SS Fiscus

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Coordinates: 57°29′N 11°10′W / 57.483°N 11.167°W / 57.483; -11.167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

History
United Kingdom
NameFiscus
Owner
Tempus Shipping Co, Ltd[3]
Operator
W.H. Seager & Co Ltd
Port of registryCardiff
BuilderNorthumberland Shipbuilding Co (1927) Ltd,[3] Howdon, Tyneside[6]
Yard number401[4]
Launched6 Mar 1928
CompletedApr 1928[3]
Out of service18 October 1940
Identification
FateTorpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-99 East of Rockall, 18 October 1940[5]
General characteristics
Class and typecargo steamship
Tonnage
Length399.0 feet (121.6 m)
p/p
Beam54.5 feet (16.6 m)[3]
Draught24 feet 9+3⁄4 inches (7.56 m)[3]
Depth25.2 feet (7.7 m)[3]
Installed power432 NHP[3]
Propulsion
Speed10 knots (19 km/h)[4]
Crew38 + 1
DEMS
gunner
Sensors and
processing systems		wireless direction finding (by 1940)[3]

SS Fiscus was a UK cargo steamship that was built in 1928, served in the

Second World War and was sunk by a U-boat
in 1940.

Building

Northumberland Shipbuilding Co (1927) Ltd of

lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 7,395 square feet (687 m2).[3] The boilers fed a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that was rated at 432 NHP and drove a single screw.[3] The engine was built by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Co, Ltd of Newcastle upon Tyne.[3]

Fiscus was registered in

William Seager's companies, Tempus Shipping Co, Ltd.[3]

Wartime career

Fiscus was sailing in convoys by May 1940, when she sailed in

Halifax, Nova Scotia, where BHX 55 joined Convoy HX 55.[9] In September Fiscus again crossed to North America, this time in Convoy OB 208 from Liverpool to Canada.[10]

Convoy SC 7 and sinking

Early in October 1940 Fiscus left

sloop HMS Scarborough. A wolf pack of U-boats
found the convoy on 16 October and quickly overwhelmed it, sinking many ships over the next few days.

At 2355 hours on 18 October SC 7 was east of

DEMS gunner were lost.[5] One man survived. A lifeboat from the Norwegian cargo steamship SS Snefjeld, which had been sunk earlier by U-99, sighted him standing on some débris and took him aboard.[5] The Flower-class corvette HMS Clematis rescued him and Snefjeld's survivors on 23 October.[5]

Fiscus' fatalities included two of the youngest killed in UK Merchant Navy service in the Second World War. Brothers Kenneth and Raymond Lewis from Wales were 14 and 15 years old respectively.[12] They had joined Fiscus' crew a few months earlier using a forged letter purporting to be from their father giving them permission to go to sea.[12]

References

  1. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  2. ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1940. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b Allen, Tony (26 May 2013). "SS Fiscus [+1940]". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "Fiscus". Ships hit by U-boats. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  6. ^ "SS Fiscus (1928)". www.tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  7. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OB.152". OB Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  8. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy BHX.46". BHX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  9. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy HX.46". HX Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  10. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy OB.208". OB Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  11. ^ Hague, Arnold. "Convoy SC.7". SC Convoy Series. Don Kindell, ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  12. ^ a b deepseamcgee. "Sinking of the SS Fiscus 1940". The People's War. BBC. Retrieved 11 August 2013.

57°29′N 11°10′W / 57.483°N 11.167°W / 57.483; -11.167

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