''Empire Burton'' was a

CAM Ship CAM ships were World War II–era British merchant ships used in convoys as an emergency stop-gap until sufficient escort carriers became available. ''CAM ship'' is an acronym for catapult aircraft merchant ship.Wise, pp. 70–77 They wer ...

which was built in 1941 for the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transpor ...

(MoWT). Completed in August 1941, she was torpedoed on 20 September 1941 by and sunk.

Description

''Empire Burton'' was built by Short Brothers Ltd,

Pallion Pallion is a suburb and electoral ward in North West Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the Victorian Era and consist of large terraced houses built for shipbuilders, but also smaller one- ...

for the MoWT. She was yard number 466. ''Empire Burton'' was launched on 29 May 1941 and completed in August 1941. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She was propelled by a

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 heat ...

which had cylinders of , , and bore by stroke. The engine was built by North East Marine Engine Works,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Career

''Empire Burton'' had a short career. She was completed in August 1941 and placed under the management of Common Brothers Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne. Her port of registry was

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. ''Empire Burton'' was a member of two convoys. ;ON 9 Convoy ON 9 departed from

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was ...

on 19 August 1941 and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 20 August. It dispersed at sea on 25 August. ''Empire Burton'' was bound for Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. ;SC 44 Convoy SC 44 departed from Halifax, calling at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

from where the convoy departed on 11 September bound for Liverpool. She was carrying a cargo of of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

. At 01:13 (German time) on 20 September 1941, fired four

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es, one of which hit ''Empire Burton'' and sank her with the loss of two of the 60 crew. The ship was east of Cape Farewell at the time (). The 58 survivors were rescued by and landed at

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Those lost on ''Empire Burton'' are commemorated at the

Tower Hill Memorial The Tower Hill Memorial is a pair of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials in Trinity Square Gardens, on Tower Hill in London, England. The memorials, one for the First World War and one for the Second, commemorate civilian, merchant seaf ...

, London.

Official Numbers and Code Letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term with two distinct applications: * the IMO ship identification number is a unique ship identifier; or, * the IMO company and registered owner identification number is us ...

. ''Empire Burton'' had the United Kingdom

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

168915 and used the

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of ...

BCMR.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Burton 1941 ships Ships built on the River Wear CAM ships Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Maritime incidents in September 1941