SS City of Johannesburg

The SS "City of Johannesburg" was a British merchant steamer, sunk in the Second World War. She was built by Barclay, Curle & Co, of Whiteinch, Glasgow for Ellerman Lines Ltd, of London in 1920, originally being named SS "Melford Hall". She was renamed SS "City of Johannesburg" in 1926 and was homeported in Liverpool.

Career and sinking

Her final voyage was to take her from Calcutta to the United Kingdom, calling at Colombo on 6 October and later at Cape Town on the way. She carried 7,750 tons of general cargo, including pig iron, cotton, jute and tea, under the command of her master, Walter Armour Owen.

At 23.12 hours on 23 October 1942, she was travelling unescorted off East London South Africa, when she was spotted by "U-504" commanded by Fritz Poske. The U-boat torpedoed the "City of Johannesburg", and succeeded in sinking her. Two of the 89 crew were lost, but the master and 12 crew members were picked up by the Dutch merchant "Zypenberg", which transported them to Durban. Another 54 crew members were picked up by the British merchant "Fort George" and landed at Port Elizabeth, with the final 20 crew members being picked up by the "King Edward", which took them to Cape Town.

References

* [http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/2530.html SS City of Johannesburg at Uboat.net]
* [http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=4360 SS City of Johannesburg at Clydebuilt.co.uk]