SS Scoresby

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.

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:

360.0 feet (109.7 m)[1] p/p

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]

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. Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1940. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Allen, Tony (17 October 2012). "SS Beatus (+1940)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  4. Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Scoresby". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  6. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OB.77". OB Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  7. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.28". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  8. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OA.150G". OA Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  9. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OG.30". OG Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  10. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.53". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  11. Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OA.207". OA Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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