Corbis
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
| Name | Corbis | ||
| Type: | Motor tanker | ||
| Tonnage | 8.132 tons | ||
| Completed | 1931 - Workman, Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast | ||
| Owner | Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 18 Apr, 1943 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-180 (Werner Musenberg) | ||
| Position | 34.56S, 34.03E - Grid KZ 6568 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 60 (50 dead and 10 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Abadan (21 Mar) - Bandar Abbas (25 Mar) - Capetown | ||
| Cargo | 13.100 tons of diesel oil and 50 tons of aviation spirit | ||
| History | Completed in December 1931 | ||
| Notes on loss | At 03.56 hours on 18 Apr, 1943, the unescorted Corbis (Master Stanley Wilfred Appleton) was hit by two torpedoes from U-180 about 500 miles east-southeast of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. At 04.10 hours, the U-boat fired a coup de grāce at the stopped tanker, which evaded by reversing. A second coup de grāce fired six minutes later hit the foreship, set the ship on fire and caused her to sink in a short time. The Germans observed four lifeboats at the sinking position, but three of them were swamped. The master, 47 crew members and two gunners were lost. Four crew members and six gunners were rescued after drifting 13 days in an open boat by a SAAF crash launch and landed at East London. | ||
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