Dunbar Castle (ship)
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The Dunbar Castle (II) was a passenger ship put into service in 1930 , which was used by the British shipping company Union-Castle Line in passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and South Africa . She sank on January 9, 1940 after being struck by a mine , making it the first ship to lose the Union-Castle Line in World War II. 10 people were killed.
history
The 10,002 GRT motor ship Dunbar Castle was built at Harland & Wolffs Govan Shipyard in Govan (Scotland) and was 147.52 meters long and 18.65 meters wide. The ship had two funnels, two masts and two propellers and was powered by Burmeister & Wain diesel engines that could accelerate it to 14.5 knots. The Dunbar Castle was named after a castle in Dunbar , East Lothian , named. It was launched on October 31, 1929 and was completed on May 20, 1930.
On January 9, 1940, the Dunbar Castle was under the command of Captain Henry Atherton Causton on a journey from London to Beira in Mozambique . She was part of convoy OA-69, which was supposed to join forces with another convoy in the Atlantic for the further journey. On board were 150 crew members, a pilot and 48 passengers, including nine children and at least four women, two of whom were nuns . In addition, the ship had loaded 4,400 tons of cargo.
Two nautical miles northeast of the Goodwin Sands , the Dunbar Castle ran into a magnetic mine that exploded just below the navigating bridge. Immediately after the explosion, the ship began flip side to make, making it difficult the disembarkation. The crew still managed to get almost all of the passengers into the lifeboats and to lower the boats into the water. However, several crew members were killed in the explosion. Since Captain Causton had also been seriously injured, the chief officer Herbert H. Robinson took over command of the evacuation. 30 minutes after the mine hit, the Dunbar Castle sank at position 51.23N / 1.34E.
Captain Causton died shortly afterwards in one of the boats. In addition, one passenger and eight other crew members were killed. The survivors were picked up by the deminer Calvi , who was part of the convoy. A motorized barge , which soon arrived at the scene of the accident, finally brought them to Ramsgate, seven miles away . Chief Officer Robinson was awarded the Order of the British Empire for maintaining discipline during the disaster and successful evacuation of the ship in March 1940 . The upright wreck of Dunbar Castle , lying in one piece in shallow waters, was blown up in 1959.