- SS City of Benares
-
Career Name: City of Benares Owner: Ellerman Lines Ltd, London Operator: City Line Ltd Port of registry: 
GlasgowBuilder: Barclay, Curle & Co, Whiteinch, Glasgow Yard number: 656 Launched: 5 August 1935 Completed: October 1936 Identification: Official Number 164096
Code Letters GZBW
Fate: sunk on 18 September 1940 General characteristics Class and type: Steam passenger ship Tonnage: 11,081 GRT Length: 486 ft 1 in (148.16 m) Beam: 62 ft 7 in (19.08 m) Depth: 30 ft 8 in (9.35 m) Propulsion: Three Cammell Laird steam turbines (1,450 hp (1,080 kW)), single reduction geared driving a single screw Speed: 15 knots (28 km/h) Capacity: 219 (single class) Crew: 209 SS City of Benares was a steam passenger ship built for Ellerman Lines by Barclay, Curle & Co of Glasgow in 1936.[1] During the Second World War the City of Benares was used as a refugee ship to evacuate 90 children from Britain to Canada. The ship was purposefully targeted[2] and torpedoed by the German submarine U-48 with heavy loss of life, [3][4] including the death of 77 children. The sinking resulted in the total cancellation of the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) plan to relocate British children abroad.[5]
Contents
History
City of Benares was built by Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow. She was launched on 5 August 1935,[6] and completed in October 1936. Her maiden voyage departed Bombay on 7 December 1936. She was managed by City Line Ltd on behalf of her owners, Ellerman Lines Ltd.[7]
Last voyage
City of Benares was part of convoy OB-213, and was being used as a refugee ship in the overseas evacuation scheme of Great Britain, organised by CORB. She was carrying 90 child evacuee passengers who were being evacuated from wartime Britain to Canada. Also aboard were Mary Cornish, an accomplished classical pianist who had volunteered as a children's escort, James Baldwin-Webb, a parliamentarian, Rudolf Olden and his wife, a German exiled writer, and documentary director Ruby Grierson. The ship departed Liverpool on 13 September 1940, bound for the Canadian ports of Quebec and Montreal, under the command of her Master, Landles Nicoll. She was the flagship of the convoy commodore Rear Admiral E.J.G. Mackinnon DSO RN and the first ship in the center column.
Late in the evening of 17 September, the City of Benares was sighted by U-48, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt, who fired two torpedoes at her at 23.45 hours. Both torpedoes missed, and at 00.01 hours on 18 September, the U-boat fired another torpedo at her. The torpedo struck her in the stern causing her to sink within 30 minutes, 253 miles west-southwest of Rockall. On board the liner were 90 children being evacuated to Canada under the Children's Overseas Reception Board's initiative in order to escape the effects of the Blitz.
15 minutes after the torpedo hit, the vessel had been abandoned, though there were difficulties with lowering the lifeboats on the weather side of the ship. HMS Hurricane arrived on the scene 24 hours later, and picked up 105 survivors and landed them at Greenock. During the attack on the SS City of Benares, the Atlantic Ocean before being sighted from the air and rescued by HMS Anthony.
In total, 248 of the 406 people on board, including the master, the commodore, three staff members, 121 crew members and 134 passengers were lost. 77 of the 90 child evacuee passengers were also killed in the sinking, prompting the immediate cessation of the Children’s Overseas Reception Board. [8]
Description
City of Benares was 486 ft 1 in (148.16 m) long, with a beam of 62 feet 7 inches (19.08 m) and draught of 30 feet 8 inches (9.35 m). She was powered by three steam turbines which were supplied by Cammell Laird. They were oil fired and drove a single screw via single reduction gearing,[7] giving her a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h).[6]
Official number and code letters
Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers.
City of Benares had the UK Official Number 164096 and used the Code Letters GZBW.[7]
Coordinates: 56°43′N 21°15′W / 56.717°N 21.25°W
See also
- Maritime disasters
Culture and Media
The SS City of Benares is the setting of the book "Wish Me Luck" by James Heneghan, the story of a boy from Liverpool being sent away to safety on the City of Benares.
Tom Nagorski wrote "Miracles on the Water: The Heroic Survivors of a World War II U-Boat Attack" (Hyperion: New York, 2006. ISBN: 1-4013-0871-6) collecting eyewitness accounts about the people and events connected with the attack and sinking of the liner SS City of Benares. His grandfather, a Polish emigre and diplomat, was one of the adult survivors.
References
- ^ http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides/City_of_Benares_%28survivors_report%29
- ^ http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,755385-3,00.html
- ^ http://www.war-experience.org/history/keyaspects/atlantic/default.asp
- ^ http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1940benares.htm
- ^ http://www.ssnerissa.com/?q=evacuation
- ^ a b ""1164096"" (subscription required). Miramar Ship Index. R.B. Haworth. http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
- ^ a b c "LLOYD'S REGISTER, STEAMERS & MOTORSHIPS". Plimsoll Ship Data. http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=37b0190.pdf. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
- ^ Obituary of Bess Cummings, survivor, Daily Telegraph issue August 19, 2010
Bibliography
- Official Report on the Sinking of the S.S. City of Bonares, October 1940, Imperial War Museum, London.
External links
- SS City of Benares at Uboat.net
- Sunderland, England memorial service for the dead
- NPR review of book Miracles on the Water
- SS City of Benares ship information page
- Captain Ronald Brook dies - rescued survivors of City of Benares
Ships built by Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow Merchant ships Atheltemplar · City of Benares · Empire Addison · Empire Austen · Empire Baffin · Empire Balfour · Empire Beatrice · Empire Buckler · Empire Comet · Empire Conrad · Empire Cyprus · Empire Dell · Empire Dew · Empire Galahad · Empire MacCallum · Empire MacRae · Iron Knight · Maudie · Nile · River AftonRoyal Fleet Auxiliary ships Warships Categories:- Ships sunk by German submarines
- World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
- World War II passenger ships of the United Kingdom
- Ships of the Ellerman Lines
- Clyde-built ships
- 1936 ships
- Maritime incidents in 1940
- Nazi war crimes
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