SS Scoresby

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SS Scoresby.jpg
History
United Kingdom
NameScoresby
OwnerRowland & Marwood's SS Co, Ltd[3]
OperatorHeadlam & Son[3]
Port of registryWhitby[3]
BuilderRobert Thompson & Sons Ltd, Bridge Dockyard, Sunderland[3]
Yard number316[4]
CompletedJanuary 1923[3]
Identification
Fatesunk by torpedo, 17 October 1940[5]
General characteristics
Class and typecargo steamship
Tonnage
Length360.0 feet (109.7 m)[3] p/p 371 ft 6 in (113.23 m) LOA[citation needed]
Beam50.0 feet (15.2 m)[3]
Draught22 ft 6+3⁄4 in (6.88 m)[3]
Depth22.9 feet (7.0 m)[3]
Installed power340 NHP[3]
Propulsion
  • triple-expansion steam engine;
  • single screw[3]
Speed8.5 knots (15.7 km/h)[citation needed]
Crew39[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.[3] 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).[3] The boilers fed a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that was rated at 436 NHP and drove a single screw.[3] The engine was built by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Co, Ltd, also of Sunderland.[3]

Scoresby owner was Rowland and Marwood's Steam Ship Co, Ltd, who registered her in Whitby.[3] She was managed by another Rowland and Marwood's company, Headlam & Sons.[3]

Second World War career[]

By January 1940 Beatus was sailing in convoys.[6] That month she sailed from Liverpool with 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 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 from Southend,[8] which merged with off Land's End to form to Gibraltar.[9] In June she returned to the UK with a cargo of pit props, sailing via Halifax, Nova Scotia where she joined 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 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. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  2. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1940. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  4. ^ Allen, Tony (17 October 2012). "SS Beatus (+1940)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Scoresby". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OB.77". OB Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  7. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.28". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  8. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OA.150G". OA Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  9. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OG.30". OG Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  10. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.53". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  11. ^ 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 / 59.233; -17.850

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