Gravelines
British Steam merchant
Name | Gravelines | ||
Type: | Steam merchant | ||
Tonnage | 2,491 tons | ||
Completed | 1925 - Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend, Sunderland | ||
Owner | Frank S. Dawson Ltd, Cardiff | ||
Homeport | Bristol | ||
Date of attack | 31 May 1941 | Nationality: British | |
Fate | A total loss by U-147 (Eberhard Wetjen) | ||
Position | 56° 00'N, 11° 13'W | ||
Complement | 36 (11 dead and 25 survivors). | ||
Convoy | HX-127 (straggler) | ||
Route | St.John, New Brunswick - Halifax - London | ||
Cargo | 1101 standards of timber | ||
History | Completed in April 1925 as Belgian Roi Albert for Ocean Société Anonyme Belge d’Armement & de Navigation (L. Dens & Co), Antwerp. 1938 sold to France and renamed Gravelines for Compagnie France-Navigation Société Anonyme, Dunkirk. On 17 July 1940 seized by Britain and taken over by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). | ||
Notes on event | On 31 May 1941 the unescorted Gravelines (Master Jean Soulé), a straggler from convoy HX-127, was torpedoed by U-147 northwest of Bloody Foreland and broke in two. The master and ten crew members died. 23 crew members and two gunners were picked up by HMS Deptford (L 53) (LtCdr H.R. White, RN) and landed at Liverpool. The afterpart of the Gravelines sank and the forepart was towed to the Clyde and beached at Kames Bay on 3 June. The vessel was declared a total loss and broken up at Rothesay in 1942. | ||
On board | We have details of 11 people who were on board. |
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