Geddington Court (1)

From SN Guides

Image 1:

Introduction

Court Line used the name Framlington Court for three ships:

1. Geddington Court (1) - a cargo ship completed in 1912 - the topic of this article
2. Geddington Court (2) - a cargo ship completed in 1928
3. Geddington Court (3) - a cargo ship completed in 1952

Basic Data

• Type: Cargo ship
• Registered owners,managers and operators: Court Line Ltd. - Managers Haldinstien and Co
• Builders: Northumberland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.
• Yard: Howden, Newcastle
• Country: UK
• Yard number:188
• Registry: N/K
• Official number: 132665
• Signal letters: N/K
• Call sign: N/K
• Classification society: N/K
• Gross tonnage: 3,989
• Net tonnage: 2,495
• Deadweight: N/K
• Length: 375.1 ft
• Breadth: 51.3 ft
• Depth: 24.3 Ft
• Draught: N/K
• Engines: Triple expansion steam engine
• Engine builders: Blair & Co.Ltd.
• Works: Stockton
• Country: UK
• Power: 385 nhp
• Propulsion: Single screw
• Speed: N/K
• Boilers: N/K
• Cargo capacity:N/K
• Crew: N/K

• Employment: General purpose cargo vessel

Career Highlights

• 08/11/1911: Launched by Northumberland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. l
• Jan 1912: Completed
• 1915: Managers restyled Haldin & Co. Ltd
• 12/04/16: Requisitioned for war service
• 1927: Sold to G.D. Gratsos, Ithica, Greece and renamed Pontos
• 1935: Sold to George Gratsos
• 1936: Sold to Aegean Steamship Co.Ltd., Argostoli, Greece and renamed Icarion
• 27/1/42: Torpedoed and sunk

Pre-War History

No information currently available.

Service in WW1

This is a summary of the work done by Geddington Court in WW1:

• 12/4/16 - 14/7/16: E.F.Transport for carriage of hay and oats then collier service, no number, up to 27/9/16
• 16/10/17 - 07/12/17: E.F.Service again for oats, and timber from U.S.Gulf to U.K.
• 23/2/18 - 08/07/18: R.N.Collier No 1861 then wheat from U.S.A.
• 09/07/18 - Mid 1919: Wheat from Karachi, Sugar from Cuba, wheat from Canada, and phosphates from Sfax to U.K. up to Mid.1919.

Service between WW1 and WW2

No information apart from changes in name and ownership

Participation in WW2 Convoys as Icarion

The data in the following table has been extracted from External Resource #3.

A key to the routes for these convoys can be found on this page: World War 2 Convoy Names

Sinking

According to External Resource #4, she was sunk by U-754: "At 00.21 hours on 27 Jan 1942, U-754 fired a spread of three torpedoes at the Icarion, dispersed from convoy ON-53, and observed a hit in the stern after 5 minutes 25 seconds. The ship sank at 01.08 hours." The same source states that the ship was en route to Halifax from Manchester on convoy ON-53 (which does not quite match Hague's database entry), had a complement of 29 or whom 9 died in the attack and 20 survived. She was described as carrying ballast and was sunk at position 46.02N, 52.22W.

According to External Resource #4, the captain of submarine U-754 was Hans Oestermann. U-754 was commissioned 28 Aug 1941 and sank 13 ships totalling 55,659 GRT. She was herself sunk on 31 July, 1942 in North Atlantic north of Boston, USA in position 43.02N, 64.52W, by a Canadian Hudson aircraft (RCAF Sqdn. 113) with the loss of all 43 hands.

External resources

1. Norman Middlemiss: Travel of the Tramps - Twenty Tramp Fleets ISBN: 1871128021
2. Miramar Ships Index: http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz
3. Arnold Hague Convoy Database: http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/
4. Uboat.net website: http://uboat.net/

Images

1. From the Allen Collection

Contributors

1. Initial information provided by Clive Ketley
2. Additional research and construction of entry by Benjidog
3. Additional material from Lloyds Registers provided by John Powell