjamin F. Robertson, who was killed in the crash of a Pan Am Boeing 314 flying boat, the Yankee Clipper, in the Tagus River, near Lisbon, Portugal, on 22 February 1943.

Mrs. Julian Longley, Robertson's sister, of Dalton, Georgia, was sponsor for the new ship, part of a nationwide maritime program of naming Liberty ships for war correspondents killed in action.

The Ben Robertson was sold to a private firm in 1947, one of five Liberty ships acquired by Constantine G. Gratsos, one of the brothers of the George D. Gratsos Shipping Company of Athens, whose roots date to 1902,[4] and was reflagged for Greece.

The ship was renamed Kastor, and homeported at Ithaca,[5] with Dracoulis, Ltd., of London acting as agent.

Title changed slightly to George D. Gratsos, Athens, in 1949, and to Gratsos Bros., Athens, in 1963,[3] the peak year for Liberty ship ownership when the Cuban blockade encouraged high freight rates.