The SS City of Johannesburg was a British merchant steamer, sunk in the Second World War. She was built by Barclay, Curle & Co

Barclay Curle

-History:The company was founded by Robert Barclay at Stobcross in Glasgow, Scotland during 1818. In 1862, the company built a large engineering works at Stobcross in Glasgow. In 1876, the company moved their yard down the river to Whiteinch. It was incorporated in 1884 as Barclay Curle...

, of Whiteinch

Whiteinch

Whiteinch is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde between the Partick and Scotstoun areas of the city...

, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 for Ellerman Lines Ltd

Ellerman Lines

Ellerman Lines was a cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late nineteenth century, and continued to expand with the acquisition of smaller shipping lines until it became one of the largest shipping...

, of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1920, originally being named SS Melford Hall. She was renamed SS City of Johannesburg in 1926 and was homeported in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

.

Career and sinking

Her final voyage was to take her from Calcutta to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, calling at Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

 on 6 October and later at Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 on the way. She carried 7,750 tons of general cargo, including pig iron

Pig iron

Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...

, cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

, jute

Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....

 and tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

, under the command of her master, Walter Armour Owen.

At 23.12 hours on 23 October 1942, she was travelling unescorted off East London South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, when she was spotted by U-504

Unterseeboot 504

German submarine U-504 was a Type IXC U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 29 April 1940 at the Deutsche Werft yard at Hamburg, launched on 24 April 1941, and commissioned on 30 July 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Hans-Georg Friedrich...

 commanded by Fritz Poske

Fritz Poske

Hans-Georg Friedrich "Fritz" Poske was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership...

. The U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 torpedoed the City of Johannesburg, and succeeded in sinking her. Two of the 89 crew were lost, but the master and 12 crew members were picked up by the Dutch merchant Zypenberg, which transported them to Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

. Another 54 crew members were picked up by the British merchant Fort George and landed at Port Elizabeth, with the final 20 crew members being picked up by the King Edward, which took them to Cape Town.