Port Hardy
Photo courtesy of the Allen Collection
| Name | Port Hardy | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 8,897 tons | ||
| Completed | 1923 - R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd, Hebburn-on-Tyne | ||
| Owner | Port Line Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 28 Apr 1941 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-96 (Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock) | ||
| Position | 60.14N, 15.20W - Grid AL 3437 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 98 (1 dead and 97 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | HX-121 | ||
| Route | Wellington - Panama - Halifax (16 Apr) - Ellesmere Port - Avonmouth | ||
| Cargo | 4000 tons of mutton, 3000 tons of cheese, 700 tons of zinc and general cargo | ||
| History | Completed in February 1923 | ||
| Notes on loss | At 19.25 hours on 28 Apr, 1941, U-96 fired three single torpedoes at three tankers in convoy HX 121 south of Iceland and reported the sinking of two tankers with 18.000 grt and damaging another with 6000 grt after observing three hits. The tankers Oilfield and Caledonia were sunk and the freighter Port Hardy was hit and sunk after the torpedo had missed the intended target. The Port Hardy (Master John Geoffrey Lewis) was hit by one torpedo on the port side abaft the main mast and sank after about three hours. One crew member was lost. The master, 82 crew members, four gunners and ten passengers were picked up by the British rescue ship Zaafaran (Master Charles Kavanagh McGowan, DSC) and landed at Greenock on 1 May. The master John Geoffrey Lewis later survived another sinking when his next ship, the Port Montreal was sunk by U-68 (Merten) on 10 Jun, 1942. | ||
If you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us.