Court Line - the company and its ships

Rossington Court

 

Court Line used the name Rossington Court for just one ship.

 

She was launched in 1928 and continued in operation until she was sank as a result of a collision with another British ship in 1940 whilst sailing in a convoy from Canada to England. Her service life was just 12 years.

Basic Data

Type: Cargo ship

Registered owners,managers and operators:

United British Steamship Co. Ltd.

Managers Haldin & Philipps Ltd. London

Builders: Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd.

Yard: Glasgow

Country: UK

Yard number: 631

Registry: N/K

Official number: 160585

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: GSQP

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 6,922

Net tonnage: 4,334

Deadweight: N/K

Length: 420 ft

Breadth: 56.5 ft

Depth: 32.8 ft

Draught: N/K

Engines: Triple expansion steam engine

Engine builders: J.G.Kincaid & Co. Ltd.

Works:  Greenock

Country: UK

Power: N/K

Propulsion: Single screw

Speed: 10 knots

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: N/K

Service Pre-WW2

 

No detailed information currently is currently available apart from the fact that Rossington Court was one of the few Court Line ships NOT to have been laid up in the depression of the 1930s.

Participation in WW2 Convoys

 

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

Sinking

 

 

Middlemass says in Ext. Ref. #7 that Rossington Court sank following a collision 400 miles east of Halifax Nova Scotia en route from New Westminster to the Tyne carrying lumber and metal. Convoyweb - see  Ext. Ref. #5, adds that the collision was on convoy HX26 and the other ship was Athelviking.

 

Ext. Ref. #33 provides some information about the sinking that was recorded by Pamela Jacqueline Saville regarding her father James Saville:

 

My father was a Merchant Navy captain, in command of Rossington Court. His ship was sunk when the convoy he was in left Newfoundland.

 

Just before the convoy left, all the captains had a briefing meeting. My father’s was the largest ship, with medical supplies and food. The convoy had a non-Merchant Navy vessel — a full navy ship — as escort as it ploughed across the Atlantic. Another ship’s steering got jammed and it cut into my father’s ship. The Chief Engineer saw the bows cut into the engine room.

 

At the briefing, another captain had said that he’d come back if my father’s ship were in trouble. When dawn broke, he realised that my father’s ship was missing. He broke away from the convoy. The Atlantic was very rough — this was wintertime — but by a miracle he found the lifeboat. One lifeboat had been crushed, but all the crew and officers had managed to squeeze into the other boat, so everyone was saved. They had very little food, but managed to get back — I think to Falmouth.

 

My mother had been told that the ship had been sunk, but no other news. My father telephoned from Falmouth when he got back. In those days everything was so secret.

 

My father continued in the RNR. The war changed. He went over with the bridgeheads in France and supervised things there for the Normandy landings. Eventually he was posted to Sri Lanka.

Images

 

1. Image #1 by courtesy of Clive Ketley

Image 1 shows Rossington Court. There is no information about the date or location but some it possible that someone may be able to confirm the location from the background at a future date.

Image 1