This article is dedicated to the memory of the officers and men of the SS Nailsea Court who were lost in action during the Battle of the Atlantic on March 10, 1943.
Events summary – ss Nailsea Court
The SS Nailsea Court was owned by ER Management Co. LTD (Evans & Reid) – Cardiff and was built in 1936 by Bantham Steamship Co. Ltd. Its GRT was 4946.
On March 10, 1943 it was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic, south of Reykjavik at position 58.45N 21.57W by U-229 (commanded by Oberleutant Schetelig), part of the ‘Ostmark’ patrol group of eleven submarines.
His last voyage was as part of Convoy SC 121, which consisted of 57 ships. The passage went from Beira, Mozambique to New York on 02.23.43 and then to London. The Nailsea Court was carrying 2 passengers and 7,661 tons of general cargo, including 650 tons of copper bars, 800 tons of nickel ore and asbestos.
The Master, Capt. Robert James Lee (46, from Penarth, South Wales), 33 crew, 9 gunners and passengers were lost. A crew member was rescued by the 1908/29 Melrose Abbey rescue ship (commanded by Captain Ralph Good OBE) and landed at Gourock 13.3.43; Another 3 crew members were rescued by corvette RCN Dauphin 925/40 (K.157) (commanded by Lieutenant MH Wallace) and landed in Londonderry on 13.3.43.
The surviving Nailsea court officer, Mr. HC Bette, provided a dramatic first-hand account of the night’s terrible events.
What happened to U-229?
Oberleutnant zur See Robert Schetelig and his crew of 49 were subsequently lost in the North Atlantic on September 22, 1943 when U-229, then part of the ‘Leuthen’ patrol group of nineteen submarines, was sunk by depth charges, firing and ramming while attacking convoy ON 202 comprising 38 ships in the Atlantic 430 miles ESE of Cape Farewell, at position 54.36N 36.25W by destroyer leader HM Keppel 1750/20 (D.84) (Cdr MJEvans) Escort Group B.
Subsequently, Major Evans was lost in action on May 7, 1944.
A monument to the Nailsea Court crew and all the other lost merchants can be found in Tower Hill London.