ss Lady Cory Wright prior to becoming an RFA

Previous name: 
Subsequent name:     

Official Number:                                    123697                                                                      

Class:                                                     Mine Carrier                      

Pennant No:                                             

Laid down:                             
Builder:                                                   S P Austin and Son., Sunderland
Launched:                                              4 August 1906   
Into Service:                                           5 August 1914       
Out of service:                                        26 March 1918
Fate:                                                        Sunk by German submarine UC17

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:

One of an additional group of ships requisitioned by the Admiralty in WW1 to augment the ships of the RFA

4 August 1906 Launched by S.P. Austin & Son, Wear Dock, Sunderland as Yard Nr 237 named  LADY CORY-WRIGHT for Cory Colliers Ltd ( Wm Cory & Son Ltd, Managers)  London

September 1906 completed

30 July 1914 at Hamburg, Germany discharging coal

3 August 1914 requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as a Mine Carrier

5 August 1914 Lieutenant Daniel Richardson RNR appointed in command and Engineer Lieutenant Michael J Hindmarch RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1 March 1918 to 5 March 1918 at Devonport loaded the following cargo: -

Hold 1 -

200 'S' Mines - Mark IV

132 Service Mines

400 Depth Charges - Type D

Hold 2 -

868 Service Mines

Hold 3 -

1,000 Mines BE

Hold 4 -

100 cases of primer for BE miles

100 cases of primers for Service Mines

210 boxes of detonators for S Mines

40 cases of primers for depth charges

21 cases for detonators for S mines

26 March 1918 while sailing from Plymouth to Malta with a cargo of mines she was torpedoed by the German Submarine UC17 (Oberleutnant zur See Eric Stephan) 14 miles SSW of the Lizard at 49.45N, 05.20W. The ship sank. Of the 40 members of the crew on the ship 39 lost their lives. The crew was a mixed RFA/RN one. Those who were members of the RFA are included in the Roll of Honour for 1918.

Part of the Rothes, Morayshire War memorial

Others are remembered with pride on the Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth Naval Memorials and also the Anthony War Memorial, near Torpoint

HMS Botlea before being commissioned and under her former name of African Prince

True name:                                              HMS Botlea

Previous name:                                      Glennevis  African Prince  Pentridge Hill

Subsequent name: 

Official Number:                                      167659                                                                          

Class:                                                       Special Service Freighter - Q ship

Pennant No:                                             X15 - F113

Laid down:                             
Builder:                                                     Ayrshire Dockyard Company,  Irvine, Scotland
Launched:                                                1917
Into Service:                                             1939      
Out of service:                                         March 1941
Fate:                                                          Scuttled 30 December 1945

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:  In 1939 Winston Churchill gave authority for a number of merchantmen to be requisitioned for service as Q-ships, although for security purposes they were referred to as Special Service Freighters. A fleet of 9 small mainly coal-burning vessels were acquired , 6 for deep-sea work and 3 for coastal work. All were commissioned as HM ships under their original names but were given RFA cover names and on entering harbour and while in harbour they wore the Blue Ensign, behaved as RFA’s and adopted the RFA commercial practices. None of them was really suitable for their intended roles and met with a complete lack of success. Their Q-ship service officially ended on 2 March 1941

1917 launched by Ayrshire Dockyard Co Ltd, Irvine as Yard Nr 445 named GLENNEVIS for African Steam Ship Co Ltd ( J. Gardiner & Co, Managers ) Glasgow . 

May 1917 completed for the Rio Cape Line ( Furness, Withy & Co, Managers) London

1922 renamed AFRICAN PRINCE by her owners

15 October 1922 berthed at New York having sailed from Dundee

5 November 1925 sailed Bahia for New Orleans

3 January 1927 sailed Newport News

8 November 1927 berthed Santos from Rio de Janerio

1930 laid up Rothesay Bay during the Depression

14 November 1935 arrived at Greenock from Rothesay Bay

28 January 1936 sailed East London for Durban

31 January 1936 sailed Durban for Lorenzo Marques

1 February 1936 arrived at Lorenzo Marques from Durban

5 February 1936 sailed Lorenzo Marques for Madagascar

13 February 1936 sailed Majunga for Diego Suarez

19 February 1936 sailed Tamatave for Reunion

26 March 1936 sailed Rangoon

18 April 1936 sailed Port Said

6 May 1936 sailed from the Keil Canal to Gdynia

11 May 1936 arrived at Gdynia from Rangoon

20 May 1936 sailed Gdynia for the Tyne

1939 Bought by the Board of Trade and placed under the civil management of Sir William Readen Smith & Sons Ltd Managers

1936 purchased by Dorset Steamship Co Ltd, London and renamed PENTRIDGE HILL

1939 acquired by the Board of Trade (later MoS and MoWT) and renamed BOTLEA under management of Sir William Reardon Smith & Sons Ltd, Cardiff

14 September1939 Lieutenant Commander Thomas Bennett Bruton Royal Naval Reserve appointed in command.

16 September 1939 commissioned as HMS Botlea

14 December 1939 conversion completed. Cover name RFA LAMBRIDGE. Complement 84 under the  command of Commander. T.B. Brunton Royal Navy. Armed with 7 x single 4-inch guns, 4 x Lewis machine guns, 4 x single 21-inch torpedo tubes and 100 depth charges

22 December 1939 sailed Chatham for Sheerness then to the Solent area for work-up

3 January 1940 sailed from the Solent area on her first cruise and operated in the North Atlantic for  the remainder of that year

8 January 1940 stopped off Dakar by HMS Neptune while in the Lambridge disguise - she was not detected as a 'Q' ship

19 February 1940 Able Seaman John Page C/J 22317 discharged dead. Drowned. Remembered with pride on the Chatham Naval Memorial

March 1940 at Gibraltar

April 1940 at Bermuda

January 1941 at Simonstown, South Africa

5 March 1941 at Colombo she hoisted the White Ensign for service as an Armed Merchant Cruiser  with Pennant Number F 113

August 1941 A.M.C. service ended

1 September 1941 at Simonstown reconditioning for return to commercial service

1 October 1941 transferred to MoWT control

29 August 1942 sailed from Liverpool to New York arriving on the 18 September 1942

24 December 1942 sailed from Liverpool in convoy ON(S)156 to New York arrived 17 January 1943

8 August 1943 sailed Liverpool to Freetown in convoy OS53 arrived on 27 August 1943

15 June 1944 sailed Cape Town to Durban in convoy CD43 arrived on the 19 June 1944

10 August 1944 sailed Durban independently to Mombassa arriving on 21 August 1944

29 August 1944 sailed Mombassa independently to Durban arriving on 9 September 1944

22 September 1944 sailed Durban independently to Lourenco Marques arriving 24 September 1944

29 May 1945 sailed Gibraltar independently to Middlesborough arriving 7 June 1945

30 December 1945 considered to have no further commercial use so was scuttled in position 55.30 N 11..00 W loaded with a cargo of poison gas shells as part of Phase 1 of Operation Sandcastle

Notes:

1. RFA Lambridge was a cover name for the 'Q' Ship HMS Botlea. The name Lambridge was used when the ship was in port so her true identity was not disclosed. She never sailed as an RFA.