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by aukepalmhof » Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:24 pm
Built as a cargo vessel under yard no 282 by Dunlop, Bremner & Co., Ltd., Port Glasgow, U.K for the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot- Maatschappij N.V. (KNSM) of Amsterdam.
1914 Launched under the name AGAMEMNON.
Tonnage 1.930 gross, 1.031 net, dim. 295.6 x 43.2 x 17.2ft.
One triple expansion steam engine 218 nhp., speed 10½ knots.
Used by the KNSM in the liner service between Europe and the West Indies.
March 1918 under control of The Shipping Controller and managed by W.E.Hinde & Co., mgrs.) London.
1919 returned to owners.
She was lost on 08 Nov. 1940 on a voyage from Newcastle to Southend then through to Havana in ballast under command of Capt. D. Sparrius and a crew of 29, in convoy FN 29 when she was attacked in the afternoon around 02.00 o’clock by a German dive-bomber. She sank so quickly that the crew did not have any time to launch the lifeboats, and have to jump overboard and kept the head above water by holding on to some flotsam and one raft what drifted free when the AGAMEMNON sank. After 45 minutes in the water they were rescued by the destroyer HMS CATTISTOCK, only Capt. Sparrius who did not wore a lifejacket and the English wireless operator were lost.
The AGAMEMNON sank in a position 220 degree 7 cables from SW Swin Light Vessel, the wreck lies in 10 fathom of water in position 51 43.9N 01 24.9E.
Source; Register of Merchant Ships Completed in 1914.Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Koopvaardij in de Tweede Wereldoorlog by K.W.L. Bezemer. Lloyds War Losses, The Second World War.
