| Career (United Kingdom) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Glentworth[1] |
| Owner: | Dalgliesh Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., Newcastle-upon-Tyne[1] |
| Port of registry: | Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
| Builder: | Hawthorn Leslie & Co, Newcastle-upon-Tyne[1] |
| Yard number: | 490[1] |
| Completed: | 1920[1] |
| Acquired: | 1920[1] |
| Out of service: | 1934[1] |
| Fate: | Sold[1] |
| Career | |
| Name: | SS Box Hill[1] |
| Namesake: | Box Hill, Surrey |
| Owner: | Surrey Hill Steamship Co. Ltd. |
| Operator: | Counties Ship Management Co Ltd, London[1] |
| Port of registry: | London |
| Acquired: | 1934[1] |
| Out of service: | 31 December 1939[1] |
| Fate: | Sunk by mine |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | cargo ship[1] |
| Tonnage: | 5,677 GRT[1] |
| Length: | 450 ft (140 m)[1] |
| Beam: | 55 ft (17 m)[1] |
| Height: | 26 ft (7.9 m)[1] |
| Installed power: | 586 NHP[1] |
| Propulsion: | Hawthorn Leslie triple expansion steam engine[1] |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h)[1] |
| Crew: | 20 or 22[1] |
SS Glentworth was a cargo ship built by Hawthorn Leslie & Co. in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England in 1920 for R.S. Dalgliesh's Dalgliesh Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., also of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.[1] After the Great Depression affected UK merchant shipping in the first years of the 1930s, Dalgliesh sold Glentworth to a company controlled by Counties Ship Management (an offshoot of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking company of London[2]) who renamed her SS Box Hill.[1]
Late in 1939 Box Hill sailed from St John, New Brunswick bound for Hull with a cargo of 8,452 tons wheat.[1] On New Year's Eve she was 9 nautical miles (17 km) off the Humber lightship when she struck a German mine.[1] The explosion broke her back and she sank almost immediately with the loss of all hands.[1]
Box Hill was Counties Ship Management's first loss of the Second World War. CSM's losses continued until just a week before the surrender of Japan in August 1945, by which time the company had lost a total of 13 ships.
Both sections of Box Hill's wreck were a hazard to shipping and showed above the water.[1] In 1952 the Royal Navy dispersed her remains with high explosive and Admiralty charts now mark her position as a "foul" ground.[1]