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SS Scoresby

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Coordinates: 59°14′N 17°51′W / 59.233°N 17.850°W / 59.233; -17.850
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Scoresby
History
United Kingdom
NameScoresby
OwnerRowland & Marwood's SS Co, Ltd[1]
OperatorHeadlam & Son[1]
Port of registryWhitby[1]
BuilderRobert Thompson & Sons Ltd, Bridge Dockyard, Sunderland[1]
Yard number316[4]
Launched18 December 1922
CompletedJanuary 1923[1]
Identification
Fatesunk by torpedo, 17 October 1940[5]
General characteristics
Class and typecargo steamship
Tonnage
Length360.1 ft (109.8 m)[1] registered length
Beam50.0 feet (15.2 m)[1]
Draught22 ft 6+3⁄4 in (6.88 m)[1]
Depth22.9 feet (7.0 m)[1]
Installed power340 NHP[1]
Propulsion
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

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Robert 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

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By 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]

Scoresby in port

Convoy SC 7 and sinking

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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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "Steamers and Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Vol. II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  3. ^ "Steamers and Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). Vol. II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  4. ^ Allen, Tony (17 October 2012). "SS Beatus (+1940)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  5. ^ 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. ^ "Scoresby". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  7. ^ a b Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OB.77". OB Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  8. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.28". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  9. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OA.150G". OA Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  10. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OG.30". OG Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  11. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.53". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  12. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OA.207". OA Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.

59°14′N 17°51′W / 59.233°N 17.850°W / 59.233; -17.850

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