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Allied Ships hit by U-boats


Empire Merchant

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NameEmpire Merchant
Type:Motor merchant
Tonnage4.864 tons
Completed1938 - Deutsche Werft AG, Betrieb Finkenwärder, Hamburg 
OwnerKaye, Son & Co Ltd, London 
HomeportLondon 
Date of attack16 Aug, 1940Nationality:      British
 
FateSunk by U-100 (Joachim Schepke)
Position55.21N, 13.40W - Grid AM 4611
- See location on a map -
Complement55 (7 dead and 48 survivors).
ConvoyOA-198 (straggler)
RouteAvonmouth - Kingston, Jamaica 
Cargo200 tons of general cargo and mail 
History

built as German Pomona for F.Laeisz, Hamburg.

On 3 Sep, 1939, the Pomona was seized by Britain in the London docks and was renamed Empire Merchant by Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). 

Notes on loss At 09.27 hours on 16 Aug, 1940, the Empire Merchant (Master Benjamin Walton Smith), a straggler from convoy OA-198, was hit by two G7e torpedoes from U-100 and capsized 186 miles west of Bloody Foreland. The wreck later foundered in 55°23N/13°24W. Six crew members and one gunner were lost. The master, 38 crew members, one gunner and eight passengers were picked up by HMS Salvonia (W 43) (Lt G.M.M. Robinson, RNR) and landed at Greenock. 


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