Afrika
British Motor merchant
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Afrika | ||
| Type: | Motor merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 8,597 tons | ||
| Completed | 1920 - Burmeister & Wain´s Maskin & Skibsbyggeri A/S, Copenhagen | ||
| Owner | United Baltic Co, London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 7 Feb 1943 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-402 (Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner) | ||
| Position | 55° 16'N, 26° 31'W - Grid AL 4441 | ||
| Complement | 60 (23 dead and 37 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | SC-118 | ||
| Route | Halifax - Liverpool | ||
| Cargo | 5000 tons of steel and 6457 tons of government and general cargo, including grain and explosives | ||
| History | Completed in March 1920 as Afrika for A/S Det Østasiatiske Kompagni, Copenhagen. On 14 Apr 1940, she was en route from Aden to Colombo and seized by HMAS Hobart (D 63) (Capt H.L. Howden, OBE, RAN). Taken over by Britain and transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). | ||
| Notes on event | At 06.36 hours on 7 Feb 1943 the Afrika (Master Emanuel Broholm Jensen) in station #105 of convoy SC-118 was hit in hold #5 by one torpedo from U-402 and sank in 8 minutes southeast of Cape Farewell. Heavy weather made it difficult to abandon ship and one of the three launched lifeboats capsized. The master, 18 crew members and four gunners were lost. 29 crew members, six gunners and two passengers were picked up by HMS Campanula (K 18) (LtCdr B.A. Rogers, RD, RNR) and HMS Mignonette (K 38) (Lt H.H. Brown, RNR) and landed at Liverpool. | ||
| On board | We have details of 20 people who were on board. | ||
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