SS Benlomond (1922)

For other ships with the same name, see SS Benlomond.

History
Name
  • 1922: Cynthiana
  • 1922: Hoosac
  • 1922: London Corporation
  • 1937: Marionga J. Goulandris
  • 1938: Benlomond
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
BuilderIrvine's, West Hartlepool
Yard number587
CompletedJanuary 1922
Identification
Fatesunk by torpedo, 1942
General characteristics
Typecargo ship
Tonnage6,629 GRT, 4,153 NRT
Length420.0 ft (128.0 m)
Beam55.0 ft (16.8 m)
Draught29 ft 4 in (8.94 m)
Depth36.3 ft (11.1 m)
Decks2
Installed power705 NHP
Propulsion
Speed12 knots (22 km/h)
Crew45, plus eight DEMS gunners in wartime
Sensors and
processing systems
ArmamentDEMS in the Second World War
Notessister ship: Parisiana

SS Benlomond was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1922 as Cynthiana, changed owners and names a number of times, and was sunk by a U-boat in 1942, with the loss of all but one of her 53 ship's company. The sole survivor, Poon Lim, drifted on a raft for 133 days before being rescued.

The ship was built on Teesside for the Furness, Withy shipping group, who changed her name to Hoosac, and then to London Corporation, within her first year. In 1937 the Goulandris brothers bought her, renamed her Marionga J. Goulandris, and registered her in Greece. In 1938 Ben Line Steamers bought her, renamed her Benlomond, and returned her to the British registry.

She was the third Furness, Withy ship to be called Cynthiana, the first to be called Hoosac, and the first to be called London Corporation.[1] She was the fourth Ben Line ship to be called Benlomond.[2][3]

  1. ^ Burrell, David (1992). Furness Withy 1891–1991. Kendal: World Ship Society. Index of Ships. ISBN 0-905617-70-3.
  2. ^ Blake, George (1956). The Ben Line. London, Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. p. 197.
  3. ^ Middlemiss, Norman L (2003). Merchant Fleets: The Thai Boats: Danish East Asiatic (EAC) & Ben Line. Newcastle upon Tyne: Shield Publications. p. 121. ISBN 1-871128-22-6.