Court Line - the company and its ships

Geddington Court (1)

 

Court Line used the name Geddington Court for three ships:

 

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

· Geddington Court (2) - a cargo ship completed in 1928

· Geddington Court (3) - a cargo ship completed in 1952

 

Geddington Court (1) had a 30 year service life involving service during both WW1 and WW2 and several changes of ownership and name, and was sunk by a torpedo in 1942.

Basic Data

Type: Cargo ship

Registered owners,managers and operators:

Court Line Ltd.

Managers Haldinstien and Co

Builders: Northumberland Shipbuilding Co.  Ltd.

Yard: Howden, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Country: UK

Yard number: 188

Registry: N/K

Official number: 132665

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: N/K

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 3,989

Net tonnage: 2,495

Deadweight: N/K

Length: 375.1 ft

Breadth: 51.3 ft

Depth: 24.3 ft

Draught: N/K

Engines: Triple expansion steam engine

Engine builders: Blair & Co.Ltd.

Works: Stockton-on-Tees

Country: UK

Power: 385 nhp

Propulsion: Single screw

Speed: N/K

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: N/K

Service post-WW1

 

Apart from changes of ownership and name, nothing is known of her service between WW1 and WW2.

 

Service in WW2 Convoys as Icarion

 

Geddington Court (1) took part in 11 convoys according to information shown in the table below which is provided courtesy of Convoyweb  - see  Ext. Ref. #5.

Sinking

 

According to Ext. Ref. #4, Geddington Court (1) (by then named Icarion) was sunk by U-754:

 

"At 00.21 hours on 27 Jan 1942, U-754 fired a spread of three torpedoes at the Icarion, dispersed from convoy ON-53, and observed a hit in the stern after 5 minutes 25 seconds. The ship sank at 01.08 hours."

 

The same source states that the ship was en route to Halifax from Manchester on convoy ON-53 (which does not quite match Hague's database entry), had a complement of 29 or whom 9 died in the attack and 20 survived. She was described as carrying ballast and was sunk at position 46.02N, 52.22W.

 

At the ship was under Greek ownership at the time of her sinking, no information about the names of those lost is available from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Anyone having information about those that lost their lives is requested to contact this site (see Home Page) and they will be added to the Roll of Honour below.

Service Pre-WW1

 

No information currently available.

 

Service in WW1

 

This is a summary of the work done by Geddington Court (1) in WW1:

 

· 12/4/16 - 14/7/16: E.F.Transport for carriage of hay and oats then collier service, no number, up to 27/9/16

· 16/10/17 - 07/12/17: E.F.Service again for oats, and timber from U.S.Gulf to U.K.

· 23/2/18 - 08/07/18: R.N.Collier No 1861 then wheat from U.S.A.

· 09/07/18 - Mid 1919: Wheat from Karachi, Sugar from Cuba, wheat from Canada, and phosphates from Sfax to U.K. up to Mid.1919.

Image 1

Postscript

 

According to Ext. Ref. #4, the captain of submarine U-754 was Hans Oestermann. U-754 was commissioned 28 Aug 1941 and sank 13 ships totalling 55,659 GRT. She was herself sunk on 31 July, 1942 in North Atlantic north of Boston, USA in position 43.02N, 64.52W, by a Canadian Hudson aircraft (RCAF Sqdn. 113) with the loss of all 43 hands.

 

Images

 

1. Image #1 from The Allen Collection