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

Screws

118387

Fairfield

Glasgow

Fairfield

Glasgow

2 x Steam 4 Cyl

5200 IHP

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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