| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Beatus |
| Owner | Tempus Shipping Co, Ltd[1] |
| Operator | W.H. Seager & Co Ltd |
| Port of registry | Cardiff |
| Builder | Ropner Shipbuilding & Repairing Co Ltd,Stockton-on-Tees[1] |
| Yard number | 548[4] |
| Launched | 23 January 1925 |
| Completed | March 1925[1] |
| Out of service | 18 October 1940[5] |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk by torpedo, 18 October 1940[5] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | cargo steamship |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 390.0 feet (118.9 m)[1]p/p |
| Beam | 55.5 feet (16.9 m)[1] |
| Draught | 24 feet6+3⁄4 inches (7.49 m)[1] |
| Depth | 26.4 feet (8.0 m)[1] |
| Installed power | 436NHP[1] |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h)[4] |
| Crew | 37[5] |
| Sensors and processing systems | wirelessdirection finding (by 1937)[1] |
SSBeatus was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1925, sailed in a number of transatlanticconvoys in 1940 and was sunk by aU-boat that October.
Ropner Shipbuilding & Repairing Co Ltd ofStockton-on-Tees, England builtBeatus, completing her in February 1925.[1] She had ninecorrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 190 square feet (18 m2) that heated three 180lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 7,500 square feet (697 m2).[1] The boilers fed a three-cylindertriple expansion steam engine that was rated at 436NHP and drove a single screw.[1] The engine was built by Blair and Company, also of Stockton.[1]
Beatus was registered inCardiff, managed by W.H. Seager & Co Ltd and owned by another ofWilliam Seager's companies, Tempus Shipping Co, Ltd.[1]
By early 1940Beatus was sailing in convoys.[6] In February 1940 she joinedConvoy SL 20 fromFreetown,Sierra Leone toLiverpool with a cargo of wheat.[6] In May and June 1940 she brought a general cargo across the North Atlantic to the UKviaBermuda, where she joinedConvoy BHX 46.[7] andHalifax,Nova Scotia, where BHX 46 joinedConvoy HX 46.[8] In late JulyBeatus was carrying a cargo of steel andpit props when she joined anotherHX convoy,HX 60, from Halifax, NS to Liverpool.[9] Between ocean voyages,Beatus sailed in a number ofNorth Sea coastal convoys.
Early in OctoberBeatus leftTrois-Rivières,Quebec, carrying a cargo of 1,626 tons of steel, 5,874 tons of timber and a deck cargo of crated aircraft bound forMiddlesbroughvia theTyne. She wentviaSydney, Nova Scotia, where she joinedConvoy SC 7 bound for Liverpool.[10] SC 7 left Sydney on 5 October. At first the convoy had only one escort ship, theHastings-classsloopHMS Scarborough. Awolfpack ofU-boats found the convoy on 16 October and quickly overwhelmed it, sinking many ships over the next few days.
Between 2058 and 2104 hours on 18 October, SC 7 was about 100 miles (160 km) west by south ofBarra Head in theOuter Hebrides whenU-46, commanded byOberleutnant zur SeeEngelbert Endrass, attacked it. Endrass fired four torpedoes: one hit and sank the Swedish freighterSS Convallaria; another hitBeatus.[5] Frank Holding, Assistant Steward onBeatus, recalled:
"The next thing I heard was this explosion and a sound like breaking glass from down near the engine room. The ship stood still. When I went to the boat deck one of the lifeboats was already in the water, full of water... We knew we were sinking."[11]
All 37 crew members were rescued by a convoy escort, theFlower-classcorvetteHMS Bluebell, and were later landed atGourock.[5]
57°31′N13°10′W / 57.517°N 13.167°W /57.517; -13.167
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in October 1940 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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