Merope
Dutch Steam merchant
Photo courtesy of Sjöhistoriska Museet, Stockholm
| Name | Merope | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 1,162 tons | ||
| Completed | 1918 - C. van der Giessen & Zonen’s Scheepswerven NV, Krimpen aan den IJssel | ||
| Owner | NV Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Mij (KNSM), Amsterdam | ||
| Homeport | Amsterdam | ||
| Date of attack | 27 Apr 1943 | Nationality:  Dutch | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-371 (Waldemar Mehl) | ||
| Position | 36° 57'N, 4° 02'E - Grid CH 9469 | ||
| Complement | 34 (10 dead and 24 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Philippeville (26 Apr) - Bougie (27 Apr) - Algiers - Oran | ||
| Cargo | Ballast | ||
| History | Completed in January 1918 | ||
| Notes on event | At 14.26 hours on 27 April 1943, U-371 fired a spread of four torpedoes at a small coastal shuttle convoy consisting of Merope (Master Coenraad Pieter Dekker) and the French steam merchant Cevennes, escorted by HMS Ronaldsay (T 149) about 10 miles east-northeast of Cape Bengut, Algeria. Merope was hit on starboard side amidships by one of the torpedoes fired from a distance of 3000 meters, settled quickly with a heavy list to port and sank within two minutes. The master, seven crew members and two British gunners were lost. Eight crew members and two gunners were picked up by Cevennes and the remaining survivors by HMS Ronaldsay, which searched in vain for the attacker and wrongly assumed that the ship had been mined. All survivors were landed at Algiers, where seven injured men were taken to a hospital for treatment. | ||
| On board | We have details of 33 people who were on board. | ||
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