SS Scoresby
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name: | Scoresby |
Owner: | Rowland & Marwood's SS Co, Ltd[1] |
Operator: | Headlam & Son[1] |
Port of registry: | Whitby[1] |
Builder: | Robert Thompson & Sons Ltd, Bridge Dockyard, Sunderland[1] |
Yard number: | 316[2] |
Completed: | January 1923[1] |
Identification: |
|
Fate: | sunk by torpedo, 17 October 1940[5] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | cargo steamship |
Tonnage: | |
Length: | 371 ft 6 in (113.23 m) LOA |
Beam: | 50.0 feet (15.2 m)[1] |
Draught: | 22 ft 6 3⁄4 in (6.88 m)[1] |
Depth: | 22.9 feet (7.0 m)[1] |
Installed power: | 340 NHP[1] |
Propulsion: | |
Speed: | 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h) |
Crew: | 39[5] |
SS Scoresby was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1923, sailed in a number of transatlantic convoys in 1940 and was sunk by a U-boat that October.
Building
Robert Thompson & Sons Ltd of Bridge Dockyard, Sunderland built Scoresby, completing her in January 1923.[1] She had eight corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 128 square feet (12 m2) that heated two 180 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 5,276 square feet (490 m2).[1] The boilers fed a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that was rated at 436 NHP and drove a single screw.[1] The engine was built by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Co, Ltd, also of Sunderland.[1]
Scoresby owner was Rowland and Marwood's Steam Ship Co, Ltd, who registered her in Whitby.[1] She was managed by another Rowland and Marwood's company, Headlam & Sons.[1]
Second World War career
By January 1940 Beatus was sailing in convoys.[6] That month she sailed from Liverpool with Convoy OB-77 as far as the coast of Canada, whence she continued to San Domingo.[6] In March she returned to the UK with a convoy of sugar, sailing via Halifax, Nova Scotia where she joined Convoy HX-28 that reached Liverpool on 2 April.[7]
In May 1940 Scoresby crossed the North Atlantic from Britain to Saint John, New Brunswick. She sailed with Convoy OA-150G from Southend,[8] which merged with Convoy OA-150G off Land's End to form Convoy OG-30 to Gibraltar.[9] In June she returned to the UK with a cargo of pit props, sailing via Halifax, Nova Scotia where she joined Convoy HX-53 that reached Liverpool on 10 July.[10]
Scoresby spent the rest of July and August in home waters, sailing in short-haul convoys around Britain. Then on 31 August she sailed from Methil in Scotland with Convoy OA-207 to Canada.[11]
Convoy SC-7 and sinking
Scoresby sailed from Corner Brook, Newfoundland with a cargo of 1,685 fathoms (3,082 m) of pit props bound for the Clyde in Scotland.[5] She sailed via St. Francis Harbour, Nova Scotia and Sydney, Nova Scotia, where she joined Convoy SC-7.[5] Her Master was Lawrence Zebedee Weatherill, and she carried the Convoy Vice-Commodore.[5] SC-7 left Sydney on 5 October. At first the convoy had only one escort ship, the Hastings-class sloop HMS Scarborough. A wolf pack of U-boats found the convoy on 16 October and quickly overwhelmed it, sinking many ships over the next few days.
At 0553 hrs on 17 October SC-7 was about 160 nautical miles (300 km) northwest of Rockall when German submarine U-48, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt, fired three torpedoes at the convoy.[5] Two ships were hit and sunk: Scoresby and the French tanker Languedoc.[5] Captain Weatherill and his entire crew successfully abandoned ship, were rescued by the Flower-class corvette HMS Bluebell, and on 20 October were landed at Gourock in Scotland.[5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1940. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Allen, Tony (17 October 2012). "SS Beatus (+1940)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Scoresby". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- 1 2 Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OB.77". OB Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.28". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OA.150G". OA Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OG.30". OG Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.53". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OA.207". OA Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
Coordinates: 59°14′N 17°51′W / 59.233°N 17.850°W