Bratton Castle


BRATTON CASTLE was built in 1920 by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. at Newcastle with a tonnage of 6696grt, a length of 412ft 2in, a beam of 55ft 10in and a service speed of 11 knots.

With her sister, the Bampton Castle, she was laid down as an N1 type standard ship but was not allocated a "War" name.

Completed in May 1920 as a cargo ship she was the first ship in the company to have the cruiser stern profile although, not the true cruiser stern.

In 1931 she was sold to Rethymnis & Kulukundis of Pireaus and renamed, initially as Proteus but this was later changed to Mount Taurus.

On 17th November 1942 she was torpedoed by U-264 while in convoy ONS 144 which was crossing the North Atlantic from London to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A spread of three torpedoes was heard to explode after 3 min 40 secs, 3 min 56 secs and 4 min 31 secs yet the Mount Taurus was only hit once.

The other two explosions have never been explained.

Cargo Plan for Voyage 10 - July 1925

Plan drawn by G W B Lloyd - then serving as 3rd Officer

Launch of Bratton Castle - 1920

Vessel

Built

Service

Tonnage

Bratton Castle

1920

1931 Sold to Greece

6696

Official Number

Ship Builder

Engine Builder

Engine Type

HP

Screws

144539

Armstrong Whitworth

Newscastle

Armstrong Whitworth

Newscastle

Steam 3 Cyl

2500 IHP

1

Master

From

To

G D Hinde

6/1920

10/1920

A H Hutchings

12/1920

2/1921

E G Hughes

4/1922

9/1922

A Barron

9/1922

1/1923

C R Purse

1/1923

3/1923

J Attwood

8/1923

6/1925

G J Whitfield

7/1924


D Nicoll

6/1925

9/1925

H Linklater

10/1925

3/1928

H E Weller

3/1928

4/1930

D Nicoll

6/1930

2/1931

Laid up

D Nicoll

10/1931

12/1931

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