Boston
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Boston | ||
| Type: | Steam passenger ship | ||
| Tonnage | 4.989 tons | ||
| Completed | 1924 - Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp, Sparrow´s Point MD | ||
| Owner | Coast Lines Ltd, Liverpool | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 25 Sep, 1942 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-216 (Karl-Otto Schultz) | ||
| Position | 54.23N, 27.54W - Grid AK 6656 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 65 (0 dead and 65 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | RB-1 | ||
| Route | New York - St. Johns (21 Sep) - Londonderry | ||
| Cargo | Ballast | ||
| History | Built as American Boston for Eastern Steamship Lines, Portsmouth. 1942 given to Britain and transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). | ||
| Notes on loss | At 16.37 hours on 25 Sep, 1942, U-216 fired a four torpedo spread at the convoy RB-1 southeast of Cape Farewell and reported three hits on a passenger ship of the Viceroy of India type (19.000 tons). The Boston was used on the Great Lakes before the war and had a high superstructure and twin funnels which led Schultz to overestimate his target. The master, 54 crew members and ten gunners from the Boston (Master Robert Cook Smith Young) were picked up by HMS Veteran (D 72) (LtCdr Trevor Henry Garwood, RN), which was sunk the next day by U-404 (von Bülow). Only two crew members from the survivors of Boston were rescued by the American merchant New Bedford, which acted as rescue vessel of the convoy. | ||
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