Part of the
Acorn Archive
Hearts of Oak
Athel Line
Ships
Tankers Ltd
Ships
Scottish
Highlands
SCOTTISH
HIGHLANDS
7,099 grt
Built
1924 Armstrong Whitworth & Co., Newcastle
Launched
as SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
For
Tankers Ltd.
440ft 8ins x 57ft 4ins x 34ft
774 nhp; oil engines.
Completed
as LUBRAFOL for Belgian owners.
She never sailed for Tankers
Ltd.
LUBRAFOL
Sold to Gulf Oil Corporation, Belgium
7,138 tons
Home Port: Panama City, Republic
of Panama
Master: E. Van Schoenberg (Belgium)
Time-Chartered to the War
Shipping Administration: 24th April 1942 at Aruba.
1942 9th May, she was en
route, unescorted, from Aruba to New York with a cargo of 67,000 barrels of Nr.2
Heating Oil. At 1002, she was torpedoed by U-564 about 3.5 miles off Hillsboro
Inlet, Florida; position 26.25N 80.00W. A torpedo hit on the starboard side
amidships at Nr5 tank, which burst into flames immediately and seconds later
the Nr1 tank also caught fire. The explosion stopped the engines, destroyed the
radio antenna and the foremast toppled on the bridge, killing two men. The
survivors among the 38 crewmembers and six armed guards abandoned ship in three
lifeboats, but one of them caught fire and the men had to jump overboard and
were lost. In all, thirteen of her crew were killed. The remaining two boats with 31 survivors, seven of them
injured, were towed free from the burning tanker by two USCG boats and landed
at Boynton Beach, Florida. The vessels also recovered seven bodies. The burning
LUBRAFOL drifted until 11th May and then sank in shallow waters. The
burnt out wreck was broken up in 1954.
Lubrafol
The men who
died 9th May 1942
Barnes, Jack (George), Radio Officer, Orono Ontario,
Canada.
Cooyers, William (31), Cook, Holland.
Craen, Maurice (35), Bosun, Belgium.
Gulden, James (31) ABS, Ireland.
Gulleckson, Kristoffer John (25), ABS, Netteroy, Norway.
Harrington, Joseph R. (28), Ordinary Seaman, Staten
Island NY.
Holthe, Leif Oskar (21), ABS, Oslo, Norway.
Leonhard, Tom (23), Messman, Holland.
Lindstrom, Elmer (19), Ordinary Seaman, Brooklyn NY.
Stoyanovich, Alex C. (32), Oiler-Deck Maintenance, Bronx
NY.
Vandeberg, Joseph (45), Messman, Belgium.
Van Dessel, Pierre (43), 1st Engineer, Belgium.
Wegbrands, Abraham, (31), Junior Engineer, Holland.
Raymond
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