Sourabaya
British Whale factory ship
| Name | Sourabaya | ||
| Type: | Whale factory ship | ||
| Tonnage | 10,107 tons | ||
| Completed | 1915 - Workman, Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast | ||
| Owner | Christian Salvesen & Co, Edinburgh | ||
| Homeport | Leith | ||
| Date of attack | 27 Oct 1942 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-436 (Günther Seibicke) | ||
| Position | 54° 32'N, 31° 02'W - Grid AK 6725 | ||
| Complement | 158 (77 dead and 81 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | HX-212 | ||
| Route | New York (18 Oct) - Liverpool | ||
| Cargo | 7800 tons of fuel oil, 200 tons of war stores and a landing craft as deck cargo | ||
| History | Completed in February 1915 as steam passenger ship Carmarthenshire for Royal Mail Lines Ltd, London. 1929 converted to the whale factory ship Sourabaya for Christian Salvesen & Co, Edinburgh. | ||
| Notes on event | At 23.03 hours on 27 Oct 1942, U-436 fired a torpedo at convoy HX-212 southeast of Cape Farewell, heard a detonation after 59 seconds and observed the hit on the Frontenac. Five minutes later a spread of three torpedoes was fired and detonations were heard after 1 minute, 1 minute 16 seconds and 2 minutes 24 seconds. The third torpedo sank the Sourabaya and the fourth damaged the Gurney E. Newlin, both hits were observed by Seibicke. At 23.11 hours, U-436 fired the stern torpedo and reported another ship damaged, but this is not confirmed by Allied sources. The master, 36 crew members, 24 passengers, 16 DBS and four gunners from Sourabaya (Master William Thompson Dawson) were picked up by HMCS Alberni (K 103) (Lt I.H. Bell, RCNVR) and HMCS Ville de Quebec (K 242) (LtCdr A.R.E. Coleman, RCNR) and landed at Liverpool on 2 November. 26 crew members, 31 passengers, 16 DBS and four gunners were picked up by the Bic Island, which was torpedoed and sunk with all hands by U-224 (Kosbadt) on 29 October. The British landing craft HMS LCT-2281 (291 tons) on deck was lost with the vessel. | ||
| On board | We have details of 91 people who were on board. | ||
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