Silverbeech
Photo courtesy of the Allen Collection
| Name | Silverbeech | ||
| Type: | Motor merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 5.319 tons | ||
| Completed | 1926 - Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd, Sunderland | ||
| Owner | Silver Line Ltd (Stanley & John Thompson Ltd), London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 28 Mar, 1943 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-159 (Helmut Witte) | ||
| Position | 25.30N, 15.55W - Grid DU 2555 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 67 (59 dead and 8 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | RS-3 | ||
| Route | Liverpool - Gibraltar - Freetown - Lagos | ||
| Cargo | 5053 tons of general cargo, including ammunition and high explosives | ||
| History | Completed in November 1926 On 13 Mar, 1943, the Silverbeech was damaged in a collision in convoy OS-44 with the Dutch motor merchant Djambi (6984 grt), which sank without casualties in 39°N/10°W. She was the ship of the vice-commodore in station #81 and had to left the convoy for repairs in Gibraltar. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 14.48 hours on 28 Mar, 1943, the Silverbeech (Master Thomas George Hyem) in convoy RS-3 was torpedoed and sunk by U-159 southeast of the Canary Islands. The U-boat dived after firing a spread of four torpedoes and heard several detonations, but U-172 (Emmermann) was chasing the same convoy and was badly shaken when the ship blew up in a distance of about 2000 metres. Witte later surfaced and passed a large field of debris, they also found several pieces of twisted metal on deck. The master, 50 crew members, five gunners and three passengers were lost. Two crew members and six gunners were picked up by the British tug Empire Ace and landed at Bathurst, Gambia. | ||
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