Ships hit by U-boats


Empire Wave

British Catapult armed merchant


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NameEmpire Wave
Type:Catapult armed merchant (CAM)
Tonnage7,463 tons
Completed1941 - J.L. Thompson & Sons Ltd, Sunderland 
OwnerBarr, Crombie & Co Ltd, Glasgow 
HomeportSunderland 
Date of attack2 Oct 1941Nationality:      British
 
FateSunk by U-562 (Horst Hamm)
Position59° 08'N, 32° 26'W - Grid AK 2717
Complement60 (33 dead and 27 survivors).
ConvoyON-19 (straggler)
RouteSunderland - Belfast - Halifax 
CargoBallast 
History Completed in July 1941 for Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) 
Notes on event

At 06.52 hours on 2 October 1941 the unescorted Empire Wave (Master Clement Porter McLay), a straggler from convoy ON-19, was torpedoed and sunk by U-562 about 500 miles east of Cape Farewell. The master, 19 crew members, five gunners and five other DEMS personnel (RDF and catapult operators) abandoned ship in one lifeboat, but they were never seen again after losing contact with the other lifeboat that contained 23 crew members, one gunner, one DEMS personnel and five RAF personnel. The men in the latter boat were picked up by the Icelandic trawler Surprise on 16 October and landed at St. Patrick’s Fjord, Iceland. However, one man had died of exposure in the lifeboat and two other men died after being taken to a hospital at Reykjavik.

 
On boardWe have details of 35 people who were on board


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