The center of Funchal, Madeira
(Picture: Panorama magazine, September 1941 edition)
British Endeavour
(GB)
Captain: Thomas Weatherhead
Type: Steam tanker
Tonnage: 4,580 GT
Owner: British Tanker Co Ltd, London
Homeport: London
Built: W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
The 33 survivors of the British Endeavour arrived in Funchal, Madeira, on 26 February 1940 aboard another British merchant ship, the Bodnant.
The British Endeavour was sunk on 22 February off Vigo, Spain. The survivors were picked up by the Bodnant. The two ships were part of convoy OGF.19.
The Bodnant left the convoy two days later and headed for Madeira, where the survivors were housed for a week or ten days. Two then sailed to England, while the remainder, including the captain and most of the officers, arrived in Lisbon on 9 March, where they were housed in hotels awaiting repatriation.
The British Endeavour was en route from Glasgow, Scotland, to Abadan, Iran, in the outer column of the convoy when it was hit by a torpedo from U-50. The attack killed five crew members who were inside the ship.
Carlos Guerreiro
Sources:
National Archives UK, Kew (GB) § Alan J. Tennent, British and Commonwealth merchant ship Losses to Axis submarines 1939-1945, Gloucestershire, Sutton Publishing, 2001 § Ian M. Malcolm, Shipping Company Losses of the Second World War, Gloucestershire, The History Press, 2013 § Richard Woodmann, The real cruel sea – The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943, South Yorkshire, Pen & Sword, 2004 § Uboat.net
