Master: 1940 David Thomas Davies.
In convoy HX-79 on a voyage from New York for Greenock & Leith with a cargo of scrap iron, aircraft & steel billets & a total complement of 38 Ruperra was torpedoed by German submarine (U-46 Engelbert Endrass) & sank about 500 miles NW of Ireland on 19 October 1940. 28 of her crew, a gunner & a passenger were lost. Survivors picked up by the British Induna. 30 lives lost.
Lives lost October 1940: Ackerman, Walter Gordon, 4th engineer, 20, Canton, Cardiff; Barry, Edward James, 2nd officer, 56, Harrogate, Yorkshire; Bradley, Edward, fireman, 27, Musselbrough, Midlothian; Brennan, Peter William, fireman/trimmer, 52; Brustad, Hans Kristian Earling, carpenter, 49, b. Norway, resided Newport, Wales; Cullen, Owen, seaman, 24, Ellsmere Port, Cheshire; Cumming, Peter P, able seaman, 26; Cunningham, William Jeffries, 3rd engineer, 31; Davies, David Thomas, master, 46; Davies, Ifor Pershing, fireman/trimmer, 21, Llangadock, Wales; Ellis, John Richard, chief officer, 68; Fulcher, Harry, boatswain, 60; Hall, William Ramsey, able seaman, 37; Horton, Reginald John, fireman/trimmer, 40; Howard, Eric, cabin boy, 20, Briton Ferry, Wales; Jones, Edwin Horatio, 2nd radio officer, 20; Kennedy, Michael, fireman/trimmer, 21, Dublin; Long, James Joseph, fireman/trimmer, 48; Morgan, Hayden, mess room boy, 18, Tredegar, Wales; Mortimer, Roger John, ordinary seaman, 19, St David’s, Wales; Paris, James Stewart, ordinary seaman, 27; Ramsay, James Miller, radio officer, 32, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian; Reed, Henry, steward, 58, Grangetown, Cardiff; Shannon, Edward, seaman, 31; ; Spiller, William, galley boy, 15, Landore, Swansea; Sweeney, Michael, fireman/trimmer, 66; Tarasoff, Louis, donkeyman, 54; Tudor, John Owen, 2nd engineer, 52, St David’s, Wales; Turner, Melvern Robert, cook, 22, Cardiff; Wilson, Charles Murray, chief engineer, 57, Clarkston, Lancs.
More detail »A postcard (probably), of the steamship Ruperra.
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