Court Line - the company and its ships

Cressington Court (2)

 

Court Line used the name Cressington Court for four ships:

 

· Cressington Court (1) - a cargo ship launched in 1908

· Cressington Court (2) - a cargo ship launched in 1929

· Cressington Court (3) - a cargo ship launched as Empire Earl in 1942

· Cressington Court (4) - a bulk carrier launched as Hector Halcyon in 1961

 

Cressington Court (2) was in service for 13 years during which she worked through the years of the Depression, took part in many WW2 convoys and was ultimately torpedoed and sunk in 1942 with the loss of many lives.

Basic Data

Type: Cargo ship

Registered owners,managers and operators:

United British Steamship Co. Ltd.

Managers Haldin & Philipps Ltd. London

Builders: Northumberland Shipping Co (1927) Ltd

Yard: Howden

Country: UK

Yard number: 410

Registry: N/K

Official number: 161289

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: N/K

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 4,971

Net tonnage: 3,033

Deadweight: N/K

Length: 405.5 ft

Breadth: 55.5 ft

Depth: 25.1 ft

Draught: N/K

Engines: 3 Cylinder oil engine

Engine builders: William Doxford & Sons Ltd.

Works: Sunderland

Country: UK

Power: 482 nhp

Propulsion: Single screw

Speed: 13.5 knots

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: N/K

Service Pre-War

 

Very little information is available other than that Cressington Court (2) was one of the few Court Line ships NOT laid up during the 1930s depression. She was used for trades between Vancouver and Australia during this period

 

Participation in WW2 Convoys

 

Cressington Court (2) took part in 22 convoys according to information shown in the table below which is provided courtesy of Convoyweb   - see  Ext. Ref. #5.

Sinking

 

Ext. Ref. #4 provides the following information:

 

Position: 07.58N, 46.00W - Grid EP 6162
Complement: 44 (8 dead and 36 survivors).       

Convoy Route:  Philadelphia - Trinidad (14 Aug) - Capetown - Durban - Alexandria 

Cargo:   7362 tons of government stores and general cargo 

 

At 09.07 hours on 19 Aug, 1942, the unescorted Cressington Court (Master William James Pace) was torpedoed and sunk by U-510 northeast of Belem. The master and seven crew members were lost.

 

On 10 Sep, 1942, 26 crew members and ten gunners were picked up by the Woensdrecht. But two days later this vessel was torpedoed and badly damaged by U-515 (Henke). During the attack a piece of debris killed one crew member of Cressington Court. The other crew members from the British ship abandoned the tanker and were picked up by two American patrol vessels the following night and landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad.

 

The Roll of Honour below lists those who are known to have died as a result of the sinking of Cressington Court (2). It excludes details of DEMS gunners.

Postscript

 

U-510 had an effective career and took park in 7 patrols between November 1941 and May 1945. During this period it is claimed that she accounted for 11 ships sunk totalling 71,100 GRT, 1 auxiliary warship sunk totalling 249 GRT, 8 ships damaged totalling 53,289 GR.T

 

U-510 was taken out of service on 10 May, 1945 at St Nazaire, France, surrendered to France 12 May, 1945, renamed as the French submarine Bouan, was stricken 1 May, 1959 as Q176 and finally broken up in 1960.    

 

Images

 

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