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 SC 7 was the code name for a large Allied World War II convoy of 35 merchant ships and six escorts, which sailed eastbound from Sydney, Nova Scotia, for Liverpool and other United Kingdom ports on 5 October 1940. While crossing the Atlantic, ...

October 1940, but was sunk by a

German U-boat U-boats were Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the World War I, First and Second World War, Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were ...

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 Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

. She was launched in 1924 and completed in June of that year. The ship had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of heating three 180 lb_f/in² single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . The boilers fed a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine built by Richardsons Westgarth & Company of West Hartlepool that was rated at 442

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 ...

and drove a single screw.

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

, which sailed from

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...

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. ''Corinthic'', carrying a cargo of steel and scrap metal, was one of the minority that survived.

Sinking

Early in 1941 ''Corinthic'' left the river port of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

in northern Argentina with Captain Townson Ridley as her Master and carrying a cargo of 7,710 tons of grain. On 13 April 1941 she was southwest of Freetown in Sierra Leone, West Africa, when , commanded by Kapitänleutnant

Georg-Wilhelm Schulz Georg-Wilhelm Schulz (10 March 1906 – 5 July 1986) was a German U-boat commander of the Second World War. From September 1939 until retiring from front line service in September 1941, he sank 19 ships for a total of . For this he received the K ...

, hit her with one torpedo at 2229 hours. The damage stopped her but she did not sink, so Schulz fired a second torpedo at 2244 hrs. 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. Captain Ridley, 36 officers and men and two DEMS gunners successfully abandoned ship. The Dutch motor

tanker Tanker may refer to: Transportation * Tanker, a tank crewman (US) * Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids ** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk ** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum ta ...

''Malvina'' rescued them and landed them at Freetown.

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corinthic (1924) 1924 ships Maritime incidents in April 1941 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Steamships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Ships built on the River Tees