Afrika
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Afrika | ||
| Type: | Motor merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 8.597 tons | ||
| Completed | 1920 - Burmeister & Wain´s Maskin & Skibsbyggeri A/S, Copenhagen | ||
| Owner | United Baltic Co, London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 7 Feb, 1943 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-402 (Baron Siegfried von Forstner) | ||
| Position | 55.16N, 26.31W - Grid AL 4441 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 60 (23 dead and 37 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | SC-118 | ||
| Route | Halifax - Liverpool | ||
| Cargo | 5000 tons of steel and 6457 tons of government and general cargo, including grain and explosives | ||
| History | Completed in March 1920 as Danish Afrika for Det Østasiatiske Kompagni A/S, Copenhagen. On 14 Apr, 1940, the Afrika en route from Aden to Colombo was seized by HMAS Hobart (D 63). Taken over by Britain and transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). | ||
| Notes on loss | At 06.36 hours on 7 Feb, 1943, the Afrika (Master Emanuel Broholm Jensen) in station #105 of convoy SC-118 was hit in hold #5 by one torpedo from U-402 and sank in 8 minutes southeast of Cape Farewell. Heavy weather made it difficult to abandon ship and one of the three launched lifeboats capsized. The master, 18 crew members and four gunners were lost. 29 crew members, six gunners and two passengers were picked up by HMS Campanula (K 18) (LtCdr B.A. Royes) and HMS Mignonette (K 38) (Lt H.H. Brown, RNR) and landed at Liverpool. | ||
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