At anchor in Montevideo, being painted for wartime

Built:  

1907 by Armstrong, Whitworth & C0 Ltd, Newcastle

Construction:  

Steel 4647 grt, length 400 ft (122m), beam 52.1 ft (15.8m), draught 27 ft (8.2m)

Propulsion:

Triple expansion 478 NHP, 3 boilers, machinery by Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd

Registered:  

Newport, Monmouthshire, UK

Built as Katuna for Bucknall Steamships of London

As Ellerman & Bucknall’s City of Swansea

History

Built for Bucknall Steamship Lines, London as the Katuna. In 1914 the company changed to Ellerman & Bucknall Steamship Co Ltd and in 1929 she was renamed City of Swansea.  In 1937 she was sold to the Barry Shipping Co Ltd of Newport and renamed St Glen.  Finally in 1939 the company changed its name to the South American Saint Line.

In July 1940 at Rosario and Buenos Aires, the St Glen had loaded a cargo of wheat, salted hides, general and 1339 tons of tinned corned-beef, she then sailed to Freetown and joined convoy SL44 (Freetown-Methil) which departed on the 18th August.  

Having safely crossed the Atlantic, on the 6th September 1940 she was 6 miles east of Buchan Ness, heading south, when she was attacked and bombed by German aircraft.  

One bomb exploded aft of the engineroom breaking the ship in two and she sank immediately.  Three of her crew died in the attack and the remaining 40 were rescued by HMS Sandwich.