The SS British Premier was a tanker

Tanker (ship)

A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...

 built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company

Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as Palmers, was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, in Northeast England and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne....

 in 1922, registered in London and operated by the British Tanker Company

British Tanker Company

British Tanker Company Limited was the maritime transport arm of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the forerunner of BP. The British Tanker Company was formed in 1915 with an initial fleet of seven oil tankers...

.

During the Second World War, she was used on convoy duties to bring oil from the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

 around the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

 and to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

  She was part of Convoy SLS-60 in late December 1940, but was straggling behind the main group when she came under attack by a German U boat and was sunk with heavy loss of life.

Her final convoy was to have taken her from Abadan

Abadan

Abadan is a city in and the capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. It lies on Abadan Island , from the Persian Gulf, near the Iraqi-Iran border. The civilian population of the city dropped to near zero during the eight-years Iran–Iraq War. In 1992, only 84,774 had returned to live...

 to Swansea

Llandarcy

Llandarcy is a village near Neath in Neath Port Talbot county borough, southwest Wales, and formerly the site of the UK's first oil refinery. The village, which lies near the Junction 43 of the M4 Motorway, was originally designed as a garden village to house the workers for the refinery, built by...

, via Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

, which she reached on 22 December. Two days later she was still straggling, when she was spotted by U-65

German submarine U-65 (1940)

German submarine U-65 was a Type IXB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Over the course of six war patrols from 15 February 1940 through 28 April 1941, she sank twelve ships and damaged three others for a total loss of 88,664 GRT....

, commanded by Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen

Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen

Commander Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen was a Korvettenkapitän with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership...

. At 16.41 hours, the U-65 torpedoed and sank the British Premier. She went down with the loss of 32 of her crew, including her Master, Francis Dalziel, and a gunner. There were thirteen survivors, nine of whom were later picked up by the cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

 HMS Hawkins

HMS Hawkins (D86)

HMS Hawkins was a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 1 October 1917. With the conversion of her sister, HMS Cavendish, to become the aircraft carrier HMS Vindictive, HMS Hawkins became the name ship of her class.-Interwar career:HMS...

 on 3 January 1941 and taken to Freetown. The remaining four were not picked up until 3 February, when they were rescued by the destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 HMS Faulknor

HMS Faulknor (H62)

HMS Faulknor was a F class destroyer flotilla leader of the British Royal Navy in commission from 1934. The ship had a particularly active operational role during World War II, being awarded 11 battle honours, and was known as "The hardest worked destroyer in the Fleet"...

, having spent 41 days in an open boat, 25 of those days without any food.