Casgliadau Arlein

Starboard broadside view of S.S. HOPECASTLE entering Cardiff docks, c.1936.

M.V. HOPECASTLE (5178 gt). Built 1937 by Swan, Hunter at Newcastle-upon-Tyne for Hopemount Shipping Co., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. At about 10pm on October 28, 1942, HOPECASTLE was bound for Liverpool with a general cargo including titanium ores and tea from Cochin, India when she was torpedoed and damaged by U-509. The position was NW of the Canary Islands. The crew abandoned ship and at about 5am on the 29th, U-201 fired a further torpedo into her but she remained afloat and was eventually sunk by gunfire at 10am. The master, Dugald McGilp, and twenty survivors were rescued by ss MANO and landed at Greenock on 9 November and a further nineteen made it to Funchal. Three crew members and two gunners were lost.