Saranac
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Saranac | ||
| Type: | Steam tanker | ||
| Tonnage | 12.049 tons | ||
| Completed | 1918 - Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd, Jarrow and Hebburn-on-Tyne | ||
| Owner | Anglo-American Oil Co Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | Newcastle | ||
| Date of attack | 25 Jun, 1940 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-51 (Dietrich Knorr) | ||
| Position | 48.24N, 15.05W - Grid BE 3783 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 44 (4 dead and 40 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | OA-172 | ||
| Route | Fawley - Aruba | ||
| Cargo | Ballast | ||
| History | | ||
| Notes on loss | At 15.51 hours on 25 Jun, 1940, the Saranac (Master Vernon Horace Alcock) in convoy OA-172 was hit by one torpedo from U-51 about 270 miles west-southwest of Lands End and was immediately abandoned by the crew. At 17.37 hours, the U-boat surfaced and tried to sink the tanker by gunfire, but she sank 15 minutes after being hit by a coup de grāce at 19.15 hours. Four crew members were lost. The master and 30 crew members were picked up by HMS Hurricane (H 06) (LtCdr H.C. Simms) and landed at Plymouth. Nine crew members were picked up by the British trawler Caliph and landed at Berehaven, Co. Cork. | ||
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