SS Corinthic (1924)

History
United Kingdom
Name: Corinthic
Owner: W.H. Cockerline & Co[1]
Port of registry: Hull[1]
Builder: Irvine's Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co Ltd,[1] Middleton Shipyard, West Hartlepool
Yard number: 617[2]
Completed: June 1924[1]
Out of service: 13 April 1941[3]
Identification:
Fate: Torpedoed and sunk on 13 April 1941[3]
General characteristics
Class and type: cargo steamship[3]
Tonnage:
Length: 390.1 feet (118.9 m)[1] p/p
Beam: 55.5 feet (16.9 m)[1]
Draught: 24 feet 4 1⁄2 inches (7.43 m)[1]
Depth: 26.2 feet (8.0 m)[1]
Installed power: 442 NHP[1]
Propulsion:
Crew: 39 + two DEMS gunners (1941)[3]

SS Corinthic was a British cargo steamship. She was built on Teesside in 1924, sailed in a number of convoys in the Second World War, survived an overwhelming German attack on Convoy SC-7 October 1940, but was sunk by a German U-boat off West Africa in April 1941.

Early career

Irvine's Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co Ltd of Middleton Shipyard, West Hartlepool built Corinthic for W.H. Cockerline & Co, who registered her in Hull.[1] She was launched in 1924 and completed in June of that year.[1] The ship had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 182 square feet (17 m2) heating three 180 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 7,551 square feet (702 m2).[1] The boilers fed a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine[1] built by Richardsons Westgarth & Company of West Hartlepool that was rated at 442 NHP and drove a single screw.[1]

World War II service

In the Second World War Corinthic sailed in convoys for protection against German naval and air attacks. She was part of Convoy SC-7, which sailed from Sydney, Nova Scotia for Liverpool on 5 October 1940. The convoy was overwhelmed by U-boats in a wolfpack attack, losing 20 out of its 35 merchant ships.[5] Corinthic, carrying a cargo of steel and scrap metal, was one of the minority that survived.[6]

Sinking

Early in 1941 Corinthic left the river port of Rosario in northern Argentina with Captain Townson Ridley as her Master and carrying a cargo of 7,710 tons of grain.[3] On 13 April 1941 she was southwest of Freetown in Sierra Leone, West Africa, when German submarine U-124, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Georg-Wilhelm Schulz, hit her with one torpedo at 2229 hours.[3] The damage stopped her but she did not sink, so Schulz fired a second torpedo at 2244 hrs.[3] This was a dud, so at 2254 hrs he fired a third torpedo, after which Corinthic sank and two members of her crew were killed.[3] Captain Ridley, 36 officers and men and two DEMS gunners successfully abandoned ship.[3] The Dutch motor tanker Malvina rescued them and landed them at Freetown.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1931. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  2. ↑ Allen, Tony (1 July 2013). "SS Corinthic (+1941)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Corinthic". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1941. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "SC-7". Convoy Battles. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  6. ↑ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy SC.7". SC Convoy Series. Arnold Hague. Retrieved 5 August 2013.

Coordinates: 8°10′N 14°40′W / 8.167°N 14.667°W / 8.167; -14.667

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