View source for SS British Consul

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}} 
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image   =
|Ship caption =
}} 
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header                =
|Ship country               = United Kingdom
|Ship flag                  = [[File:Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|60px]]
|Ship name                  = SS ''British Consul''<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940">{{harvnb|Lloyd's Register 1940}}</ref>
|Ship operator              = [[British Tanker Company|British Tanker Co. Ltd.]], [[London]]<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship ordered               = 
|Ship builder               = [[James Laing (shipbuilder)|Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd]], Sunderland<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship yard number           =
|Ship laid down             =
|Ship launched              =30 September 1924
|Ship completed             = November 1924<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship acquired              =
|Ship in service            =
|Ship out of service        = 19 August 1942
|Ship registry              = London<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship identification        = *UK [[Official Number]] 148511<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
*Code Letters KRTC<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
*{{ICS|Kilo}}{{ICS|Romeo}}{{ICS|Tango}}{{ICS|Charlie}}
|Ship fate                  = Sunk 19 August 1942
|Ship notes                 = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header       =
|Header caption    =
|Ship class        = 
|Ship tonnage      = *{{GRT|6940}}
*6,449 tonnage under deck
*{{NRT|4,115}}<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship displacement =
|Ship length       = {{convert|435.0|ft}}<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship beam         = {{convert|57.3|ft}}<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship height       = 
|Ship draught      = {{convert|27|ft|8|in|abbr=on}}<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship depth        = {{convert|33.8|ft}}<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship ice class    =
|Ship power        = 681 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship propulsion   = 1 [[Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company|Palmers Co, Ltd]] 3-cylinder [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple-expansion steam engine]]<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />
|Ship speed        =
|Ship capacity     =
|Ship crew         =
|Ship notes        =
}}
|}

'''SS ''British Consul''''' was a [[Tanker (ship)|tanker]] built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd., Sunderland in 1924 and operated by the [[British Tanker Company]].

==Propulsion==
''British Consul'' was a [[steamship]]. She had nine corrugated furnaces heating three 180 [[Pounds per square inch|lb<sub>f</sub>/in<sup>2</sup>]] single-ended boilers with combined heating surface of {{convert|8634|sqft|0}}. These fed steam to her three-cylinder [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple-expansion steam engine]], which was built by [[Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company]].<ref name="Lloyd's Register 1940" />

==First sinking==
On the night of 18–19 February 1942 the ship was anchored in [[Port of Spain]], [[Trinidad]]. She had been due to sail at midnight but submarines had been reported outside the port. The [[Royal Navy]] granted her [[Master mariner|Master]], Captain G.A. Dickson, permission to defer sailing until 0400 hrs. as his crew would have a better chance of sighting submarines in daylight. ''[[Captain Lieutenant|Kapitänleutnant]]'' [[Albrecht Achilles (Korvettenkapitän)|Albrecht Achilles]] of {{GS|U-161|1941|6}} reported that he fired two stern-launched torpedoes into Port of Spain anchorage at 0532 hrs. and that one of these struck ''British Consul''.<ref name=Uboat-2074>
{{cite web 
|url        = http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2074.html 
|title      = British Consul 
|last       = Helgason 
|first      = Guðmundur 
|date       = 1995–2009 
|work       = uboat.net 
|publisher  = Guðmundur Helgason 
|access-date = 16 April 2009
}}</ref> Captain Dickson reports that the torpedo struck her ''"between the pumproom and the [[stern|poop]], starting a fire"''. All hands got away in the lifeboats and stood by under the [[Bow (ship)|bow]]. She sank in shallow water so the crew reboarded her.<ref>Letter from James Baillie to Captain Waters, Page 1.</ref> ''British Consul'' was salvaged and Captain Dickson transferred to [[New York (state)|New York]] where he was given command of {{ship|MV|British Prudence}}.

{{location map|Caribbean|width=304
|lat     = 11.967
|long    = -62.633
|caption = Position of ''British Consul''{{'}}s wreck
|relief  = yes
}}

==Second sinking==
In August 1942 ''British Consul'', now commanded by Captain James Kennedy, joined [[List of World War II convoys#North American Coastal and Caribbean Convoys|Convoy TAW(S)]] from Trinidad ''via'' [[Curaçao]] to [[Key West]]. ''Kapitänleutnant'' [[Reinhard Suhren]] of {{GS|U-564||6}} reported that on the morning of 19 August 1942 he attacked the convoy and hit three ships including ''British Consul''.<ref name=Uboat-2074/> Second Engineer Edwin John Angell, (who had been imprisoned below decks aboard the Admiral Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate) was lost. The survivors, including Captain James Kennedy, were rescued by the {{sclass2|Flower|corvette}} {{HMS|Clarkia}} and landed at [[Guantánamo Bay]], [[Cuba]]. This time ''British Consul'' could not be recovered.

==Replacement ship==
A replacement ship of the same name was launched on 2 March 1950 at [[Harland and Wolff]]'s Glasgow shipyard. At 8,655 gross tons the new ''British Consul'' was significantly larger than the original 1924 tanker.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==

*{{cite book
 |url          = http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/ship.php?ship_id=21540&name=British_Consul
 |title        = Lloyd's Register, Steamships and Motor Ships
 |year         = 1940
 |publisher    = [[Lloyd's Register]]
 |access-date  = 3 April 2013
 |ref          = {{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1940}}
 |archive-date = 3 March 2016
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234350/http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/ship.php?ship_id=21540&name=British_Consul
 |url-status   = dead
}}

==Sources==
*Letter from James Baillie at Grangemouth to Captain Waters, 2 May 1942

{{coord|11|58|N|62|38|W|display=title}}
{{February 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{August 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:British Consul}}
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Wear]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1922 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1942]]
[[Category:Ships of BP Shipping]]
[[Category:Anglo-Persian Oil Company]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in August 1942]]