Port Hardy
British Steam merchant
Photo courtesy of Allan C. Green Collection
| Name | Port Hardy | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 8,897 tons | ||
| Completed | 1923 - R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd, Hebburn-on-Tyne | ||
| Owner | Port Line Ltd, London | ||
| Homeport | London | ||
| Date of attack | 28 Apr 1941 | Nationality:  British | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-96 (Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock) | ||
| Position | 60° 14'N, 15° 20'W - Grid AL 3437 | ||
| Complement | 98 (1 dead and 97 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | HX-121 | ||
| Route | Wellington - Panama - Halifax (16 Apr) - Ellesmere Port - Avonmouth | ||
| Cargo | 4000 tons of mutton, 3000 tons of cheese, 700 tons of zinc and general cargo | ||
| History | Completed in February 1923 | ||
| Notes on event | At 19.25 hours on 28 April 1941, U-96 fired three single torpedoes at three tankers in convoy HX-121 south of Iceland and reported the sinking of two tankers with 18,000 grt and damaging another with 6000 grt after observing three hits. The tankers Oilfield and Caledonia were sunk and the freighter Port Hardy was hit and sunk after the torpedo had missed the intended target. The Port Hardy (Master John Godfrey Lewis) was hit on the port side abaft the main mast by one torpedo and sank after about three hours about 165 miles north-northwest of Rockall. One crew member was lost. The master, 82 crew members, four gunners and ten passengers were picked up by the British rescue ship Zaafaran (Master Charles Kavanagh McGowan, DSC) and landed at Greenock on 1 May. | ||
| On board | We have details of 4 people who were on board. | ||
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