Gairsoppa
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Gairsoppa | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 5,237 tons | ||
| Completed | 1919 - Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd, Hebburn-on-Tyne | ||
| Owner | British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | Glasgow | ||
| Date of attack | 17 Feb 1941 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-101 (Ernst Mengersen) | ||
| Position | 50.00N, 14.00W - Grid BE 3437 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 85 (84 dead and 1 survivor). | ||
| Convoy | SL-64 (straggler) | ||
| Route | Calcutta - Freetown (30 Jan) - London | ||
| Cargo | 2600 tons of pig iron, 1765 tons of tea, 2369 tons of general cargo and £600.000 of silver ingots | ||
| History | Laid down as War Roebuck for The Shipping Controller, completed in October 1919 as Gairsoppa for British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 00.08 hours on 17 Feb, 1941, the Gairsoppa (Master Gerald Hyland), a straggler from convoy SL-64, was hit just behind the bridge by one G7a torpedo from U-101 about 300 miles southwest of Galway. The U-boat had spotted the ship six hours earlier but had troubles to hit her due to heavy seas and missed with a spread of two torpedoes at 23.28 hours and one G7e torpedo at 23.32 hours. Mengersen decided to give up further attacks when a coup de grāce missed at 00.20 hours, assuming correctly that the burning freighter will sink in the heavy seas. The master, 81 crew members and two gunners were lost. The only survivor, the second officer, made landfall near Lizard on 1 March. | ||
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