Posted by Billy McGee w.mcgee@ntlworld.com on September 15, 2001

Please can you help. I am trying to find the name of a ship charted by the Dutch Government which was sunk between August, October 1940 by a U-boat in the English Channel, after sailing from Southampton heading for the Dutch East Indies. The survivers were picked up by a Canadian Destroyer

RESPONSE:

Posted by Visje halvezool@yahoo.com on September 16.

Billy,

The closest ship I can find is the Dutch ss. Alwaki, which was enroute from London to the Far East. First, the ship went to the Firth of Forth and anchored at Methil. It then became part of convoy OA-180. On July 10 1940, the ship was hit by a torpedo (which was a dud) from U-61 (Oesten)at 12.10 hours, in position 58.46 N- 04.46 W. No explosion was seen or heard, just a shrudder that went through the ship. The freighter developed a list, but because coals were everywhere, several bulkheads couldn't be closed. The Canadian destroyer HMCS St.Laurent came alongside, after which the Royal Navy took care of the ship. The men were all picked up by the British ss. Harmonic, which delivered them to Cardiff on the 15th.

The Royal Navy sent HMS Bandit to salvage the Alwaki, but later signalled that it sank that evening around 2100 hours.

Again, not all details entirely match up with yours, but this is the closest thing I could find. A name of the ship, or any other details may narrow down the search