[1] The turbines were built by Richardsons Westgarth & Company of Hartlepool,[1] which was part of the same group as Furness Shipbuilding.

[1] As built, she had two goalpost masts: one forward, just aft of her bow, and the other astern of her midship accommodation block.

[1] London Valour was the first of five 24,900 long tons deadweight (DWT) sister ships ordered from Furness.

[9] LOF and LOT therefore had the sisters converted into bulk carriers, and awarded the work to Industria Navali Meccaniche Affini (INMA) of La Spezia, Italy.

[10] On 2 April 1970 London Valour left the Soviet port of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea with a cargo of 23,606 tons of iron ore for Genoa in northern Italy.

[11] On 7 April she arrived off the Port of Genoa and she anchored in the roads about 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) south of the Duca di Galliera harbour mole to await a berth.

[4] London Valour's Master, Captain Donald Muir, held a meeting on the bridge but considered the ship was not in particular danger.

At about 1435 hrs they saw London Valour was within 200 to 300 metres (660 to 980 ft) of the mole and notified the harbour master's office.

[4] Teti put to sea to meet Canguro Verde, but Santagata continued to direct the rescue operation from the pilot boat.

London Valour's double bottom, which contained her bunker fuel, had ruptured and was leaking thick black oil into the sea.

MacIsaac remained in command of the after part, acted with courage and initiative and saved many of his shipmates,[4][12] but became exhausted by his efforts and did not himself survive.

[4] At 1615 hrs Teti returned to sea and sighted an exhausted man in the water and covered with fuel oil.

[4] The sea was tossing Teti so violently that her crew could not haul the two men aboard, so she towed them to calmer water inside the mole.

[4] Some sources suggest that the breaking of the ship into two coincided with the fire service's attempt to winch Dorothy Muir to safety, that this caused the breeches buoy's 220-metre (720-foot) nylon rope to flex and this was what caused it first to jam and then to fling Dorothy Muir onto the rocks.

[4] The crew of a fire service helicopter threw a lifebelt to the third engineer, Arthur Carey, who managed to catch it and was rescued.

The chief officer landed on the monkey island on top of London Valour's bridge, and was later rescued by the harbour master's boat.

[4] Gatti asked the Dutch party to authorise the tugs to recover as much as possible of the towing cables and then cast the hulk loose before it sank.

[1] On 23 June 1970 Paolo Cavezzali, Italy's Under-secretary of State for the Merchant Marine made a statement to the Italian Senate.

[20] Cavezzali stated that an initial investigation found that errors by three of London Valour's officers "could not be ruled out".

[20] Cavezzali cited the initial investigation as alleging that the officers were not always on the bridge and had not remarked on the falling atmospheric pressure.

[21] Two years later in Britain the Royal Courts of Justice considered the shipwreck under the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict.

[22] The Court sat in Westminster in 1972 on 19, 20, 21, 24 and 25 April[22] and issued its judgement on 17 May,[4] which attributed the stranding and loss to "the wrongful act or default" of the late Captain Muir.

[4][22] Italy awarded the Medaglia di benemerenza marinara [it] ("Marine Medal of Merit") to participants in the rescue.

[4] Harbour master Giuliano Telmon and fire service helicopter pilot Captain Rinaldo Enrico received gold medals.

[4] Two Genovese Fire Service divers (Vigili del Fuoco di Genova), Severino Ferrazzin and Luigi Neni, also received bronze metals.

[citation needed] In 1977 Ferrazzin was made a Knight of the Italian Republic for his intervention in rescue, at sea, the steamship.

[clarification needed] In April 1973 Britain awarded the Medal for Saving Life at Sea to two of London Valour's officers.

[12] Donald MacIsaac was posthumously awarded the silver medal for his command of the after part of the ship, which "undoubtedly saved many lives" from the "ferocious seas sweeping across the vessel's decks".

[12] LOF presented London Valour's wheel to Genoa's Ospedale San Martino ("St Martin's Hospital") in gratitude for its treatment of the injured.

[4][14] The company presented her Red Ensign and small bell[13] to the harbour master[21] of the Port of Genoa.