 The ship asCaptain Cook | |
| History | |
|---|---|
  United Kingdom | |
| Name |
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| Owner |
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| Operator |
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| Port of registry |
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| Builder | Fairfield SB and Eng Co,Govan |
| Yard number | 601 |
| Launched | 14 October 1924 |
| Completed | April 1925 |
| Identification |
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| Fate | Scrapped in 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage |
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| Length | |
| Beam | 66.4 ft (20.2 m) |
| Depth | 29.5 ft (9.0 m) |
| Installed power | 9,000SHP |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Capacity |
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| Armament |
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SSLetitia was anocean liner built in Scotland for service with the Anchor-Donaldson Line. She continued to serve with its successor company Donaldson Atlantic Line. At the start of theSecond World War in September 1939, theBritish Admiralty requisitioned the ship for service and had it converted to serve as anarmed merchant cruiser. She was withdrawn from this service in 1941 to become atroop ship.
Badly damaged in 1943, after being repaired theLetitia was used as ahospital ship inCanada. She was returned to civilian service in 1946 after the end of the war. She was bought by theMinistry of Transport, which renamed her asEmpire Brent and assigned Donaldson Brothers and Black to manage her. She sailed on a number of voyages, at times carrying troops to theFar East, as well as being an emigration ship to Australia. She was briefly laid up in 1950. She was returned to service under charter to theGovernment of New Zealand asCaptain Cook. She was withdrawn from service in 1960 and sold for scrap.
TheFairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company ofGovan builtLetitia, launching her on 14 October 1924[2][3] and completing her in April 1925. She initially sailed for theGlasgow-based Anchor-Donaldson Ltd, on their summer route betweenLiverpool,Quebec andMontreal with another Anchor-Donaldson steamerAthenia. In winter she sailed toHalifax andSt John's, Newfoundland.[3] Her maiden voyage was fromGlasgow to Montreal on 24 April 1925.[4] This was a joint venture betweenCunard Line and Anchor-Donaldson Line.[5] She underwent a refit in 1927, and with the reforming of the company into the Donaldson Atlantic Line in 1935,Letitia was one of the assets retained.[3]
Letitia ran aground twice in 1935. The first time was on 11 April atCape Pappas,Patras, Greece,[6] where she was refloated on 13 April.[7] The second was on 16 August on the South Briggs Reef at the entrance toBelfast Lough.[8] The passengers were disembarked,[9] and on 20 August she was refloated.[10]
TheAdmiralty requisitionedLetitia on 9 September 1939, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War.[11][12] She was refitted to arm her with eight 6-inch (150 mm) and two 3-inch (76 mm) guns, and enteredRoyal Navy service on 6 November 1939 with thepennant number F16.[11][12]
She spent most of her time in the Atlantic; initially between October 1939 and January 1940 deploying with the Halifax Escort Force.[12] On 6 January 1940, Convoy HX 15 leftHalifax,Nova Scotia, arriving at Liverpool on 19 January.Letitia was an escort for the convoy.[13] Most of 1940 was spent with the Northern Patrol, followed by the period of November 1940 to February 1941 with the Northern and Western Patrol.[12] On 13 January 1941,Letitia ran aground at Halifax, Nova Scotia and was badly damaged.[14] She was briefly with the Bermuda and Halifax Escort Force, before returning to the North Atlantic Escort Force between May and June 1941.[12] By now however it had become clear to the Admiralty that using liners such asLetitia as armed merchant cruisers left them too exposed to attack, without offering substantially increased protection.[15] The remaining merchant cruisers were withdrawn from service,Letitia being withdrawn on 7 June 1941, and were instead used astroop ships by the Ministry of War Transport.[12]
On 10 January 1942 part of Convoy WS 15 sailed from Liverpool, with another part sailing from theClyde on 11 January. The two parts combined offOrsay on 12 January.Letitia was with the Liverpool part and was destined for Durban.[16] On 29 March 1942Letitia arrived at Glasgow from Cape Town. On 22 August 1942, Convoy AT 20 sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia[17] During the evening of 22 August,Letitia failed to react to an order to perform an emergency zig-zag andUSS Buck was sent to correctLetitia's actions. This set in motion a chain of events that led to a collision betweenUSS Ingraham andUSS Chemung, which sankIngraham. There was a further collision betweenHMTAwatea andUSS Buck.[18] In November 1942, Convoy MFK 1Y leftGibraltar for the United Kingdom.[19]
On 23 January 1943, Convoy WS 26 sailed from theClyde, destined forDurban,South AfricaviaFreetown,Sierra Leone andCape Town, South Africa.Letitia left the convoy at Freetown.[20] On 27 February, Convoy KMF 10A formed off Orsay in conjunction with Convoy WS 27. On 18 May 1943, Convoy WS 30 leftLiverpool, combining with Convoy KMF 15 off Orsay on 21 May.Letitia was a member of both these convoys.[20]
On 4 November 1943, Convoy KMS left the United Kingdom for the Mediterranean.Letitia joined the convoy atAlgiers and left atPhilippeville.[21]Letitia served in this role until 1943, when she was badly damaged. She was able to sail to theUnited States for repairs, after which she was used by the Canadian government as ahospital ship, carrying 200 medical personnel and with a capacity for 1,000 patients.[3] She spent the remainder of the war carrying wounded Canadian personnel to thePier 21 terminal atHalifax, Nova Scotia, and was due to be reassigned to thePacific Ocean when the war ended.[3] She continued in service in the immediate aftermath of the war, repatriating Canadian service personnel.[3] She was sold in 1946, during this period as a transport, to the Ministry of Transport, which renamed herEmpire Brent.[3][4] The Ministry assigned her to be operated on their behalf by her previous owners, now trading as Donaldson Bros & Black Ltd.[22]
While sailing for Halifax from Britain in 1946,Empire Brent collided withStormont in theRiver Mersey on 20 November 1946, sinkingStormont and requiringEmpire Brent to sail toBirkenhead to be dry-docked for repairs to her bow.[3][4][23] A complete overhaul on theClyde followed in December that year, during which time she was refitted again to be a troop ship. She sailed betweenIndia, the UK and theFar East for the next two years, before transferring to run an emigration service between the UK andAustralia in 1949.[3][4] She was on this service until being withdrawn and laid up in late 1950.[3] After six months out of service she was refitted to carry emigrants from the UK toNew Zealand, and renamedCaptain Cook.[23] She worked under charter to theGovernment of New Zealand, who paid for her in a series of instalments.[3][4] She began her voyages in early 1952, sailing between Glasgow andWellingtonvia thePanama Canal.[3][23] She briefly returned to her pre-war sailing route across the Atlantic from the UK to Canada in 1955, but then resumed the New Zealand route.[3] A fire while in harbour at Wellington in 1957 caused extensive damage, but she was able to sail to the UK where she was repaired.[3] The New Zealand government bought her outright by 1959. She made her final voyage to Glasgow in early 1960, and was then laid up atFalmouth, Cornwall.[3][23]Captain Cook was then sold toBISCO, who towed her toInverkeithing, where she arrived on 29 April 1960 to be scrapped.[2][3][23]
Official numbers were a forerunner toIMO Numbers.Letitia had the United KingdomOfficial Number 148847. She had thecode letters KSLT until 1933,[24] and theCall sign GLBX from 1934.[25]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1935 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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