SS ''Burgondier'' was a 5,297-ton cargo steamship built to a

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

standard design by

Caird & Company Caird & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding and engineering firm based in Greenock. The company was established in 1828 by John Caird when he received an order to re-engine Clyde paddle-tugs. John's relative James Tennant Caird joined the compan ...

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...

on the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

. She changed owners and names several times, becoming the ''Azul'', ''David Dawson'', ''Penteli'' and finally ''Brockley Hill''. She was sunk by enemy action in 1941.

Propulsion

The ship had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of heating three 180 lb_f/in² single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . The boilers fed a Caird & Company three-cylinder

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

rated at 517

NHP Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

that drove a single screw.

Peacetime career

Caird & Co launched the ship as ''War Burman'' but completed her in April 1919 as ''Burgondier'' for Lloyd Royal Belge (GB) Ltd, which registered her in London. In 1923 she was transferred to

Compagnie Maritime Belge The Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is one of the oldest Antwerp ship-owners. It is controlled by the Saverys family who also own major stakes in the Exmar and Euronav groups. History CMB was founded in 1895 under the name Compagnie Belge Mariti ...

(Lloyd Royal) SA and registered in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1926 she was sold to

Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) ( es, Ferrocarril del Sud) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 ...

Co, who registered her in London as ''Azul'' and placed her under the management of A. Holland & Co. In 1935 she was sold to Kaye, Son & Co, who sold her on in 1936. Her new owners, Georgian Steam Navigation Co Ltd renamed her ''David Dawson'' and placed her under the management of Frank S. Dawson and Co Ltd. In 1937 she was sold to J.A. Coulouthros and N.N. Embiricos, Andros who registered her in Greece as ''Penteli''. In 1939 she was sold to Brockley Hill Steamship Co Ltd who registered her in London as ''Brockley Hill''. This was a one-ship company set up to own her by Counties Ship Management. Both companies were offshoots of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking firm.

Sinking

''Brockley Hill'' left

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

as a member of convoy

Convoy HX 133 Convoy HX 133 was the 133rd of the numbered series of World War II HX convoys of merchant ships from HalifaX to Liverpool. The ships departed Halifax on 16 June 1941,Hague p.127 and were found on 23 June by U-boats of the 1st U-boat Flotilla, ...

on 12 June 1941 with a cargo of grain for London. At 2106 hrs on 24 June torpedoed and sank her in the North Atlantic southeast of

Cape Farewell Cape Farewell ( kl, Nunap Isua; da, Kap Farvel) is a headland on the southern shore of Egger Island, Nunap Isua Archipelago, Greenland. As the southernmost point of the country, it is one of the important landmarks of Greenland. Geography Loc ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

. Another British cargo steamship in the convoy, James Nourse Ltd's ''Saugor'', rescued all hands and landed them at

Loch Ewe Loch Ewe ( gd, Loch Iùbh) is a sea loch in the region of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig-speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notab ...

in Scotland.

Replacement ship

In 1947 CSM acquired the 7,082-ton

Empire Ship An Empire ship is a merchant ship that was given a name beginning with "Empire" in the service of the Government of the United Kingdom during and after World War II. Most were used by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), which owned them and co ...

and renamed her ''Brockley Hill''. She was sold in 1950 and changed hands again in 1951, being renamed ''Starcrest''. She changed owners and names twice more, was laid up in Turkey in 1962 and scrapped there in 1970.

Propulsion

Peacetime career

Sinking

Replacement ship

References

Further reading