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.
 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[4] |
| Launched | 18 December 1922 |
| Completed | January 1923[1] |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | sunk by torpedo, 17 October 1940[5] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | cargo steamship |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 360.1 ft (109.8 m)[1] registered length |
| 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)[citation needed] |
| Crew | 39[5] |
Building
editRobert Thompson & Sons Ltd of Bridge Dockyard, Sunderland built Scoresby.[1] She was launched on 18 December 1922 and completed in January 1923.[6]
Scoresby 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
editBy January 1940 Beatus was sailing in convoys.[7] That month she sailed from Liverpool with Convoy OB 77 as far as the coast of Canada, whence she continued to San Domingo.[7] 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.[8]
In May 1940 Scoresby crossed the North Atlantic from Britain to Saint John, New Brunswick. She sailed with Convoy OA 150G from Southend,[9] which merged with Convoy OA 150G off Land's End to form Convoy OG 30 to Gibraltar.[10] 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.[11]
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.[12]
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Convoy SC 7 and sinking
editScoresby 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
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Steamers and Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Vol. I. London: Lloyd's Register. 1940. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Steamers and Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Vol. II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Steamers and Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Vol. II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ Allen, Tony (17 October 2012). "SS Beatus (+1940)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Scoresby". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ "Scoresby". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
- ^ a b 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.