''Empire Cowper'' was a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

that was built in 1941 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, United Kingdom. She was built for the Ministry of War Transport. ''Empire Cowper'' was bombed and sunk on 11 April 1942 whilst a member of

Convoy QP 10 Convoy QP 10 was an Arctic convoy of World War II, consisting of empty merchant ships returning from the Soviet Union after delivering their cargo there. The convoy consisted of 16 merchant ships and an escort of nine warships. The convoy depart ...

Description

''Empire Cowper'' was built in 1941 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd,

. Yard number 682, she was launched on 23 September and completed in December, The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was assessed at , . Her DWT was 10,173. The ship was propelled by a 511

nhp Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke. The engine was built by John Brown & Co Ltd,

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

History

''Empire Cowper'' was completed in December 1941, and placed under the management of R Chapman & Son. The

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

169003 was allocated, as were the

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

BCTF. ''Empire Cowper'' was a member of Convoy PQ 13, which departed Loch Ewe on 10 March 1942 and arrived at Murmansk, Soviet Union on 31 March. She arrived at Reykjavík, Iceland on 16 March and departed on 20 March to join the convoy. ''Empire Cowper'' was a member of

, which departed the Kola Inlet on 10 April and arrived at Reykjavík on 21 April. On 11 April, she was bombed by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft and sunk in the Barents Sea at , with the loss of nine of her crew. Those lost on ''Empire Cowper'' are commemorated at the

Tower Hill Memorial The Tower Hill Memorial is a pair of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials in Trinity Square Gardens, on Tower Hill in London, England. The memorials, one for the First World War and one for the Second, commemorate civilian, merchant seaf ...

, London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Cowper 1941 ships Ships built on the River Wear Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in April 1942 Shipwrecks in the Barents Sea Ships sunk by German aircraft World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean