Pyrrhus
Photo courtesy of the Allen Collection
| Name | Pyrrhus | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 7.418 tons | ||
| Completed | 1914 - Workman, Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast | ||
| Owner | Alfred Holt & Co, Liverpool | ||
| Homeport | Liverpool | ||
| Date of attack | 17 Feb, 1940 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-37 (Werner Hartmann) | ||
| Position | 44.02N, 10.18W - Grid BF 7555 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 85 (8 dead and 77 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | OG-18 | ||
| Route | Glasgow - Liverpool - Gibraltar - Manila | ||
| Cargo | 4000 tons of general cargo, including whisky, golf clubs and embroidery | ||
| History | Completed in November 1914 | ||
| Notes on loss | At 15.53 hours on 17 Feb, 1940, the Pyrrhus (Master William Thomas Spencer) in convoy OG-18 was hit by one torpedo from U-37 northwest of Cape Finisterre and broke in two. The afterpart sank immediately and the forepart two days later. Eight crew members were lost. She was the ship of the vice-commodore Rear-Admiral R.A. Hamilton RN. The master, the vice-commodore, five naval staff members and 70 crew members were picked up by the British merchants Uskside and Sinnington Court and landed at Gibraltar. | ||
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