Durham Castle


DURHAM CASTLE was built in 1904 by Fairfield Ship Building & Engineering Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 8217grt, a length of 475ft 5in, a beam of 56ft 8in and a service speed of 14 knots.

Sister of the Dover Castle she was initially deployed as an Intermediate steamship but was transferred to the Cape - Mombasa run in 1910.

During the First World War she remained on commercial service but often acted as a troopship on the northbound passage..

In 1931 she was deployed on the East Africa via the Suez Canal service and in 1939 was put up for disposal after being replaced by the Pretoria Castle and was acquired by the Admiralty for war service.

On 26th January 1940, while being towed to Scapa Flow for use as a base accommodation ship, she was mined off Cromarty.

The German U-boat U-57 claimed her as her victim and as the HMS Durham Castle was clear of the British mine fields the claim is probably correct.

Vessel

Built

Service

Tonnage

Durham Castle

1904

1904 Deployed to The West Coast Intermediate Service

1931 Transferred to The Round Africa Service

1940 Requisitioned as a block ship HMS Durham Castle

8217

Official Number

Ship Builder

Engine Builder

Engine Type

HP

Screws

118387

Fairfield

Glasgow

Fairfield

Glasgow

2 x Steam 4 Cyl

5200 IHP

2

Master

From

To

R E Becher

2/1904

6/1905

F P Whitehead

9/1904

12/1904

F J Moseley

7/1905

6/1909

S Henderson

6/1909

8/1909

H M Cruise

9/1909

11/1909

F P Whitehead

12/1909

2/1910

T Chope

2/1910

10/1912

B A Bryan

10/1912

10/1912

T C Clinock

10/1912

6/1913

T Chope

6/1913

9/1913

W W Verrall

9/1913

12/1913

B A Bryan

12/1913

2/1914

W W Verrall

2/1914

10/1915

B Burt

11/1915

8/1917

T H Wilford

8/1917

10/1918

W W Verrall

10/1918

2/1919

W B Dyer

2/1919

6/1920

D Samuel

7/1920

10/1922

C R Jackson

11/1922

10/1926

H B Harvey

2/1927

6/1927

R G Shilston

6/1927

4/1928

G J Whitfield

5/1928

7/1928

R A Barron

8/1928

6/1929

W Goodacre

7/1929

10/1929

A H Hutchings

11/1929

11/1929

H Linklater

11/1929

8/1931

D Nicoll

2/1930


R W Goodacre

5/1931


H R Northwood

8/1931

11/1931

C Le Brocq

12/1931

10/1932

W S Colbourne

7/1932


H Schofield

10/1932

7/1933

W Weller

7/1933


H R Northwood

8/1933

1/1934

E H Thornton

10/1933

3/1934

E A Comley

3/1934

3/1936

C J Lovegrove

9/1935


G H Fogden

3/1936

6/1936

Laid up

F A Smyth

10/1936

8/1937

S F Newdigate

8/1937

10/1937

J C Brown

11/1937

8/1938

At anchor at Mombasa

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