SS Duchess of York

SS "Duchess of York" was a 20,021 ton ocean liner operated by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. Built in 1928 in Glasgow by the shipbuilders John Brown & Co., she was originally to be named SS "Duchess of Cornwall". The ship would have been distinguished by the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) prefix when carrying mail, but would have reverted to SS "Duchess of York" at other times.Ships List: [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/cp.html Canadian Pacific fleet, SS "Duchess of York"] ]

Pre-war service

Sister ship to the SS "Duchess of Bedford", the SS "Duchess of Atholl", and the SS "Duchess of Richmond", she was built for transatlantic service, [see above] ] employed on the Liverpool to Saint John, New Brunswick route, calling at Belfast and Greenock en route; she carried many passengers over her twelve years in mercantile service.

Her first captain between 1929 and 1934 was Ronald Niel Stuart, VC whose impressive First World War service record entitled him to fly the Blue Ensign whilst he was aboard. Following his departure, the liner was employed briefly on the New York CIty to Bermuda route before returning to her original passage.

War service and loss

In 1940, she was recommissioned by the British Admiralty as a troopship. On 9 July 1943, she sailed Greenock as part of the small, fast convoy 'Faith', for Freetown, Sierra Leone, in company with the SS "California" and the merchant ship "Port Fairy". Two days later, the convoy was about 300 miles west of Vigo when it was attacked by 3 Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 40 [cite web|url=http://www.mercantilemarine.org/showthread.php?t=110&page=2|title=Mercantile Marine.com|accessdate=2008-06-20] based at Merignac, near Bordeaux. The accurate high-altitude bombing left both "Duchess of York" and "California" blazing. cite web|url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime-1a.html|title=Maritime Disasters of World War II|accessdate=2008-06-20] Her escorts HMCS "Iroquois", HMS "Douglas" and HMS "Moyola", together with "Port Fairy", rescued all but 27 from the ship. Fearing the flames from the ships would attract U boats, the "Duchess of York" and "California" were sunk by Royal Navy torpedoes in position coord|41|15|N|15|24|W| [cite web|url=http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?32081|title=Wrecksite.eu website - SS "California"|accessdate=2008-06-25] in the early hours of 12 July.

Notes

References

* Musk, George. (1981). [http://books.google.com/books?id=iWoTAAAAYAAJ&q=ss+empress+of+britain&dq=ss+empress+of+britain&lr=&pgis=1 "Canadian Pacific: The Story of the Famous Shipping Line."] Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. 10-ISBN 0-715-37968-2
* Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986). [http://books.google.com/books?id=OuUvlfcIGRQC&dq=samuel+robinson+steamship&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "Transpacific Steam: The Story of Steam Navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941."] New York: Cornwall Books. 10-ISBN 0-845-34792-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-845-34792-8 (cloth)

External links

* [http://www.jproc.ca/iroquois/duchess_of_york.html Sea Rescue, SS "Duchess of York"]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~bmuwgw/ships5.html Ships of Bermuda, SS "Duchess of York"]
* [http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/CP3.html#anchor226352 Photographs of SS "Duchess of York"]