Cornwallis was built by J.Coughlan & Sons in Vancouver. British Columbia, Canada for the Canadian Government as a steam merchant vessel. She was built in yard 20 and was completed in October 1921.[7]
The ship had a length of 400 feet (120 m), a beam of 52.5 feet (16.0 m) and a depth of 28.5 feet (8.7 m). She had a gross register tonnage of 5,458.[2] As for propulsion, she was powered by a single 3-cylinder triple-expansion engine that drove one screw.[2] It developed 370 horsepower (280 kW) of which provided Cornwallis a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).[1][2]
On 6 November 1935, a crew member was severely injured after a wave struck the deck of Cornwallis.[8] The operator Canadian National Steamships Ltd was taken to court and was sued for CAD4,000[9] in damages.[8]
1942 first U-boat attack
A Type IXC U-boat similar to U-514 that attacked Cornwallis on 11 September 1942
On 11 September 1942, while anchored at Carlisle Bay, Bridgetown, Barbados she was fired upon by U-514 with multiple G7e torpedoes at a distance of 2,400 yards (2,200 m).[3] Although the majority of the torpedoes were caught by the harbour's torpedo net, a single torpedo managed to breach the net and hit Cornwallis just abreast of the #2 hold.[3] The ship sunk only partially, due to its location in shallow waters. She was raised, patched temporarily, and towed to the Swan Hunter shipyard at Chaguaramas, Trinidad -and then towed again to Mobile on 24 January 1943. Repairs were finished in August 1943 and the ship would subsequently return to service.[3][2][10]
1944 second U-boat attack and sinking
On 20 November 1944, Cornwallis left Barbados with a cargo of sugar and molasses.[11] She left port with a crew complement of 48 including seven armed guards and a British DBS.[2] The ship's captain, Emerson Robinson, was instructed to sail unescorted through the Cape Cod Canal and then up the coast of New England before finally arriving at their destination Saint John.[3][1][2]
On 3 December 1944, she was spotted and fired upon by U-1230. At 06:00 a single torpedo struck the forward section of the ship.[11][12][13] An SOS radio call was sent out by the crew and was received at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.[11]
The crew attempted to lower the amidships lifeboat on the starboard side but the lifeboat was caught on the davits rendering it unusable.[2] The ship sank on her starboard side in under ten minutes.[2] Of the 48 crew members, only 6 would escape the sinking vessel and make their way to a lifeboat which had floated free when the vessel sunk. The survivors would later be picked up by the fishing vesselNotre Dame with one perishing en route due to hypothermia.[2] The five survivors would be dropped off at Rockland, Maine.[14][15]
Official numbers and code letters
Official numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. Cornwallis had an official number of 150448 and the Code LettersTPWB (). In 1932 her code letters were changed to VGBY ().[1]
Vancouver Canada
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