Bold Venture
Panamanian Steam merchant
The Bold Venture under her former name Alssund. Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Bold Venture | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 3,222 tons | ||
| Completed | 1920 - NV Scheepswerf Voorheen Jan Smit Czn, Alblasserdam | ||
| Owner | Waterman Steamship Co, Mobile AL | ||
| Homeport | Panama | ||
| Date of attack | 17 Oct 1941 | Nationality:  Panamanian | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-432 (Heinz-Otto Schultze) | ||
| Position | 56° 10'N, 24° 30'W - Grid AL 0143 | ||
| Complement | 34 (17 dead and 17 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | SC-48 | ||
| Route | Baltimore – Sydney, CB (5 Oct) - Liverpool - Glasgow | ||
| Cargo | 2451 tons of cotton, 1007 tons of iron and steel, 1116 tons of copper and 64 tons of wood | ||
| History | Completed in November 1920 as Danish Sierra Leone for M. Nissen, Copenhagen. 1929 renamed Alssund for T.C. Christensen, Copenhagen. 1941 seized by the US government, registered in Panama as Bold Venture by the US Maritime Commission and operated by Waterman Steamship Co. | ||
| Notes on event | Between 03.42 and 03.46 hours on 17 Oct 1941, U-432 attacked three ships in convoy SC-48 while moving on the surface between the seventh and eight columns, first hitting the Bold Venture in station #91 with one torpedo. At 03.43 hours, a spread of two torpedoes missed a ship in the eight column but one hit was claimed on a ship beyond which is not confirmed by Allied reports. The U-boat then fired its stern torpedo and sank Evros in station #63. The Bold Venture, armed with one 4in and two machine guns, had originally been in station #94 but changed to #91 after the ships ahead of her were lost or straggled from convoy. She was hit by the torpedo on port side aft, setting the cargo of cotton on fire, collapsing the mainmast and breaking off the poop which caused the ship to sink by the stern within 10 minutes. The survivors were picked up after two hours by HMCS Wetaskiwin (K 175) (LtCdr G.S. Windeyer, RCN) and landed in Reykjavik on 24 October. | ||
| Revisions | January 2010 by Rainer Kolbicz: The latest reassessment shows that Bold Venture was sunk by U-432 and not U-553 as thought earlier. | ||
| On board | We have details of 16 people who were on board. | ||
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