SS Beaverford

SS Beaverford was a cargo liner registered in the United Kingdom and operated by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. She was built in 1928 for service between Montreal and London.

In the Second World War Beaverford took part in North Atlantic convoys from Canada to the UK. Her final voyage was with Convoy HX 84, which dispersed on 5 November 1940 when the GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Scheer attacked it. Scheer shelled and torpedoed Beaverford, sinking her with all hands.

Construction

Beaverford was the first of a class of five cargo ships built for Canadian Pacific in 1927 and 1928. Her sister ships were Beaverdale, Beaverburn, Beaverhill and Beaverbrae. They were designed to carry of cargo and 12 passengers. They were fitted with 80000 ft3 feet of insulated cargo space and 20000 ft3 of refrigerated cargo spaces for meat and fruit.[1] Barclay, Curle & Co of Glasgow launched Beaverford on 27 October 1927 and completed her on 21 January 1928.

The ship was fitted with Erith-Roe mechanical stokers, the first automatic stokers in the Merchant Navy of the United Kingdom.

Final voyage and loss

Beaverford sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia on 28 October 1940, as part of Convoy HX 84. She was carrying refined aluminum and copper, maize, meats and cheese and a large cargo of ammunition in her holds along with a deck cargo of crated aircraft and timber. Beaverford had a crew of 77. Most were from Britain but three were Canadians including one of her two gunners. She was commanded by the 60-year-old Captain Hugh Pettigrew from Coatbridge, who had sailed with Canadian Pacific since 1910, was a veteran of naval actions at Gallipoli, and as a First Officer had survived the torpedoing of Medora by SMU U-86 west-southwest of Mull of Galloway in 1918.

On 5 November Convoy HX 84 was midway across the Atlantic when the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer located and attacked it. The attack began at 17:15. The convoy's only escort, the armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay, ordered the convoy to scatter. In an engagement that won the commander of Jervis Bay a posthumous Victoria Cross, the escort steered directly towards Admiral Scheer. Hopelessly outgunned, Jervis Bay was set afire and sank 22 minutes later. Admiral Scheer now began to attack the convoy, first sinking the freighter Maidan with all hands. The tanker MV San Demetrio was set on fire but did not sink. Admiral Scheer next sank the freighters Trewellard and Kenbane Head.

Beaverford had fled south, but Admiral Scheer caught her up and illuminated her with starshell. Beaverford transmitted a final wireless message: "It is our turn now. So long. The captain and crew of SS Beaverford".

Admiral Scheer fired 83 shells at Beaverford. 71 were from its 150 mm guns, with 16 hitting the freighter, and 12 were from the cruiser's 280 mm main guns, with three hits. The shelling was observed and recorded in the log aboard the freighter Fresno City, ten miles off and also fleeing south. Beaverford was badly damaged, but the cargo of timber on her deck kept her afloat, and to save ammunition Admiral Scheer's commander, KzS Theodor Krancke, ordered that she be finished off with a torpedo. The torpedo hit the fore part of Beaverford, lifting her bow and detonating the ammunition in her hold. The ship blew apart and the stern was last seen sliding into the ocean. All aboard were killed.

It was now completely dark, but Admiral Scheer went on to find and sink one more ship, Fresno City, from which the attack on Beaverford had been observed an hour before. Admiral Scheer sank six of the 38 ships from the convoy.

Recognition

In 1944 an article supposedly based on accounts from one of the other ships in Convoy HX 84 was written by Norman Mackintosh, published in the magazine Canada's Weekly and republished in the Evening Standard in London which praised the sacrifice of Beaverford: "For more than four hours she was afloat, followed by the raider, firing and fighting to the last. Using the big reserve of engine power for speed, and superb seamanship for steering and manoeuvering to baffle and evade the enemy's aim, for all that time she held her own, hit by shells but firing back and delaying the raider hour by hour while the rest of the convoy made their escape."

However, given that the convoy ships were scattering in all directions, it is unlikely that anyone on another ship could have reliably seen all of this. The story is also contradicted by the account Admiral Scheer's captain wrote after the war.[7] Krancke paid generous tribute to the courage of Jervis Bay, and of a small burning freighter that fired back just before she sank (this must have been Kenbane Head). But he did not mention any battle with Beaverford, which he records only as a ship carrying a deck cargo of timber that Admiral Scheer caught up with as it fled at speed far to the south of the main action. When finally caught, Beaverford proved hard to sink by gunfire, and was therefore torpedoed to save ammunition.

The sinking of Beaverford was witnessed from Fresno City, also fleeing south. Her captain's log recorded: "The Beaverford, bearing 110 degrees East South East was attacked and set on fire, distant about 10 miles". There is no mention of any fight or any return fire from Beaverford, and far from being a four or five hour battle, Beaverford was attacked only 50 minutes after Kenbane Head and about an hour before Scheer caught up with Fresno City. There was no time for any such battle.

Some writers complain that Beaverford received no official recognition for its role in the battle, but that may be because the story only emerged years later, and is unsupported by credible evidence.

type	Cargo liner
tonnage	* tonnage under deck 9,259
length	503 ft
beam	61.8 ft
draught	29 ft
depth	37.5 ft
ice class	Strengthened for navigation in ice
power	1,574 NHP
propulsion	6 × steam turbines, 2 × screws
speed	15 kn
capacity	12 passengers
crew	77 including 2 DEMS gunners (1940)
sensors	direction finding equipment; echo sounding equipment
armament	1940: 1 × 4-inch gun; 1 × 3-inch gun

Construction

Identification

Pre-war service

War service

Final voyage and loss

Recognition

Memorials

Bibliography

External links

References