Convoy HX-84
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HX-84 was a World War II convoy of 38 ships which sailed eastbound from Halifax, Nova Scotia for Liverpool, England on 28 October 1940.
The ocean escort was the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Jervis Bay, a converted liner fitted with eight ancient 6-inch guns.
On November 5, the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer found the convoy at 50°30'N 32°W and attacked immediately. Captain E.S.F. Fegen of the Jervis Bay attacked the raider so as to delay the Scheer to allow the convoy to escape. The Jervis Bay was quickly sunk with the loss of 190 of her crew. Nevertheless, their sacrifice gave the convoy time to scatter, allowing many of the merchantmen to escape.
Maiden, Trewellard, Kenbame Head, Beaverford, and Fresno were sunk, and the tanker San Demetrio damaged, but failing light now allowed the rest of the convoy to escape. The San Demetrio was abandoned by her master and crew. Two days later some of the crew, now in a lifeboat, sighted the San Demetrio, still afloat and still ablaze. They reboarded her, got the engines running, and brought her in to port. This incident later formed the basis for the script of a film of the same name.
