SS Marietta E

SS Marietta E was a British cargo ship completed by William Hamilton & Co in Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde in June 1940.[1] She had a single 520 NHP triple-expansion steam engine built by David Rowan and Company of Glasgow,[1] that drove a single screw. She had eight corrugated furnaces heating two 225 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 7,643 square feet (710 m2), plus one auxiliary boiler.[1]

History
United Kingdom
Name: SS Marietta E
Owner: Leith Hill Shipping Co Ltd[1]
Operator: Counties Ship Management Co Ltd, London[1][2]
Builder: William Hamilton & Co, Port Glasgow[1][2]
Completed: June 1940[2]
Out of service: 4 March 1943[2]
Identification: UK official number 167596[1]
Fate: Sunk by torpedo[2]
Status: wreck
General characteristics
Type: cargo ship
Tonnage:
Length: 421.1 ft (128.4 m)[1] p/p
Beam: 60.4 ft (18.4 m)[1]
Draught: 28 ft 2 1⁄2 in (8.60 m)
Depth: 35.8 ft (10.9 m)[1]
Installed power: 520 NHP[1]
Propulsion: triple-expansion steam engine; single screw[1]
Crew: 45[2]
Notes: sister ships: SS Kingston Hill, SS Lulworth Hill, SS Michael E, SS Primrose Hill

She was owned by Leith Hill Shipping Co Ltd and managed by Counties Ship Management Co Ltd of London[1] (CSM), both of which were offshoots of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking company.[3] She was named after Marietta Eustathiou, a member of Nicholas Eustathiou shipping concerns that had a major shareholding in her.[3]

Marietta E was a sister ship of SS Michael E, SS Lulworth Hill and SS Primrose Hill, which also were managed by CSM and owned by companies associated with R&K.

Position of Marietta E's wreck off the coast of South Africa

Sinking

Early in 1943 she sailed from New York, bound for Alexandria in Egypt via Durban and Aden.[2] She was laden with a cargo of government and commercial stores and deck cargo of eight LCPL landing craft.[2] In Durban she joined convoy DN-21 to Alexandria via Aden.[2] At 0346 hrs on 4 March in the Indian Ocean east of East London, German submarine U-160 fired two torpedoes at the convoy, one of which sank the Marietta E killing four crew and one DEMS gunner.[2] South African Navy rescue launch R8 rescued the Master, 33 crew and six DEMS gunners and landed them at Durban.[2]

References
  1. Lloyd's Register, Steam Ships and motorships (PDF). Lloyd's Register. 1943. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  2. Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2010). "Marietta E." uboat.net. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  3. Fenton, Roy (2006). "Counties Ship Management 1934-2007". LOF-News. p. 1. Retrieved 30 June 2010.

Further reading
  • Sedgwick, Stanley; Kinnaird, Mark; O'Donoghue, K.J. (1993) [1992]. London & Overseas Freighters, 1948-92: A Short History. World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-68-1.
  • Sedgwick, Stanley; Sprake, R.F. (1977). London & Overseas Freighters Limited 1949-1977. World Ship Society. ISBN 0905617037.

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