Empire Ability
In April 1940, the UK Ministry of Shipping renamed the ship as Empire Ability[2] and contracted Elder Dempster Lines to operate her.
On 23 October 1940, she was among the ships bombed and damaged by German aircraft while waiting in Gare Loch for a convoy to assemble.[2] In December 1940 Empire Ability left the Firth of Clyde for Egypt via Freetown and Durban, reaching Suez in February 1941.[11]
On 27 February 1941, the ITALIAN SUBMARINE Michele Bianchi attacked Convoy OB 290 in the North Atlantic and claimed to have scored a probable hit on the Empire Ability. In fact she was not there,[2] and was in the Red Sea at the time.[11]
Empire Ability returned via Port Louis, Durban, Cape Town and Freetown, where she waited for a fortnight for a convoy to Liverpool. She was carrying a cargo of 7,725 tons of sugar, 238 tons of rum, 400 tons of palm kernels and 35 tons of fibre, and her Master was Herbert Flowerdew.
On 18 June 1941, Empire Ability left Freetown with Convoy SL 78.[11] On 27 June the GS U-69 (1940) attacked the convoy[2] 200 miles southeast of the Azores. U-69's commander, Jost Metzler, made several attacks, sinking SS River Lugar at 0149 hours and hitting Empire Ability at 0237 hours with a single torpedo.[2] Empire Ability caught fire and was abandoned, sinking at 23.83333°N, -21.16667°W 21 minutes after having been hit.[2][12]
Two people were killed. A total of 107 crew, DEMS gunners, military personnel and passengers successfully abandoned ship.[2] The steamship Amerika rescued survivors and transferred them to the corvette HMS Burdock (K126). They were later landed at Milford Haven.[2] Those lost on Empire Ability are commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial, London.
