''Empire Conveyor'' was a shelter deck

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 1917 as ''Farnworth'' by Richardson, Duck and Company,

Thornaby-on-Tees Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census, in t ...

, England. After a sale in 1924 she was renamed ''Illinois''. In 1926, she was sold to France, and in 1934 to Greece and was renamed ''Mount Pentelikon''. In 1939, she was sold to Germany and was renamed ''Gloria''. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She tried to return to Germany but was captured by the Royal Navy, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed ''Empire Conveyor''. She served until 20 June 1940 when she was torpedoed and sunk by off

Barra Head Barra Head, also known as Berneray ( gd, Beàrnaraigh; sco, Barra Heid), is the southernmost island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Within the Outer Hebrides, it forms part of the Barra Isles archipelago. Originally, Barra Head only r ...

Description

The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was assessed at , . The ship had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of heating her three single-ended 180 lb_f/in² boilers, which had a combined heating surface of . The boilers fed a 440

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 that was built by Blair & Co Ltd of

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

. It had cylinders of , and diameter, by stroke and could propel the ship at .

History

Certificate of Competency for Finlay Black Macintyre

Richardson, Duck and Company of

built ''Farnworth'' was built for R.S. Dalgleish Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne and completed her in June 1917. She was allocated the United Kingdom Official Number 140672. ''Farnworth'' was used on routes serving the east and west coast of the United States, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and West Indies. In 1924, she was sold to the Harlem Steamship Co Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne and was renamed ''Illinois''. She was initially operated under the management of F Newson. Later in 1924, management was transferred to Brown, Jenkinson & Co Ltd. In 1926 she was transferred to

Compagnie Générale Transatlantique The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a French shipping company. Established in 1855 by the Péreire brothers, brothers Émile and Issac Péreire under the ...

. Her port of registry was Le Havre and 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 ...

OTRW were allocated. On 17 March 1932, ''Illinois'' was laid up at

Roscanvel Roscanvel (; br, Roskañvel) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Roscanvel are called in French ''Roscanvelistes''. See also *Quélern *Communes of the Finistère department ...

. In 1934, ''Illinois'' was sold to Kulukundis Shipping Co, Piraeus, Greece and renamed ''Mount Pentelikon''. She was placed under the management of Rethymnis & Kulukundis Ltd. Her port of registry was changed to Piraeus and the Code Letters SVAV were allocated. In 1939, ''Mount Pentelikon'' was sold to Orion Schiffahrts GmbH, Rostock, Germany. She was operated under the management of E Behnke. The Code Letters DHBB were allocated. At the outbreak of the Second World War ''Gloria'' was at Buenos Aires, Argentina. She departed Buenos Aires on 6 October, bound for Hamburg. On 21 October she was captured south-east of Iceland () by , escorted into Kirkwall and then taken to Leith. During the voyage into Kirkwall, three of her crew attempted to escape by lifeboat but were recaptured and taken to

Methil Methil (Scottish Gaelic: Meadhchill) is an eastern coastal town in Scotland. It was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to the Bishop of St Andrews. Two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as ov ...

, Scotland. ''Gloria'' was passed to the MoWT and renamed ''Empire Conveyor''. Her port of registry was changed to London, and the Code Letters GLTN were allocated. ''Empire Conveyor'' regained her Official Number 140572. She was placed under the management of H Hogarth & Sons Ltd. On 20 June 1940, ''Empire Conveyor'' was torpedoed by south west of

, Scotland at . Her radio aerials were damaged in the attack and ''Empire Conveyor'' was unable to call for assistance. She was spotted by a Royal Air Force

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 ...

aircraft, which attacked ''U-122'' and drove her away. The crew of the Sunderland raised the alarm, and the

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

was sent to her aid, escorted by and . ''Empire Conveyor'' sank before the ships reached her. The crew took to the lifeboats and liferafts but one of them was swamped at launch, killing the captain, Finlay Macintyre,UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates, Certificates, 1850-1927, Certificate #0012007 for Finlay Black McIntyre as Master of a foreign-going steamship the second engineer and the cook. Thirty-eight survivors were rescued by HMS ''Campbell'' and landed at Liverpool on 21 June. ''Empire Conveyor'' was the only ship sunk by ''U-122''. Those lost on ''Empire Conveyor'' 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

External links

Photo of ''Farnworth''Photo of ''Farnworth''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Conveyor 1917 ships Empire ships Maritime incidents in October 1939 Maritime incidents in June 1940 Merchant ships of France Merchant ships of Germany Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ministry of War Transport ships Shipwrecks of Scotland Ships of Counties Ship Management Ships of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Steamships of France Steamships of Germany Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Tees World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of Germany