Convoy SC 78 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY SC 78
Departed Halifax on Apr. 5-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 22nd
(Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 12 ships).
Transcribed from original documents received from Tony Cooper, England (Advance Sailing Telegram) - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.
Station numbers were provided by Ted Agar, England (his source: A diary). The stations given are the intitial stations on departure; these may have changed as the voyage progressed.
Names of escorts have been extracted from a document recived from Don Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see also his listing for SC 78 at ships in all SC convoys.
Additional details have been added with the help of:
"Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer
"Lloyd's War Losses", Vol I.
"The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan
"Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague.
Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined returned to port, except those that are linked, which will automatically be underlined.
MoWT = Ministry of War Transport
Ship
Nationality
Cargo
Station
Destination
Remarks
Parkhaven
Dutch
wheat
–
Glasgow
Badjestan
British
general
62
Liverpool
Norwegian
grain
–
Cardiff
Listed in SC 79
Empire Sunrise
British
grain - flour
21
Leith / London
Returned to Halifax
To SC 83 - did not sail
Sailed in SC 84
Sheaf Crown
"
grain
13
London
–
Llancarvan
"
grain
12
Hull
–
Dean Emery
Panamanian
Tanker B
–
Glasgow
From SC 77
To SC 79 - returned
Listed in SC 80
Kelbergen
Dutch
nitrates
32
London
Norwegian
steel - pulp
72
Swansea (Southampton)
–
Sonja Mærsk
Danish / MoWT 1940
flour
22
Swansea (Southampton)
From SC 77
Boris
Greek
general
–
Liverpool
Listed in SC 79
Andreas
"
grain
33
Hull
–
Kelvinbank
British
general - mail 1
42
Glasgow
Returned to Halifax
Listed in SC 79
Empire Marlowe
"
general
11
Leith / Hull
From HX 183
Returned to port (St. John's)
w/heavy weather damage
Listed in SC 81
Empire Carey
"
flour
31
Glasgow
From HX 183
Became Norw. Ragnhild
Iroquois
"
Tanker B
(tractor oil)
not known
(A. Hague gives 51)
Clyde
–
Amakura
"
sugar - 1 passenger - mail 30
41
Liverpool
–
Irish Pine
Irish
grain
–
Belfast f. o.
(Ex. Am. West Hematite 1941)
San Gerardo
British
Adm. tanker B - 1 passenger
–
Clyde
Already Sunk - See Notes
Widestone
"
phosphates
–
Leith
Zagloba
Polish
general
52
Manchester
Returned to Halifax
Listed in SC 79
Eastmoor
British
general
–
Liverpool
Already Sunk - See Notes
Manchester Spinner
"
general
61
Manchester
Montreal City
"
general
71
Bristol
Empire Grebe
"
steel - general
–
Belfast f. o.
Listed in SC 79
Empire Lotus
"
general
–
Milford Haven f. o.
Joined SC 79 - foundered
Norwegian
grain
–
Manchester
Listed in SC 79
British Statesman
British
Tanker W
–
Stanlow
Michael L. Embiricos
Greek
grain
23
Methil d. g. / Hull
Returned to Halifax
Listed in SC 79
Coulmore
British
sugar
–
Greenock
Mount Pera
Greek
grain
53
Tyne
–
The diary also lists Fort Townshend (station 27) and Belle Isle (37) as going out with the ships in this convoy - they are not mentioned in the Advance Sailing Telegram. Fort Townshend is also mentioned in Convoy SC 81, leaving on Apr. 23, and Belle Isle shows up again in Convoy SC 82 on April 30. These 2 ships may have been going out for other reasons, or perhaps they were bound for St. John's only(?).
Notes:
Commodore was in Amakura, Vice Commodore in Empire Marlowe, Rear Commodore in Empire Carey.
Belfast Commodore: In Montreal City.
Also in this convoy for a while, sailing in station 43, was the Rescue Vessel Stockport (requisitioned on July 8-1941, entered service in Dec. following conversion). She was on her 4th voyage as such, having started this voyage with the westbound Convoy ON 76 from Clyde to Halifax March 16-March 31, joining SC 78 at Halifax Apr. 5, put into St. John's Apr. 13, then left that same day to join Convoy SC 79 Apr. 15.
San Gerardo, on a voyage from Curacao for Clyde via Halifax with 17 000 tons of fuel oil, had been torpedoed and sunk on March 31 by U-71, 700 miles from Cape Hatteras. She had a crew of 52 and 5 gunners - 49 crew and 2 gunners perished.
Eastmoor, on a voyage from Savannah for Liverpool via Halifax with 7500 tons of general cargo, had been torpedoed and sunk on Apr. 1 (German time) by U-71. She had a crew of 42 and 10 gunners, 13 crew and 3 gunners were lost.
Ref. external links provided below for more on these attacks.
The ships left port in the following order (according to the diary):
The first ship to leave at 10:50 was Manchester Spinner, followed at 11:13 by Amakura and with a few minutes between each ship the following went out:
Empire Carey, Empire Sunrise (bags of produce on foredeck, tanks on afterdeck), Montreal City, Sheaf Crown, Empire Marlowe (airplane crates and tanks), Sonja Mærsk (star placed on stack), Andreas (B on stack painted out), Kelbergen, Llancarvan, Kelvinbank, Michael L. Embiricos (blue E on black stack), Zagloba, Stockport (AHL on stack), Cetus, Badjestan, Mount Pera, Fort Townshend (troops, cars, trucks), and the last ship to go out at 13:48 was Belle Isle. (Iroquois is not mentioned).
The convoy arrived rendezvous on Apr. 17.
A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of SC convoy escorts, received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Buctouche - From 09/04/42 to 09/04/42
Cobalt - From 09/04/42 to 21/04/42
Dunvegan - From 09/04/42 to 21/04/42
Napanee - From 09/04/42 to 21/04/42
Restigouche - From 09/04/42 to 21/04/42
Roxborough - From 05/04/42 to 09/04/42
St. Francis - From 09/04/42 to 16/04/42
Sudbury - From 05/04/42 to 09/04/42
Summerside - From 05/04/42 to 09/04/42
Wanderer - From 05/04/42 to 09/04/42
To the next SC convoy in my list SC 79