Court Line - the company and its ships

Barrington  Court (1)

 

Court Line used the name Barrington Court for three ships:

 

· Barrington Court (1) - a cargo ship  launched in 1906

· Barrington Court (2) - a cargo ship launched in 1924

· Barrington Court (3) - a refrigerated cargo ship launched in 1952

 

Barrington Court (1) was in service from 1915 until she was torpedoed in WW1 in 1917.

Basic Data

Type: Cargo ship

Registered owners,managers and operators:

Court Line Ltd.

Managers Haldin & Philipps Ltd. London

Builders: Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd.

Yard: Jarrow

Country: UK

Yard number: 790

Registry: N/K

Official number: 123698

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: N/K

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 4,367

Net tonnage: 2,834

Deadweight: N/K

Length: 355 ft

Breadth: 50 ft

Depth: 27.5 ft

Draught: N/K

Engines: Triple expansion steam engine

Engine builders: Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd.

Works: Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Country: UK

Power: 356 nhp

Propulsion: Single screw

Speed: 9 knots

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: N/K

Service Pre-War

 

No information is currently known about her service before WW1.

Service in WW1

 

Barrington Court (1) was used to transport various cargoes during the WW1:

 

· RN Collier service from 16/02/15 - 13/10/16

· Transportation of timber to Alexandria and Port Said and wheat from Australia

· Collier service again from 07/05/17

· Transportation of sugar from Cuba

Loss

 

Barrington Court (1) (then named Margam Abbey) was torpedoed on 1 November 1917 in the Mediterranean 9 miles West of Cape Bougaroni and was beached. The owners were paid £98,000 in settlement.

 

Ext. Ref.  #8 says that the ship was:

 

“.... torpedoed and damaged in the Mediterranean near Collo, Algeria, by the German submarine

U-50 whilst on a voyage from Cardiff to Alexandia. Two were lost. She was beached at Collo and became a total constructive loss.”

Postscript

 

Ext. Ref. #4, says that U-50 was launched on 31 Dec 1915 and responsible for the loss of 27 ships with a total of 92,924 grt., She was herself lost close to the date of the sinking of Margam Abbey.

 

This U-Boat site describes the fate of U-50 thus:

 

31 Aug, 1917 - Sunk probably from a mine off Terschelling on or after 31.8. 44 dead (all hands lost).

 

This is rather intriguing and there seem to be two possibilities - either another U-Boat torpedoed Margam Abbey, or U-50 was destroyed very shortly after this event.

 

 

Images

 

No images have been located to date. Anyone having one is requested to contact this site (see Home Page).