Dagomba

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shipstamps
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Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:12 pm

Dagomba

Post by shipstamps » Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:10 pm

Freighter built 1928 by McMillan & Sons Ltd., Dumbarton. 3845Gt 210Nt L355’ B49’2” D22’4”. Diesel engine 489hp 10kn. Whilst in convoy 3 Nov 1942 Lat2.29N Long 19’W struck by three torpedoes and foundered within 3 mins. Lifeboats No2 and 4 got away with all but four accounted for. Survivors of No2 lifeboat picked up by Portuguese Sloop, finally arriving in London 17 Dec on board FRANCONIA. Survivors in No4 lifeboat were picked up 10 Nov by Vichy France Patrol Boat and interned at Sabikotens until 12 Dec. Gambia SG551.

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aukepalmhof
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Re: Dagomba

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:33 pm

Built as a cargo vessel under yard no 738 by A. McMillan & Sons Ltd., Dumbarton for the British & African S.N. Co.
24 January 1928 launched as the DAGOMBA.
Tonnage 3,845 gross, 2,106 net, 5,870 dwt., dim. 111.86 x 14.90 x 6.79m, length between pp. 108,29m.
Powered by one 6-cyl B&W 4 S SA diesel engine, manufactured by Harland & Wolff at Glasgow, 489 nhp., one shaft, speed 10 knots.
March 1928 completed and delivered to owners.

Used in the cargo trade between the U.K. and the West Coast of Africa. She carried on the poop four surf boats for loading and discharging cargo on the African coast.
After the collapse of the Kylsant shipping group in 1931, the company was run by a board of trustees until, with government help the company could be re-organised. The group owned the British & African Steam Navigation Company and the Elder, Dempster & Company, Limited.
1933 The ships of both companies came under a new formed company the Elder Dempster Line Ltd., and the DAGOMBA was transferred to the new-formed company.

On Oct. 29, 1942 DAGOMBA sailed from Takoradi, Ghana, under command of Capt. J.T. Marshall with a crew of 55 and 6 gunners and 1 passenger. She sailed in convoy TS 23, bound via Trinidad to Liverpool.
Her cargo consisted of palm oil, palm kernels, and tin ore.
She joined a convoy of seven vessels which she left on Oct. 31, about 150 miles south of Cape Palmas when she headed for West Indian ports.
On Nov. 3, in Lat. 2º29'N, long.19ºW. about 450 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone, she was struck by three torpedoes from the Italian submarine AMMIRAGLIO CAGNI.
Lifeboats No. 2 and 4 got away from the ship, which foundered within three minutes of being hit. An Italian submarine surfaced and the captain asked the ship's name and if anyone were injured. He apologized for having to sink the ship, passed the survivors water, corned beef, biscuits, cigarettes, matches, and two bottles of Cognac, gave them the course and distance to Freetown and submerged.
The survivors of lifeboat No. 2 were picked up on Nov. 14, by a Portuguese sloop 150 miles from Freetown and finally arrived at London Dec. 17, on board the FRANCONIA. The men in lifeboat No. 4 were picked up Nov. 10, by a Vichy France patrol boat ANNAMITE (A73) and taken to Dakar, Senegal. They were interned at Sebikotene until Dec. 12, when they were taken to the Gambian border (10 miles on foot), and finally reached Bathurst 38 days after being torpedoed.
10 Crew members were lost including three which died in the lifeboats.,

Gambia 1984 90b sg 551, scott 621

Source: Merchant Fleets Elder Dempster Line by Duncan Haws. Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the age of Steam 1824-1962 Volume 1. Watercraft Philately Volume 41 page 41.
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KunzEllis
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Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:12 am

Re: Dagomba

Post by KunzEllis » Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:51 am

Hello! I am a new member - as of today.

My father, Bosun Frederick Ellis was serving on the Dagomba when it was torpoed and sunk in November of 1942, he was in lifeboat #2 and managed to survive the next eleven days in an open boat.
I do have a complete account of the Dagomba going down, this from, "The Complete Fleet History of Elder Dempster 1852-1985. I served as a Kitchen Boy with ED in 1950/1951.
Is it possible for you direct me to where I could obtain further information on these stamps,

Thank You and Sincerely,

Denis F. Ellis
8311 Sagimore Court
Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46835
USA
(260). 486-2922
KunzEllis@comcast.net

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