Court Line - the company and its ships

Hannington Court (1)

 

Court Line used the name Hannington Court for three ships:

 

· Hannington Court (1) - a cargo ship  completed in 1912

· Hannington Court (2) - a cargo ship completed in 1939

· Hannington Court (3) - a cargo ship completed in 1954

 

Hannington Court (1) had a strange career. Starting as a British ship launched in 1912 she was sold to Italian owners between the wars, was captured by the Allies during WW2 and took part in a number of convoys before being sunk by a German U-boat in 1940. Overall she had a service life of 28 years.

Basic Data

Type: Cargo ship

Registered owners,managers and operators:

Court Line Ltd.

Managers Haldin & Philipps Ltd. London

Builders: J. Priestman & Co. Ltd.

Yard: Stockton-on-Tees

Country: UK

Yard number: 239

Registry: N/K

Official number: 135157

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: GRSZ

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 5,166

Net tonnage: 3,217

Deadweight: N/K

Length: 400 ft

Breadth: 53.6 ft

Depth: 29.1 ft

Draught: N/K

Engines: 3-cylinder Triple expansion steam engine

Engine builders: Blair & Co.Ltd

Works: Stockton-on-Tees

Country: UK

Power: N/K

Propulsion: Single screw

Speed: 10 knots

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: N/K

Service Pre-WW1

 

No information currently available.

 

Service in WW1

 

No information currently available about any service during WW1.

 

Service between WW1 and WW2

 

No information is available apart from changes in name and ownership and that she was laid up for a significant time at Milford Haven during the 1930s due to the depression.

Participation in WW2

 

During the first part of the war, Hannington Court (1) - then named Elios, was Italian owned. It is not known how she was deployed in this period.

 

She was captured by the Allies in 1940, renamed as Empire Brigade, and put into use by the Ministry of War and Transport.

 

Empire Brigade took part in 4 convoys according to information shown in the table below which is provided courtesy of Convoyweb   - see  Ext. Ref. #5.

Sinking

 

According to Ext. Ref. #5, Empire Brigade was sunk whilst part of convoy SC-7 which appears to have been particularly badly hit. The convoy consisted of 37 merchant ships and 6 escorts. Of the merchant ships, a staggering 19 were sunk, and one was damaged to the extent that it had to be towed. Submarine

U-99 accounted for 7 of the losses including Empire Brigade.

 

According to Ext. Ref. #4, she was carrying a general cargo, including 750 tons of copper, 129 tons of ferro alloys and 980 tons of steel.

 

“At 01.38 hours on 19 Oct, 1940, the Empire Brigade (Master Sydney Wyman Parks) in convoy SC-7 was torpedoed and sunk by U-99 about 100 miles east-southeast of Rockall. Five crew members and one gunner were lost. The master and 34 crew members were picked up by HMS Fowey (L 15) (Lt C.G. de L. Bush) and landed at Greenock.”

 

The names of those lost are included in the Roll of Honour below.

Postscript

 

U-99 was commissioned on 18 April 1940 and during a career including 8 patrols claimed the sinking of 35 merchant ships totalling 198,218 GRT, 3 auxiliary warships totalling 46,440 GRT, 1 ship captured and 5 ships damaged totalling 37,965 GRT.

 

U-99 was scuttled at 0343hrs on 17 Mar 1941 south-east of Iceland, in approximate position 61N, 12W, after being depth charged by the British destroyer HMS Walker with 3 dead and 40 survivors.

 

Images

 

1. Image #1 by courtesy of Clive Malvern.

Image 1