SS Primrose Hill
Encyclopedia
SS Primrose Hill was completed by William Hamilton & Co
in Port Glasgow
on the Firth of Clyde
in September 1941. She was a CAM ship
, armed with a catapult
on her bow to launch a Hawker Sea Hurricane.
Primrose Hill was managed by Counties Ship Management
Ltd of London (CSM), an offshoot of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking
company. Primrose Hill was CSM's second CAM ship, in effect replacing Michael E
that had been torpedoed and sunk three months previously on her maiden voyage
.
for Takoradi
on the Gold Coast
and Apapa
in Nigeria
. The convoy dispersed, and at 2118 hrs on 29 October she was northwest of the Cape Verde Islands when UD-5, a submarine that the Kriegsmarine
had captured from the Dutch Navy after the surrender of the Netherlands, fired two torpedoes at her. One missed but the other hit Primrose Hill in her engine room killing the second engineer, a greaser and a fireman
, and setting the fuel oil in her bunkers on fire. Two of her lifeboats and a number of liferafts were destroyed by the concussion of the blast.
The Master, eight gunners and surviving 37 officers and men abandoned ship in four lifeboats and moved to windward as the fire spread throughout the ship. The officers destroyed their uniforms to conceal their identity. UD-5 surfaced and her commander, Bruno Mahn, questioned the survivors asking for the Master to come aboard UD-5. The survivors claimed all their officers had been killed in the explosion and fire. Mahn clearly did not believe them, but being unable to identify his quarry he gave up and UD-5 left the survivors in the boats.
Primrose Hill remained afloat so at 2246 hrs UD-5 fired her 88 mm (3.5 in) deck gun, hitting the steamship near her bridge. She continued to float so at 2313 hrs UD-5 fired her deck gun again, hitting Primrose Hills stern. She broke her back and sank at 2345 hrs.
s, a chronometer
, charts and navigation books from Primrose Hills bridge. However, the boats proved to be very short of rations and water for the number of men who had survived. On the morning of 30 October the four lifeboats, keeping close together, set sail and steered eastwards for the Cape Verde Islands. However, by the morning of 31 October wind and currents had taken them westwards. On 1 November they were further west and No. 2 lifeboat lost her rudder. One lifeboat was steel and sailed much worse than the three wooden ones, so on 2 November her occupants transferred themselves and her rations to the three wooden boats and cut the steel one adrift.
On 3 November the remaining boats had been carried further west so they lowered sail and tried rowing, but found the wind and current too strong. At 0300 hrs on 4 November another U-boat found the boats, questioned the crew and then sailed on. Overnight to the 5th November the boats managed to row a little eastwards. On 6 November the survivors were just giving up hope of making headway against the current towards Cape Verde and were turning to sail with the current 1500 miles (2,414 km) in the opposite direction to Brazil, when after 1430 hrs the survivors sighted the Elder Dempster Lines
cargo ship MV Sansu about 6 miles (9.7 km) away heading southwards. The crew burned smoke flares to attract the Sansus attention and rowed to meet her. At about 1530 hrs the Sansu picked up the survivors and on 11 November landed them at Freetown
in Sierra Leone
.
and renamed her Primrose Hill. In 1949 she was transferred to another Rethymnis & Kulukundis company, London & Overseas Freighters
Ltd, who renamed her London Vendor. LOF sold her in 1951 to new owners who registered her in Panama
as a flag of convenience
and renamed her Cabanos. In 1963 she passed to new Panamanian owners who renamed her Thebean. She was registered in Greece from 1964 and was scrapped at Onomichi, Japan in 1968.
William Hamilton and Company
William Hamilton and Company was a British shipyard located in Port Glasgow, Scotland. The company was purchased by Lithgow Ltd., later to become Scott Lithgow which was nationalised into British Shipbuilders in 1977....
in Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow is the second largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16617 persons...
on the Firth of Clyde
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...
in September 1941. She was a CAM ship
CAM ship
CAM ships were World War II-era British merchant ships used in convoys as an emergency stop-gap until sufficient escort carriers became available. CAM is an acronym for catapult aircraft merchantman. A CAM ship was equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Sea Hurricane,...
, armed with a catapult
Aircraft catapult
An aircraft catapult is a device used to launch aircraft from ships—in particular aircraft carriers—as a form of assisted take off. It consists of a track built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft, or in...
on her bow to launch a Hawker Sea Hurricane.
Primrose Hill was managed by Counties Ship Management
Counties Ship Management
Counties Ship Management Co. Ltd. was an ocean-going merchant shipping company based in the United Kingdom. During the Second World War CSM merchant ships made a substantial contribution to supplying the British war effort, at a cost of 13 ships lost and 163 officers and men killed.-Founding of...
Ltd of London (CSM), an offshoot of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking
Shipbroking
Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of ships.Some brokerage firms have developed into large...
company. Primrose Hill was CSM's second CAM ship, in effect replacing Michael E
SS Michael E
SS Michael E was a 7,628 ton CAM ship which was built in 1941 and was sunk on her maiden voyage.-Description:Michael E was built by William Hamilton & Co Ltd, Port Glasgow. Launched in 1941, she was completed in May of that year...
that had been torpedoed and sunk three months previously on her maiden voyage
Maiden voyage
The maiden voyage of a ship, aircraft or other craft is the first journey made by the craft after shakedown. A number of traditions and superstitions are associated with it....
.
Sinking
On 16 October 1942 Primrose Hill sailed from Glasgow a mixed cargo including 3,000 tons of coal, 1,796 tons of general cargo, war material and 11 aircraft. She was as a member of convoy ON-139ON convoys
The ON convoys were a series of North Atlantic trade convoys running Outbound from the British Isles to North America during the Battle of the Atlantic .-History:...
for Takoradi
Sekondi-Takoradi
Sekondi-Takoradi, population 335,000 , comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi, is the capital of the Western Region of Ghana. It is Ghana's fourth largest city and an industrial and commercial center. The chief industries are timber, plywood, shipbuilding and railroad repair and...
on the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
and Apapa
Apapa
Apapa is the major port of the city of Lagos, Nigeria, and is located to the west of Lagos Island, across Lagos Harbour. It is also one of Nigeria's 774 Local Government Areas.- Overview :...
in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. The convoy dispersed, and at 2118 hrs on 29 October she was northwest of the Cape Verde Islands when UD-5, a submarine that the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
had captured from the Dutch Navy after the surrender of the Netherlands, fired two torpedoes at her. One missed but the other hit Primrose Hill in her engine room killing the second engineer, a greaser and a fireman
Stoker
A stoker is "one who stokes".Stoker may also refer to:* A fireplace poker* Mechanical stoker - a coal-feeding device on a steam locomotive...
, and setting the fuel oil in her bunkers on fire. Two of her lifeboats and a number of liferafts were destroyed by the concussion of the blast.
The Master, eight gunners and surviving 37 officers and men abandoned ship in four lifeboats and moved to windward as the fire spread throughout the ship. The officers destroyed their uniforms to conceal their identity. UD-5 surfaced and her commander, Bruno Mahn, questioned the survivors asking for the Master to come aboard UD-5. The survivors claimed all their officers had been killed in the explosion and fire. Mahn clearly did not believe them, but being unable to identify his quarry he gave up and UD-5 left the survivors in the boats.
Primrose Hill remained afloat so at 2246 hrs UD-5 fired her 88 mm (3.5 in) deck gun, hitting the steamship near her bridge. She continued to float so at 2313 hrs UD-5 fired her deck gun again, hitting Primrose Hills stern. She broke her back and sank at 2345 hrs.
Eight days in the lifeboats
The Master and third officer had rescued sextantSextant
A sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon which is known as the altitude. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight...
s, a chronometer
Chronometer
Chronometer may refer to:* Chronometer watch, a watch tested and certified to meet certain precision standards* Hydrochronometer, a water clock* Marine chronometer, a timekeeper used for celestial navigation...
, charts and navigation books from Primrose Hills bridge. However, the boats proved to be very short of rations and water for the number of men who had survived. On the morning of 30 October the four lifeboats, keeping close together, set sail and steered eastwards for the Cape Verde Islands. However, by the morning of 31 October wind and currents had taken them westwards. On 1 November they were further west and No. 2 lifeboat lost her rudder. One lifeboat was steel and sailed much worse than the three wooden ones, so on 2 November her occupants transferred themselves and her rations to the three wooden boats and cut the steel one adrift.
On 3 November the remaining boats had been carried further west so they lowered sail and tried rowing, but found the wind and current too strong. At 0300 hrs on 4 November another U-boat found the boats, questioned the crew and then sailed on. Overnight to the 5th November the boats managed to row a little eastwards. On 6 November the survivors were just giving up hope of making headway against the current towards Cape Verde and were turning to sail with the current 1500 miles (2,414 km) in the opposite direction to Brazil, when after 1430 hrs the survivors sighted the Elder Dempster Lines
Elder Dempster Lines
Elder Dempster Lines was a British shipping company which operated from 1932 to 2000, although its origins stretch back into the mid-19th century.-History:Elder Dempster and Company started trading as the African Steamship Company in 1852...
cargo ship MV Sansu about 6 miles (9.7 km) away heading southwards. The crew burned smoke flares to attract the Sansus attention and rowed to meet her. At about 1530 hrs the Sansu picked up the survivors and on 11 November landed them at 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...
in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
.
Replacement ship
In 1947 CSM took over the 1943-built Liberty shipLiberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
and renamed her Primrose Hill. In 1949 she was transferred to another Rethymnis & Kulukundis company, London & Overseas Freighters
London & Overseas Freighters
London & Overseas Freighters Ltd. was an ocean-going merchant shipping company that for most of its history was based in the United Kingdom.-Counties Ship Management:...
Ltd, who renamed her London Vendor. LOF sold her in 1951 to new owners who registered her in Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
as a flag of convenience
Flag of convenience
The term flag of convenience describes the business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners, and flying that state's civil ensign on the ship. Ships are registered under flags of convenience to reduce operating costs or avoid the...
and renamed her Cabanos. In 1963 she passed to new Panamanian owners who renamed her Thebean. She was registered in Greece from 1964 and was scrapped at Onomichi, Japan in 1968.