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{{Short description|British steam passenger liner sunk during World War II}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=
|Ship image=File:Avoceta steam liner.jpg
|Ship caption=
|Ship caption=SS ''Avoceta''
}}
}}
{{Infobox ship career
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship builder= [[Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company|Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co]], [[Dundee]]
|Ship builder= [[Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company|Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co]], [[Dundee]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number= 279<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15552 |title=SS Avoceta (+1941) |last=Allen |first=Tony |date=8 November 2013 |work=The Wreck Site |publisher= |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
|Ship yard number= 279<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15552 |title=SS Avoceta (+1941) |last=Allen |first=Tony |date=8 November 2013 |work=The Wreck Site |publisher= |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>
|Ship laid down=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship launched= 21 September 1922
|Ship completed= January 1923
|Ship completed= January 1923
|Ship acquired=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship in service=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship registry= {{flagicon|UK|civil}} [[Port of Liverpool|Liverpool]]
|Ship registry= [[Port of Liverpool|Liverpool]]
|Ship identification=*UK [[official number]] 147174
|Ship identification=*UK [[official number]] 147174
*[[code letters]] KNGV<ref name=LR33>{{cite book |url= http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=33b0082.pdf |year=1933 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
*[[code letters]] KNGV<ref name=LR33>{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/33/33b0082.pdf |year=1933 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>
*{{ICS|Kilo}}{{ICS|November}}{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Victor}}
*{{ICS|Kilo}}{{ICS|November}}{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Victor}}
*[[Call sign#Ships and boats|call sign]] GFLT<ref>{{cite book |url= http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=34b0085.pdf |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
*[[Maritime call sign|Call sign]] GFLT<ref>{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/34/34b0085.pdf |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>
*{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Tango}}
*{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Tango}}
|Ship fate= sunk by torpedo, 25 September 1941, killing 123 people
|Ship fate= Sunk by torpedo, 25 September 1941
|Ship status= wreck
|Ship notes=
|Ship notes=
}}
}}
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|Ship armament= [[Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship|DEMS]]
|Ship armament= [[Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship|DEMS]]
|Ship sensors= wireless [[direction finding]]
|Ship sensors= wireless [[direction finding]]
|Ship notes= [[sister ship]]s: {{SS|Aguila||2}}, {{SS|Alondra|1922|2}}
|Ship notes= [[sister ship]]s: {{SS|Aguila|1916|2}}, {{SS|Alondra|1922|2}}
}}
}}
|}
|}
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'''SS ''Avoceta''''' was a British [[Steamship|steam]] [[Passenger ship|passenger liner]]. She was built in Dundee in 1923 and was sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic in 1941. She belonged to Yeoward Line, which carried passengers and fruit between [[Liverpool]], [[Lisbon]], [[Madeira]] and the [[Canary Islands]].
'''SS ''Avoceta''''' was a British [[Steamship|steam]] [[Passenger ship|passenger liner]]. She was built in Dundee in 1923 and was sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic in 1941. She belonged to Yeoward Line, which carried passengers and fruit between [[Liverpool]], [[Lisbon]], [[Madeira]] and the [[Canary Islands]].


''Avoceta'' is Spanish for [[avocet]]. Yeoward Brothers had a previous ship called {{SS|Avocet|1885|2}} that was built in 1885 and sunk by {{ship|SM|U-50||2}} in 1917.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/579.html |title=Avocet |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit during WWI |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
''Avoceta'' is Spanish for [[avocet]]. Yeoward Brothers had a previous ship called {{SS|Avocet|1885|2}} that was built in 1885 and sunk by {{ship|SM|U-50||2}} in 1917.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/579.html |title=Avocet |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit during WWI |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>


==Building==
==Building==
In the early 1920s the [[Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company]] of [[Dundee]] built two sister ships for Yeoward Brothers, completing {{SS|Alondra|1922|2}} in April 1922<ref>{{cite book |url= http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=30b0048.pdf |year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref> and ''Avoceta'' in January 1923.<ref>{{cite book |url= http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=30b0029.pdf|year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref> The pair were similar to {{SS|Aguila||2}} that Caledon had built for Yeoward in 1917, having the same size boilers and engine, the same [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] and being only {{convert|3.7|ft}} longer.<ref name=LR33/>
In the early 1920s the [[Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company]] of [[Dundee]] built two sister ships for Yeoward Brothers, completing {{SS|Alondra|1922|2}} in April 1922<ref>{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30b0048.pdf |year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> and ''Avoceta'' in January 1923.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30b0029.pdf|year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> The pair were similar to {{SS|Aguila|1916|2}} that Caledon had built for Yeoward in 1917, having the same size boilers and engine, the same [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] and being only {{convert|3.7|ft}} longer.<ref name=LR33/>


''Avoceta'' had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of {{convert|189|sqft|0}} that heated three single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of {{convert|7054|sqft|0}}. These fed steam at 180 [[Pounds per square inch|lb<sub>f</sub>/in<sup>2</sup>]] to a three-cylinder [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple expansion steam engine]] that was rated at 395 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]<ref name=LR33/> and drove a single [[Propeller|screw]].
''Avoceta'' had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of {{convert|189|sqft|0}} that heated three single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of {{convert|7054|sqft|0}}. These fed steam at 180 [[Pounds per square inch|lb<sub>f</sub>/in<sup>2</sup>]] to a three-cylinder [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple expansion steam engine]] that was rated at 395 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]<ref name=LR33/> and drove a single [[Propeller|screw]].


==War service==
==War service==
In the Second World War ''Avoceta'' continued Yeoward Brothers' service to neutral Portugal, Spain and the Canary Islands. She made nine trips to [[Port of Las Palmas|Las Palmas]], six of which also included a call at [[Tenerife]]. Others were to one or another mainland port: one to [[Port of Almeria|Almeria]], two to [[Port of Valencia|Valencia]] and 11 to Lisbon. Her final visit to the Canaries was in March 1941; thereafter she served only Lisbon and [[Gibraltar]].<ref name=Hague>{{cite web |url= http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?search.php?vessel=AVOCETA~armain |last=Hague |first=Arnold |title=Avoceta |work=Ship Movements |publisher=Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
In the Second World War ''Avoceta'' continued Yeoward Brothers' service to neutral Portugal, Spain and the Canary Islands. She made nine trips to [[Port of Las Palmas|Las Palmas]], six of which also included a call at [[Tenerife]]. Others were to one or another mainland port: one to [[Port of Almeria|Almeria]], two to [[Port of Valencia|Valencia]] and 11 to Lisbon. Her final visit to the Canaries was in March 1941; thereafter she served only Lisbon and [[Gibraltar]].<ref name=Hague>{{cite web |url= http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?search.php?vessel=AVOCETA~armain |last=Hague |first=Arnold |title=Avoceta |work=Ship Movements |publisher=Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>


''Avoceta'' always joined an outbound convoy to leave British home waters, and then would continue either unescorted or with an OG-series convoy as far as Gibraltar. She made her return voyages either unescorted or ''via'' Gibraltar and an HG-series convoy to [[Port of Liverpool|Liverpool]]. During German and Italian submarines' [[First Happy Time]] in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] one homeward trip was diverted: Convoy HG 39 left Gibraltar on 21 July 1940 bound for Liverpool, but instead went to [[Swansea]] in South Wales.<ref name=Hague/>
''Avoceta'' always joined an outbound convoy to leave British home waters, and then would continue either unescorted or with an OG-series convoy as far as Gibraltar. She made her return voyages either unescorted or ''via'' Gibraltar and an HG-series convoy to [[Port of Liverpool|Liverpool]]. During German and Italian submarines' [[First Happy Time]] in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] one homeward trip was diverted: Convoy HG 39 left Gibraltar on 21 July 1940 bound for Liverpool, but instead went to [[Swansea]] in South Wales.<ref name=Hague/>


==Final voyage==
==Final voyage==
On 13 August 1941 ''Avoceta''{{'}}s sister ship ''Aguila'' left Liverpool in [[Convoy OG 71|OG 71]]. On 19 August 1941 ''Avoceta'' followed, leaving Liverpool with Convoy OG 72. On 18–23 August OG 71 became the first Allied convoy to be attacked by a [[Wolfpack (naval tactic)|U-boat wolfpack]]. OG 72 safely reached Gibraltar on 4 September, but there received news that OG 71 had been attacked, ten ships sunk, and they included ''Aguila'' which had been lost with 152 dead and only 16 survivors.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1063.html |title=Aguila |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
On 13 August 1941 ''Avoceta''{{'}}s sister ship ''Aguila'' left Liverpool in [[Convoy OG 71|OG 71]]. On 19 August 1941 ''Avoceta'' followed, leaving Liverpool with Convoy OG 72. On 18–23 August OG 71 became the first Allied convoy to be attacked by a [[Wolfpack (naval tactic)|U-boat wolfpack]]. OG 72 safely reached Gibraltar on 4 September, but there received news that OG 71 had been attacked, ten ships sunk, and they included ''Aguila'' which had been lost with 152 dead and only 16 survivors.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1063.html |title=Aguila |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>


From Gibraltar ''Avoceta'' made her usual round trip to Lisbon and back (2–15 September). In Lisbon she embarked dozens of refugees from [[German-occupied Europe]]: UK subjects who had escaped the [[Battle of France|fall of France]] and had been denied leave to remain by the authorities in neutral Spain and Portugal. Most were women and children, some of them of French or Spanish origin, several following their husbands to the UK. Once back in Gibraltar ''Avoceta'' also embarked survivors rescued from the loss of ''Aguila''. Her cargo included [[Cork (material)|cork]], 573 sacks of mail and some [[diplomatic bag]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/72/a5120272.shtml |last=Morris |first=Grahame |title=Battle of the Atlantic Part One |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC |date=16 August 2005 |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
From Gibraltar ''Avoceta'' made her usual round trip to Lisbon and back (2–15 September). In Lisbon she embarked dozens of refugees from [[German-occupied Europe]]: UK subjects who had escaped the [[Battle of France|fall of France]] and had been denied leave to remain by the authorities in neutral Spain and Portugal. Most were women and children, some of them of French or Spanish origin, several following their husbands to the UK. Once back in Gibraltar ''Avoceta'' also embarked survivors rescued from the loss of ''Aguila''. Her cargo included [[Cork (material)|cork]], 573 sacks of mail and some [[diplomatic bag]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/72/a5120272.shtml |last=Morris |first=Grahame |title=Battle of the Atlantic Part One |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC |date=16 August 2005 |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>


''Avoceta'' was one of 25 merchant ships that formed [[Convoy HG 73]], which left Gibraltar on 17 September bound for Liverpool. HG 73's Commodore, [[Rear Admiral]] Sir [[Kenelm Creighton]], [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]], [[Royal Victorian Order|MVO]], travelled on ''Avoceta''. In response to the new wolfpack tactic, HG 73's initial escort included three destroyers, one sloop, eight corvettes and the [[fighter catapult ship]] {{HMS|Springbank}}. At first this was successful: on 18 September a ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' [[Focke-Wulf Fw 200]] ''Condor'' found HG 73 and signalled its position and course, but on the moonless night of 21–22 September the destroyer {{HMS|Vimy}} damaged the {{ship|Italian submarine|Luigi Torelli}} with [[depth charge]]s and drove her away. On 22 September another destroyer, {{HMS|Highlander|H44|6}}, rendezvoused with the convoy and reinforced its escort.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hg/index.html?hg.php?convoy=73!~hgmain |last=Hague |first=Arnold |title=Convoy HG.73 |work=HG Convoy Series |publisher=Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref> On 24 September an Fw 200 patrol aircraft again sighted HG 73, but a [[Fairey Fulmar]] aircraft from ''Springbank'' drove it off.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/93/a5283993.shtml |last=Morris |first=Grahame |title=Battle of the Atlantic Part Two |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC |date=16 August 2005 |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
''Avoceta'' was one of 25 merchant ships that formed [[Convoy HG 73]], which left Gibraltar on 17 September bound for Liverpool. HG 73's Commodore, [[Rear Admiral]] Sir [[Kenelm Creighton]], [[Order of the British Empire|KBE]], [[Royal Victorian Order|MVO]], travelled on ''Avoceta''. In response to the new wolfpack tactic, HG 73's initial escort included three destroyers, one sloop, eight corvettes and the [[fighter catapult ship]] {{HMS|Springbank}}. At first this was successful: on 18 September a ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' [[Focke-Wulf Fw 200]] ''Condor'' found HG 73 and signalled its position and course, but on the moonless night of 21–22 September the destroyer {{HMS|Vimy}} damaged the {{ship|Italian submarine|Luigi Torelli}} with [[depth charge]]s and drove her away. On 22 September another destroyer, {{HMS|Highlander|H44|6}}, rendezvoused with the convoy and reinforced its escort.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hg/index.html?hg.php?convoy=73!~hgmain |last=Hague |first=Arnold |title=Convoy HG.73 |work=HG Convoy Series |publisher=Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> On 24 September an Fw 200 patrol aircraft again sighted HG 73, but a [[Fairey Fulmar]] aircraft from ''Springbank'' drove it off.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/93/a5283993.shtml |last=Morris |first=Grahame |title=Battle of the Atlantic Part Two |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC |date=16 August 2005 |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>


==Attack and loss==
==Attack and loss==
The next morning the {{GS|U-124|1940|6}} sank the cargo ship {{SS|Empire Stream||2}}. Then on the night of 25–26 September the attack increased. ''Avoceta'' was in the first row of the convoy, with the Norwegian cargo ship {{SS|Varangberg||2}} in the position astern of her. At 0031 hrs {{GS|U-203||2}} fired a spread of four torpedoes from their port side. One hit ''Avoceta'' close to her engine room<ref name=U1137>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1137.html |title=Avoceta |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref> and two hit ''Varangberg''.<ref name=U1136>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1136.html |title=Varangberg |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref> Admiral Creighton was on ''Avoceta''{{'}}s bridge, and later recalled that when hit ''"She staggered like a stumbling horse"''.{{sfn|Prysor|2012|p=clxix}}
The next morning the {{GS|U-124|1940|6}} sank the cargo ship {{SS|Empire Stream||2}}. Then on the night of 25–26 September the attack increased. ''Avoceta'' was in the first row of the convoy, with the Norwegian cargo ship {{SS|Varangberg||2}} in the position astern of her. At 0031 hrs {{GS|U-203||2}} fired a spread of four torpedoes from their port side. One hit ''Avoceta'' close to her engine room<ref name=U1137>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1137.html |title=Avoceta |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> and two hit ''Varangberg''.<ref name=U1136>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1136.html |title=Varangberg |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> Admiral Creighton was on ''Avoceta''{{'}}s bridge, and later recalled that when hit ''"She staggered like a stumbling horse"''.{{sfn|Prysor|2012|p=clxix}}


Both ships sank quickly, and ''Varangberg'' had no time to launch her lifeboats. ''Avoceta'' sank by the stern, and her bows quickly rose to such an angle that her lifeboats could not be lowered.{{sfn|Prysor|2012|p=clxix}} However, the liner had three [[Lifeboat (shipboard)#Liferaft versus lifeboat|liferafts]] mounted so as to float clear in the event of a shipwreck, and one of her radio officers survived by clinging to a large piece of her cork cargo that had floated free from one of her holds.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://195.188.87.10/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/61/a5505761.shtml |last=Morris |first=Grahame |title=Battle of the Atlantic Part Three |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC |date=16 August 2005 |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
Both ships sank quickly, and ''Varangberg'' had no time to launch her lifeboats. ''Avoceta'' sank by the stern, and her bows quickly rose to such an angle that her lifeboats could not be lowered.{{sfn|Prysor|2012|p=clxix}} However, the liner had three [[Lifeboat (shipboard)#Liferaft versus lifeboat|liferafts]] mounted so as to float clear in the event of a shipwreck, and one of her radio officers survived by clinging to a large piece of her cork cargo that had floated free from one of her holds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://195.188.87.10/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/61/a5505761.shtml |last=Morris |first=Grahame |title=Battle of the Atlantic Part Three |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC |date=16 August 2005 |access-date=29 December 2013 |archive-date=30 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230234648/http://195.188.87.10/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/61/a5505761.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>


[[File:HMS Jasmine WWII IWM A5519.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Jasmine|K23|6}} rescued survivors from ''Avoceta'' and {{SS|Varangberg||2}}]]
[[File:HMS Jasmine WWII IWM A5519.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Jasmine|K23|6}} rescued survivors from ''Avoceta'' and {{SS|Varangberg||2}}]]
[[File:HMS Periwinkle IWM A 6089.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Periwinkle|K55|6}} rescued survivors from ''Avoceta'']]
[[File:HMS Periwinkle IWM A 6089.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Periwinkle|K55|6}} rescued survivors from ''Avoceta'']]
The {{sclass2-|Flower|corvette}}s {{HMS|Jasmine|K23|6}} and {{HMS|Periwinkle|K55|2}} rescued 40 survivors from ''Avoceta''.<ref name=U1137/> ''Jasmine'' also saved six of ''Varangberg'''s crew who were clinging to rafts and floating wreckage.<ref name=U1136/> The merchant ship {{SS|Cervantes|1919|2}} saved another three of ''Avoceta''{{'}}s crew. ''Avoceta''{{'}}s survivors were Admiral Creighton and five of his Royal Navy staff, her [[Sea captain|Master]] Harold Martin and 22 of his crew, two [[Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship|DEMS]] gunners and 12 passengers. A day later {{GS|U-201||2}} sank ''Cervantes'', killing eight people, but the merchant ship {{SS|Starling|1930|2}} rescued 32 including ''Cervantes''{{'}} three survivors from ''Avoceta''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1135.html |title=Cervantes |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref> ''Jasmine'' and ''Periwinkle'' landed their survivors at [[Milford Haven]], Wales.<ref name=U1137/>
The {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}}s {{HMS|Jasmine|K23|6}} and {{HMS|Periwinkle|K55|2}} rescued 40 survivors from ''Avoceta''.<ref name=U1137/> ''Jasmine'' also saved six of ''Varangberg'''s crew who were clinging to rafts and floating wreckage.<ref name=U1136/> The merchant ship {{SS|Cervantes|1919|2}} saved another three of ''Avoceta''{{'}}s crew. ''Avoceta''{{'}}s survivors were Admiral Creighton and five of his Royal Navy staff, her [[Sea captain|Master]] Harold Martin and 22 of his crew, two [[Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship|DEMS]] gunners and 12 passengers. A day later {{GS|U-201||2}} sank ''Cervantes'', killing eight people, but the merchant ship {{SS|Starling|1930|2}} rescued 32 including ''Cervantes''{{'}} three survivors from ''Avoceta''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/1135.html |title=Cervantes |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref> ''Jasmine'' and ''Periwinkle'' landed their survivors at [[Milford Haven]], Wales.<ref name=U1137/>


123 people from ''Avoceta'' and 21 crew from ''Varangberg'' were lost.<ref name=U1136/> ''Avoceta''{{'}}s dead included 43 crew, nine Navy staff, four DEMS gunners and 67 civilian passengers, including 32 women and 20 children. The youngest victims were four one-year-old babies. The Barker family - seven children under 16, their mother Ida, grandfather, aunt and three cousins - died together. Three victims were in their early 70s; the oldest was Ernest Andrews, aged 73. The Reverend Edward Stanley and his sister Elizabeth, both in their 60s, had been returning from missionary work in [[Vichy France]]. A Jewish couple in their 60s, Semtov Jacob Yahiel and his wife Luna, had been living in Paris but the husband was a British subject<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28649/pages/7213/page.pdf |title=The Naturalization Act, 1870 |newspaper=[[The London Gazette]] |date=1 October 2012 |page=7213 |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref> so they were trying to reach relative safety in Britain. Two victims were from [[British Raj|British India]]: Musserwanji Marshall, aged 72, and a young graduate, Saraswati Kitchlu.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1137.html |title=Avoceta |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Crew lists from ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |accessdate=29 December 2013}}</ref>
123 people from ''Avoceta'' and 21 crew from ''Varangberg'' were lost.<ref name=U1136/> ''Avoceta''{{'}}s dead included 43 crew, nine Navy staff, four DEMS gunners and 67 civilian passengers, including 32 women and 20 children, four of which were under one year old.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1137.html |title=Avoceta |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |date=1995–2013 |work=Crew lists from ships hit by U-boats |publisher=Guðmundur Helgason |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>


==Monument==
==Monument==
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}}
}}
The lost members of ''Avoceta''{{'}}s crew are commemorated in the Second World War section of the [[Tower Hill Memorial|Merchant Navy War Memorial at Tower Hill]] in London.
The lost members of ''Avoceta''{{'}}s crew are commemorated in the Second World War section of the [[Tower Hill Memorial|Merchant Navy War Memorial at Tower Hill]] in London.

{{-}}


==References==
==References==
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==Sources==
==Sources==
*{{cite book |last=Prysor |first=Glyn |year=2012 |title=Citizen Sailors: The Royal Navy in the Second World War |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=0141046325 |pages=clxix–clxx |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last=Prysor |first=Glyn |year=2012 |title=Citizen Sailors: The Royal Navy in the Second World War |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0141046327 |pages=clxix–clxx }}


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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avoceta, SS}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avoceta, SS}}
[[Category:1923 ships]]
[[Category:1922 ships]]
[[Category:Dundee-built ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Dundee]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in September 1941]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in September 1941]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]

Latest revision as of 22:00, 22 March 2024

SS Avoceta
History
United Kingdom
NameAvoceta
NamesakeSpanish for avocet
OwnerYeoward Line
OperatorYeoward Brothers
Port of registryLiverpool
BuilderCaledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Dundee
Yard number279[1]
Launched21 September 1922
CompletedJanuary 1923
Identification
FateSunk by torpedo, 25 September 1941
General characteristics
Tonnage
  • 3,442 GRT
  • tonnage under deck 3,044
  • 1,879 NRT
Length319.0 ft (97.2 m)
Beam44.2 ft (13.5 m)
Draught20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Depth26.5 ft (8.1 m)
Deckstwo
Installed power395 NHP
Propulsion
Sensors and
processing systems		wireless direction finding
ArmamentDEMS
Notessister ships: Aguila, Alondra

SS Avoceta was a British steam passenger liner. She was built in Dundee in 1923 and was sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic in 1941. She belonged to Yeoward Line, which carried passengers and fruit between Liverpool, Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Avoceta is Spanish for avocet. Yeoward Brothers had a previous ship called Avocet that was built in 1885 and sunk by U-50 in 1917.[4]

Building

[edit]

In the early 1920s the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company of Dundee built two sister ships for Yeoward Brothers, completing Alondra in April 1922[5] and Avoceta in January 1923.[6] The pair were similar to Aguila that Caledon had built for Yeoward in 1917, having the same size boilers and engine, the same beam and being only 3.7 feet (1.1 m) longer.[2]

Avoceta had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 189 square feet (18 m2) that heated three single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 7,054 square feet (655 m2). These fed steam at 180 lbf/in2 to a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that was rated at 395 NHP[2] and drove a single screw.

War service

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In the Second World War Avoceta continued Yeoward Brothers' service to neutral Portugal, Spain and the Canary Islands. She made nine trips to Las Palmas, six of which also included a call at Tenerife. Others were to one or another mainland port: one to Almeria, two to Valencia and 11 to Lisbon. Her final visit to the Canaries was in March 1941; thereafter she served only Lisbon and Gibraltar.[7]

Avoceta always joined an outbound convoy to leave British home waters, and then would continue either unescorted or with an OG-series convoy as far as Gibraltar. She made her return voyages either unescorted or via Gibraltar and an HG-series convoy to Liverpool. During German and Italian submarines' First Happy Time in the Battle of the Atlantic one homeward trip was diverted: Convoy HG 39 left Gibraltar on 21 July 1940 bound for Liverpool, but instead went to Swansea in South Wales.[7]

Final voyage

[edit]

On 13 August 1941 Avoceta's sister ship Aguila left Liverpool in OG 71. On 19 August 1941 Avoceta followed, leaving Liverpool with Convoy OG 72. On 18–23 August OG 71 became the first Allied convoy to be attacked by a U-boat wolfpack. OG 72 safely reached Gibraltar on 4 September, but there received news that OG 71 had been attacked, ten ships sunk, and they included Aguila which had been lost with 152 dead and only 16 survivors.[8]

From Gibraltar Avoceta made her usual round trip to Lisbon and back (2–15 September). In Lisbon she embarked dozens of refugees from German-occupied Europe: UK subjects who had escaped the fall of France and had been denied leave to remain by the authorities in neutral Spain and Portugal. Most were women and children, some of them of French or Spanish origin, several following their husbands to the UK. Once back in Gibraltar Avoceta also embarked survivors rescued from the loss of Aguila. Her cargo included cork, 573 sacks of mail and some diplomatic bags.[9]

Avoceta was one of 25 merchant ships that formed Convoy HG 73, which left Gibraltar on 17 September bound for Liverpool. HG 73's Commodore, Rear Admiral Sir Kenelm Creighton, KBE, MVO, travelled on Avoceta. In response to the new wolfpack tactic, HG 73's initial escort included three destroyers, one sloop, eight corvettes and the fighter catapult ship HMS Springbank. At first this was successful: on 18 September a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor found HG 73 and signalled its position and course, but on the moonless night of 21–22 September the destroyer HMS Vimy damaged the Italian submarine Luigi Torelli with depth charges and drove her away. On 22 September another destroyer, HMS Highlander, rendezvoused with the convoy and reinforced its escort.[10] On 24 September an Fw 200 patrol aircraft again sighted HG 73, but a Fairey Fulmar aircraft from Springbank drove it off.[11]

Attack and loss

[edit]

The next morning the German submarine U-124 sank the cargo ship Empire Stream. Then on the night of 25–26 September the attack increased. Avoceta was in the first row of the convoy, with the Norwegian cargo ship Varangberg in the position astern of her. At 0031 hrs U-203 fired a spread of four torpedoes from their port side. One hit Avoceta close to her engine room[12] and two hit Varangberg.[13] Admiral Creighton was on Avoceta's bridge, and later recalled that when hit "She staggered like a stumbling horse".[14]

Both ships sank quickly, and Varangberg had no time to launch her lifeboats. Avoceta sank by the stern, and her bows quickly rose to such an angle that her lifeboats could not be lowered.[14] However, the liner had three liferafts mounted so as to float clear in the event of a shipwreck, and one of her radio officers survived by clinging to a large piece of her cork cargo that had floated free from one of her holds.[15]

HMS Jasmine rescued survivors from Avoceta and Varangberg
HMS Periwinkle rescued survivors from Avoceta

The Flower-class corvettes HMS Jasmine and Periwinkle rescued 40 survivors from Avoceta.[12] Jasmine also saved six of Varangberg's crew who were clinging to rafts and floating wreckage.[13] The merchant ship Cervantes saved another three of Avoceta's crew. Avoceta's survivors were Admiral Creighton and five of his Royal Navy staff, her Master Harold Martin and 22 of his crew, two DEMS gunners and 12 passengers. A day later U-201 sank Cervantes, killing eight people, but the merchant ship Starling rescued 32 including Cervantes' three survivors from Avoceta.[16] Jasmine and Periwinkle landed their survivors at Milford Haven, Wales.[12]

123 people from Avoceta and 21 crew from Varangberg were lost.[13] Avoceta's dead included 43 crew, nine Navy staff, four DEMS gunners and 67 civilian passengers, including 32 women and 20 children, four of which were under one year old.[17]

Monument

[edit]
SS Avoceta is located in North Atlantic
SS Avoceta
class=notpageimage|
Approximate position of Aguila's wreck

The lost members of Avoceta's crew are commemorated in the Second World War section of the Merchant Navy War Memorial at Tower Hill in London.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Allen, Tony (8 November 2013). "SS Avoceta (+1941)". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  3. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  4. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Avocet". Ships hit during WWI. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  5. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  6. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  7. ^ a b Hague, Arnold. "Avoceta". Ship Movements. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  8. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Aguila". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  9. ^ Morris, Grahame (16 August 2005). "Battle of the Atlantic Part One". WW2 People's War. BBC. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  10. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HG.73". HG Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  11. ^ Morris, Grahame (16 August 2005). "Battle of the Atlantic Part Two". WW2 People's War. BBC. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  12. ^ a b c Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Avoceta". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  13. ^ a b c Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Varangberg". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  14. ^ a b Prysor 2012, p. clxix.
  15. ^ Morris, Grahame (16 August 2005). "Battle of the Atlantic Part Three". WW2 People's War. BBC. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  16. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Cervantes". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  17. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Avoceta". Crew lists from ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 29 December 2013.

Sources

[edit]

47°34′N 24°03′W / 47.57°N 24.05°W / 47.57; -24.05

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