Empire Eland
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| Name | Empire Eland | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 5,613 tons | ||
| Completed | 1920 - Long Beach Shipbuilding Co, Long Beach CA | ||
| Owner | Douglas & Ramsay, Glasgow | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 15 Sep 1941 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-94 (Otto Ites) | ||
| Position | 54N, 28W - Grid AK 6764 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 38 (38 dead - no survivors) | ||
| Convoy | ON-14 (straggler) | ||
| Route | Liverpool - Mobile - Tampa | ||
| Cargo | Ballast | ||
| History | Completed in July 1920 as West Kedron for US Shipping Board (USSB). 1928 transferred to American West African Line (Barber SS Co), New York. 1933 returned to US Shipping Board (USSB). 1937 laid up as part of the reserve fleet by the US Maritime Commission. 1940 handed over to Britain and renamed Empire Eland by Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). | ||
| Notes on loss | At 23.48 hours on 15 Sep, 1941, the Empire Eland (Master Donald Cameron Sinclair), a straggler from convoy ON-14, was hit by one torpedo from U-94 southeast of Cape Farewell. The ship had been first spotted at 14.00 hours, but the lookouts shortly afterwards spotted another straggler from the same convoy and sank the Pegasus first. The U-boat then chased and torpedoed Empire Eland. At 23.57 hours, a first coup de grāce missed but the ship sank by the stern after being hit aft by a second at 00.30 hours on 16 September. The Germans had observed how the crew abandoned ship after the first hit. However, the master, 32 crew members and five gunners were lost. | ||
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