CLAN LINE.

CAYZER, IRVINE & COMPANY LIMITED.

TURNBULL MARTIN & CO. LTD. SCOTTISH SHIRE LINE.

R.P. HOUSTON LINE.

SCOTTISH TANKERS LTD.

Clan Line Captain John Bax Source: "Gathering of the Clans" by N.L. Middlemiss Merchant Fleets by Duncan Haws Research: Terry Robins

Part Seven





(2) 1937 – 1942

Official No. 165907. Grt 7262 Nrt 3666

463.7 X 63.0 X 29.9 Feet.

12.4.1937 Launched and 7.1937 completed by Greenock Dockyard Co Ltd. Greenock.
(Yard No 428 ) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 14.2.1942 bombed and sunk in position 35º 01' N 20º 11' E, 190 miles north of Benghazi while sailing in the same Malta convoy as CLAN CAMPBELL. Sunk by Escort.





(4) 1937 - 1942

Official No. 164112. Grt 7255 Nrt 3662

463.7 X 63.0 X 29.9 Feet.

14.1.1937 Launched and 4.1937 completed by Greenock Dockyard Co. Ltd. Greenock. (Yard No 427) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 13.2.1942 damaged by bombs in position 32º 22' N 24º 22' E 45 miles N.E. of Tobruk while sailing in a fast convoy of four Merchant Ships from Alexandria for the relief of Malta. Detached to Tobruk. 23.3.1942 bombed and sunk 8 miles from Filfola Isles, Malta, while sailing in the next fast convoy of four Merchant Ships from Alexandria.

In the same month on the 20th, CLAN MACQUARRIE actually rode over a submarine while zigzagging independently on her way to South Africa. Her Master had spotted what looked like a tide rip traveling slowly northward about six cables ahead. He headed straight for the head of the telltale ripple. Five minutes later, there was a terrific impact under the foremast and the bows of CLAN MACQUARRIE appeared to rise and for ten seconds the whole ship vibrated from whatever was under the hull. Then there were two more severe bumps, one under the deep tank amidships and the other under the mainmast. For ten seconds CLAN MACQUARRIE rode over the submarine and forced her down. The buoyancy of the submarine forced her up and she bumped twice more on the bottom of CLAN MACQUARRIE. The submarine was presumed sunk. After the coal had been worked out of the deep tank it was found that six frames on the Port side and five on the Starboard side had parted from the ship’s side. The damage was quickly repaired in Cape Town.





(1) 1913 – 1942

Official No. 133157. Grt 5060 Nrt 3152

429.2 X 53.7 X 26.6 Feet.

Launched 16.9.1913 and 11.1913 completed by A. Stephens and Sons Ltd. Glasgow (Yard No 456) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 1914 requisitioned by the Admiralty as a Royal Naval Squadron Supply ship. 13.6.1942 sunk by torpedo and gunfire from the Italian Submarine DA VINCI in position 5º 30' N 23º 30' W 600 miles from Freetown.

CLAN MACDONALD arrived safely in Malta on 28th September 1941 after narrowly missing being torpedoed in an air/sea battle during which 14 enemy aircraft were shot down. On 16th October she began a spectacular run home with 11 passengers including 4 children and passed through the narrows at night. She then hoisted the French flag on instructions and continued on with four Italian aircraft shadowing her. By about 3 pm, suspicions were confirmed when another three plane circled overhead, one dropped a torpedo which missed. The second aircraft did the same, which missed by only five feet and the followed by dropping a mine which also missed. The third aircraft was hit several times by CLAN MACDONALD gunners and staggered while losing height and broke off. Two hours later a torpedo bomber received hits and retired badly damaged without launching torpedoes. The next day another enemy aircraft circled respectfully out of range, and CLAN MACDONALD reached Gibraltar safely on 19th October.
CLAN FERGUSON had sailed from the Clyde with 245 troops and a full cargo of war material and arrived at Malta at about the same time as CLAN MACDONALD was leaving. She tried to get back to Gibraltar a week later unescorted, but after suffering several attacks from torpedo bombers, was ordered back to Malta. A month later she acted as a decoy to try to tempt the Italian Navy out, but they stayed in port and CLAN FERGUSON returned to Malta and loaded scrap, spending Christmas 1941 there. On Boxing Day evening she left with a small convoy bound for Alexandria and suffered above water line damage from bombs, which fell very close to her. She did however reach Egypt by the New Year. On 16th January 1942 she sailed back to Malta with 175 troops and a cargo of foodstuffs, together with explosives and 1000 tons of fuel oil and 270 tons of coal arriving at Malta on January 19th. After discharging her cargo she was in dry-dock for four days for bottom cleaning and painting. She returned to Alexandria safely having suffered continuous air attacks for the first two days out. She then returned to the U.K via Bombay, Cape Town, New York and Halifax.

The next convoy from Alexandria was in the following month of February, when the last four ship convoy including CLAN CHATTON and CLAN CAMPBELL departed on the 12th. The usual air attacks started and CLAN CAMPBELL received a direct hit the next day and was damaged by a near miss off Tubruk. She had to be detached from the convoy there. High level and low level attacks continued and CLAN CHATTON was hit in one of her holds on the 14th and caught fire. She had to be sunk by an escort, as was the third Merchantman an hour later when she was disabled by severe damage to her engine room and engines. The fourth vessel in the convoy, BRECKONSHIRE, returned to Alexandria but attempted to breakthrough again on the 19th March in another fast four ship convoy which included the now repaired CLAN CAMPBELL. The situation in Malta was now desperate with practically no food, fuel or ammunition left to hold off what were now continuous air attacks on the island. The convoy received the expected air attacks on the morning of the 3rd day, which involved more than 150 enemy aircraft, which were using torpedoes and heavy bombs. All were beaten off, however during the afternoon enemy cruisers and a battleship were sighted and the convoy turned away under a heavy smoke screen. The British escorting cruisers accurate fire and the determination of the also escorting destroyers to close and fire torpedoes eventually caused the enemy vessels to break away. The four Merchantmen dispersed to make their own way to Malta with one British cruiser and six destroyers nearby, in spite of bad weather the enemy attacks did not let up and CLAN CAMPBELL was only 50 miles from her destination when she was heavily attacked. In the running battle she managed to make another 30 miles toward her destination when a dive-bomber made a direct hit from around 50 feet. Her engine room flooded and she sank soon afterwards some 8 miles from the Filfola Islands, thankfully a British Destroyer picked up 112 survivors, however 30 of her crew lost their lives in the action. Two of the other merchantmen made it to harbour, but one was scuttled as she was on fire fore and aft with a cargo of ammunition. The fourth, the BRECKONSHIRE, was disabled by a direct hit in the engine room; she was towed to the sheltered Marsaxlokk Bay. She was quickly spotted there and the next day she was attacked again, hit and set on fire. She rolled over and sank in shallow water. In the days that followed, her precious cargo of fuel was pumped out into barges through her bottom plates, with frequent interruptions by enemy aircraft attacks and shipped in triumph to Grand Harbour.
In June 1942 a Malta bound convoy from Gibraltar succeeded in getting two out of a total of six ships through, but of the eleven merchantmen that had sailed from Alexandria at the same time, none got through. CLAN FERGUSON was back again helping to relieve Malta in August 1942, in a fourteen-ship convoy that included the tanker OHIO. After passing Gibraltar, the convoy had only a few hours of quiet sailing before the enemy mounted a massive air attack and the British carrier EAGLE was sunk. Other vessels were hit as wave after wave of enemy aircraft attacked. CLAN FERGUSON escaped until just after 9pm. on August 12th. She was hit by an aerial torpedo and began to sink by the stern. She was also heavily ablaze and her Master ordered the crew to abandon ship. 64 of her crew got clear on four rafts and were picked up by the Italians. Nine of the Merchantmen got through, including the very badly damaged and patched up Tanker OHIO with very few of her crew left alive and the vessel supported by vessels alongside her on each side, she was more or less carried into Malta Harbour, where what appeared to be most of the population were on the sea walls to cheer them in. The OHIO convoy battle was one of the last of the great battles fought to relieve Malta. In October, the British Army blasted their way out of El Alamein to the Central Mediterranean area, which relieved the pressure on Malta.

The Merchant Navy, with Allied comrades, night and day, in weather fair and foul, faces not only the ordinary perils of the sea but the sudden assaults of war from beneath the waters and from the sky. Your first task is to bring to port the cargoes vital for us at home and for our armies abroad, and we trust your tenacity and resolve to see this stern task through. We are a seafaring race, and we understand the call of the sea. We account you in these hard days worthy successors in a tradition of steadfast courage and high adventure, and we feel confident that that proud tradition of our island will be upheld to-day wherever the Ensign of a British Merchantman is flown.

Mr. Winston Churchill’s Message. July 1941.



Tanker Ohio


Ohio under attack.


Ohio being torpedoed


Ohio Supported by two Destroyers


Ohio supported limping to Malta


Ohio entering Malta Harbour supported.


HMS Eagle


HMS Eagle sinking.

CLAN SKENE of 1919 was sunk by U-boat ace Peter Cremer in U 333 on 10th May 1942 in a position S.E. of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina while on a voyage from Cape Town to North America. Two torpedoes exploded with great force amidships blowing the bridge structure sky high. In the same month CLAN MURRAY of 1918 rescued the survivors of the P & O cargo ship SOUDAN, which had struck a mine off Cape Agulhas, South Africa.



HALACRATES



1919 –1920

and
1923 – 1942

Official No. 141893 Grt 5214 Nrt 3222 401.0 X 52.3 X 28.5 Feet. 11.1918. Launched as War Adder for the Shipping Controller and 1.1919 completed as CLAN SKENE by C. Connell & Co Ltd. Glasgow (Yard No 389) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 1920 transferred to British and South American Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. (Houston Line ,Managers ) and renamed HALACRATES.
4.7.1923 stranded in the Strait of Kanso, Nova Scotia, refloated and towed to New York. 1923 transferred back to the Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 10.5.1942 torpedoed and sunk by U 333 in position 31º 43' N 70º 43' W 360 miles SE of Cape Hatterrass while on a voyage from Cape Town to North America.





(3) 1918 – 1949

HALIZONES

Official No. 141894. Grt 5954 Nrt 3422

409.5 X 53.5 X 33.5 Feet.

22.10.1918 Launched and 12.1918 completed by Ayrshire Dockyard Ltd. Irvine. (Yard No 472) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 5.1942 rescued survivors of P & O cargo ship SOUDAN mined off Cape Agullhas. South Africa. 199 transferred to British and South American Steam navigation Co. Ltd (Houston Line. Managers) and renamed HALIZONES. 17.6.1952 arrived Bo’ness to be scrapped by P.W. MacLellan Ltd.


P & O Soudan


Soudan as hospital ship.

In 1943, Sir August Cayzer died, his quiet restrained approach to running the company being in contrast to that of his Father, and he had been an able Managing Director, as well as a Director of The Suez Canal Company. On 27th April, 1943 CLAN MACINDOE was lost after a fire and stranding at Alexandria. However, CLAN Macnair sailing from there on 14th September, 1943 as Commodore ship of a Malta convoy had the pleasure of seeing the main units of the Italian Navy on their way in to surrender. CLAN MACNAIR also sailed in the convoy of 36 ships to Gibraltar to Malta on 25th September and a heavy barrage was put up when the enemy aircraft flew over the convoy, but this time they stayed above the clouds. The convoy through the Mediterranean in which CLAN MACBRAYNE sailed at the end of October 1943,was attacked by submarines and 24 aircraft, of which four were shot down. The new CLAN CAMPBELL was asked to stand by the sinking U.S.Transport Rhona in the Mediterranean at the end of 1943 and in the darkness rescue 149 survivors, who were taken to Phillipville, Algeria. Three days after CLAN CAMPBELL rejoined her convoy. Things improved so much that in April, 1943 EMPIRE BARRIE, one of the standard 10,000 ton deadweight ‘Empire’ vessels managed by the company in the latter part of the war, and COMMANDANT DORIS, one of the French ships managed by the company and BUTESHIRE together with a large convoy sailed the full length of the Mediterranean without a single incident. EMPIRE BARRIE delivered more than 3000 tons of copper to The Tyne and COMMANDANT DORIS also had 2500 tons in a mixed cargo, while BUTESHIRE carried sisal, coffe, tea, kapok, beeswax and palm kernels





(1) 1920 – 1943

Official No. 144233. Grt 4635 Nrt 2775

384.8 X 52.0 X 26.7 Feet.

11.11.1920 Launched and 12.1920 completed by Lithgows Ltd, Port. Glasgow. (Yard No 728 ) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 27.4.1943 lost after fire and stranding at Alexandria.





(1) 1921 – 1953

Official No. 144259. Grt 6096 Nrt 3820.

410.7 X 53.3 X 33.4 Feet.

25.3.1921 Launched and 10.1921 completed by Ayrshire Dockyard Co. Ltd. Irvine (Yard No 486 ) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 15.9.1921 arrived Blyth to be scrapped by Hughes Bolckow Ltd.





1916 – 1948

Official No 137811 Grt 4818 Nrt 2978

390.0 X 50.5 X 28.0 Feet

3.2.1916 Launched and 4.1916 completed by Ropner & Sons Ltd. Stockton. (Yard no 504) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 1948 sold to C.Galanos Steamship Co. Panama and renamed SAN GEORGIO. 24.10.1950 arrived Barrow to be broken up by T.W.Ward. Ltd.





(5) 1943 – 1961

Official No 168761 Grt 9545 Nrt 5090

463.8 X 63.0 X 38.1 Feet.

23.2.1943 Launched and 5.1943 completed by Greenock Dockyard Co.Ltd Greenock (Yard No 453) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 12.1943 rescued 149 survivors from the U.S.Transport Rhona in Western Mediterranean and landing them at Phillippeville. Algeria. 27.9.1961 arrived Hong Kong for scrapping.


U.S.Transport Rhona

EMPIRE BARRY



(4)
1945 – 1957

And
1959 - 1960

Official No.169016 Grt 7168 Nrt 4253

423.8 X 57.2 X 34.9 Feet

17.1.1942. Launched and 4.1942 completed by J. L .Thompson & Sons Ltd, Sunderland (Yard No 615) as EMPIRE BARRIE for The Ministry of War Transport, Allan, Black &Co. Sunderland appointed Managers. 1944 Cayzer, Irvine & Co Ltd, appointed Managers. 1945 purchased by The Clan Line Steamers Ltd and renamed CLAN ALPINE. 1952 underwent strain comparison tests with the welded Ocean Vulcan. 1957 registered under Bullard, King & Co Ltd and renamed UMVOTI. 1959. Registered under the Clan Line Steamers Ltd and reverted to her original Clan Line name of CLAN ALPINE. 1960 sold to Japanese breakers with delivery 1.1960. 31.10.1960 on passage east caught by cyclone at Chittagong while on voyage from Glasgow to Chittagong with general cargo. Driven from moorings and left high and dry in paddy fields at Shonai Chori, 11 miles N.N.W. of entrance to Chittagong River. Constructive total loss. Cargo discharged into trucks. 14.2.1961 sold to East Bengal Trading Corporation Ltd and broken up as lay.

COMMANDANT DORIS.



1943 - 1946

Official No. 167854 Grt 5529 Nrt 3470

400.4 X 54.5 X 27.4 Feet

1917 completed by Mitsubishi Dockyard and Engine Works, Kobe (Yard No 66) for Messageries Maritime, France as COMMANDANT DORIS. 1943 Taken over by The Ministry of War Transport. Cayzer,Irvine & Co Ltd appointed Managers. 1946. Returned to Owners. 1951 sold to Pierre Atychides. Piraeus and renamed MARO. 1954 sold to Kenfig Steamship Co Lts. London (S Catsell & Co, Managers) and renamed SAN NICOLAS. 1955 sold to Cia de Nav.San Antonia Ltda , Costa Rica, renamed SAN NICOLAS II. 23.3.1959 arrived Hong Kong for scrapping by Mollers Ltd. Last trip made under British Flag.

BUTESHIRE

Ex. CLAN MACEWAN



1912 – 1920

Official No 133053 Grt 5140 Nrt 3190

430.5 X 53.6 X 26.6 Feet

16.3.1912 Launched and 1912 completed by Palmer Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd. Jarrow (Yard No 817) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 1915 during the Dardanelles campaign served Alexandria – Mundros – Salonica. Housed Turkish Prisoners of war. Oct 1915 carried meat stores for eight months and in 1912 was transferred to The Scottish Line (Turnbull, Martin. Managers ) Glasgow. She was renamed BUTESHIRE. 1932 transferred to Houston Line. London, under the same name. 1943 Took part in the first inbound convoy to transit the Mediterranean since 1940.
She arrived at Preston Feb 25th 1948 and was broken up by Thos W.Ward.

CLAN LAMONT had been converted to a L.S.I.( Landing Ship Infantry) and took part in the North Africa and Italian Invasions, she also played a leading role on D.Day. She spent most of May 1944 carrying out pre-invasion exercises off the Isle of Wight. At the beginning of June she went into Southampton and 1400 Officers and Men of The Canadian Army were embarked. She sailed on the evening of 5th June and anchored in her allotted position in front of Juno Beach at 0615 on the 6th June and five minutes later the first troops were heading for the shore. She made five crossings until 2nd July and carried 8218 Officers and men to Juno and Utah beachheads. She was then sent to Swansea for repairs and on 25th July she was commissioned into The Royal Navy in the Clyde as part of Force X, U.S. 7th Fleet and six days later she was named LAMONT. Two days after this she sailed for the South West Pacific but during the transatlantic stage she had trouble with her steering and lagged behind the convoy, continually emitting billows of black smoke. On arrival at Bilboa the U.S.Navy rejected her. She stayed in Bilboa for repairs and later continued her journey to the S.W.Pacific where she trained U.S. troops in rear areas and did some trooping. Upon arrival of the British Pacific Fleet she was used as an accommodation ship at Manus in the Admiralty Islands, returning to Britain via the Panama Canal in early 1946.

See CLAN LAMONT 3 details already noted previously. CLAN MACARTHUR of 1912, which had been sold in 1921 to become the BERWICHSHIRE of the associated Scottish Shire Line, became the last casualty in WW 11 of The Clan Line and their associated fleets. She had sailed from Durban on 18th August 1944 as Commodore ship of a small convoy bound from Tamatave and Mauritius. Three of the convoy including BERWICHSHIRE and the escort, then formed a separate slow convoy and in the early evening of 20th August, the Tanker DARONIA was torpedoed. Four hours later, just when they thought they had lost the submarine, BERWICHSHIRE was torpedoed amidships and the survivors abandoned ship before a second torpedo hit amidships. The old ship went down and died very slowly and 94 survivors were picked up the following morning. 8 had been killed in the blast when the first torpedo hit.



BERWICKSHIRE



(2) 1912 - 1921

Official No 133085 Grt 5815 Nrt 3614

450.1 X 57.1 X 26.8 Feet

26.9.1912 Launched and 1912 completed by Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. Newcastle. (Yard No 846) for The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. 27.4.1917 chased by a submarine off Scilly Isles but managed to escape. 1912 transferred to Scottish Shire Line (Turnbull, Martin and Co. Managers) and renamed BERWICHSHIRE. 20.8.1944 torpedoed and sunk by submarine U 861 in position 30º 58' S 38º 50' E 500 miles E.S.E. of Durban while on a voyage from Durban to Tamatave and Mauritius.



The ADOLPH S. OCHS, one of 12 standard ‘Liberty’ ships managed during the war by the company, had been on Russian Convoys before, when she left in a big convoy for Russia at the beginning of February 1945. The convoy was twice attacked by large formations of torpedo-bombers which were most dealt with by carrier based fighters and at least 8 were shot down. On blade of the propeller of ADOLPH S. OCHS was badly bent while following an Icebreaker and had to be towed into Archangel to complete her discharge. After discharging her cargo she was able to sail back at reduced speed arriving safely on 31st March. After exchanging propellers she sailed to New York, where her torpedo-net booms were removed. She then sailed to the warmer climes of Gibraltar and Bari and from there on to sun-baked South American Ports.


Samwyo



ADOLPH S. OCHS.

SAMWYO

1943 – 1948

Official No 169658 Grt 7219 Nrt4380

441.6 X 56.9 X 37.4 Feet

1943 Launched as Adolph S Ochs and 10.1943 completed as SAMWYO by Bethleham-Fairfield Shipbuilders. Baltimore (Yard No 2239) for The Ministry of War Transport. Cayzer, Irvine & Co appointed managers. 1943 reverted to Adolph S.Ochs. 1948 returned to U.S.A. 1968 scrapped at Kearney. New Jersey.

The Merchant Seamen never faltered. He sailed voyage after voyage, perhaps on occasions changing the North Atlantic for North Russia or for Malta. To him we owe our preservation and our very lives. Alfred Barnes. Minister of War Transport. September 1945.