SS ''Bardic'' was a Greek

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

that was shelled and sunk by the German battleship ''Scharnhorst'' in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

northwest of

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

on 9 March 1941.

Construction

''Bardic'' was launched on 19 December 1918 and completed on 13 March 1919 at the Harland & Wolff Ltd. shipyard in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The ship was long, had a beam of and had a depth of . She was assessed at and had 2 x Triple expansion engines driving two screw propellers. The ship could generate 1138 n.h.p. with a speed of 11 knots.

1924 incident

While ''Bardic'' was on route from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to the

on 31 August 1924, she ran aground on Stag Rock off

Lizard Point, Cornwall Lizard Point () in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula. It is situated half-a-mile (800 m) south of Lizard (village), Lizard village in the civil parish of Landewednack and about 11 miles (18 km) southe ...

. Her crew evacuated the ship yet her officers remained onboard until 8 September. The ship was eventually refloated on 29 September and towed to

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Falmouth was founded in 1613 by the Killigrew family on a site near the existing Pendennis Castle. It developed as a po ...

where she was beached to await repairs.

Sinking

On 9 March 1941, ''Bardic'' (then named ''Marathon'') encountered the German battleship ''Scharnhorst'' in the

northwest of

. The German battleship shelled and sunk the ''Marathon'', with all the crew being taken as

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

Wreck

The wreck of ''Bardic'' lies approx. at ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bardic Ships of the Aberdeen Line Ships of the White Star Line Ships built by Harland and Wolff Ships built in Belfast Maritime incidents in 1924 Maritime incidents in March 1941 1918 ships Cargo ships of Greece Steamships of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Steamships of Greece