''Goodleigh'' was a

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 built in 1928 by J L Thompson & Sons Ltd,

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 ...

for the Dulverton Steamship Company. In 1937 she was sold to Fisser & Van Doornum,

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

and was renamed ''Christian Van Doornum''. She was in port in Canada when

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

was declared between the United Kingdom and Germany. She was seized as a

war prize A prize of war (also called spoils of war, bounty or booty) is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 1 ...

and passed to 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). Renamed ''Empire Commerce'', she served until 9 June 1940 when she struck a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

off

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. She was beached and her cargo was salvaged, but ''Empire Commerce'' was deemed a constructive total loss and was scrapped ''

in situ is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...

''. She was the first

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 c ...

lost through enemy action in the Second World War.

Description

The ship was built by J L Thompson Ltd, Sunderland. She was launched in 1928, and completed in March of that year. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She had a GRT of 3,845 and a NRT of 2,323. The ship 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 diameter by stroke. The engine was built by J Dickinson & Sons Ltd, Sunderland.

History

''Goodleigh'' was built for the Dulverton Steamship Co Ltd. Her port of registry was

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. 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 ...

160368 and

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 ...

LBHC were allocated. In 1934, her Code Letters were changed to GNQB. In 1937, ''Goodleigh'' was sold to Reunert & Co GmbH and was renamed ''Christoph Van Doornum''. She was placed under the management of Fisser & Van Doornum,

. Her port of registry was changed to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and the Code Letters DJVA were allocated. She was now listed as , . On 4 September 1939, ''Christoph Van Doornum'' was in port at

Botwood Botwood is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in Census Division 6. It is positioned on the west shore of the Bay of Exploits on a natural deep-water harbour. Historically, this harbour has been a significa ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. War was declared between the United Kingdom and Germany and the ship was seized by the Canadian authorities. The actual

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...

of the ship being carried out by the town's

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

. This may have been the first act of war during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on the continent of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. ''Christoph Van Doornum'' was declared a war prize. She was passed to the MoWT and renamed ''Empire Commerce''. She was placed under the management of H Chisholm & Co Ltd. Her port of registry was changed to London and the Code Letters GLVJ were allocated. She was reallocated the United Kingdom

160368. ''Empire Commerce'' was now listed as , . On 9 June 1940, ''Empire Commerce'' struck a

off

and was severely damaged. She was beached on the Mucking Sands where her cargo of

woodpulp Pulp is a fibrous lignocellulosic material prepared by chemically, semi-chemically, or mechanically isolating the cellulosic fibers of wood, fiber crops, waste paper, or rags. Mixed with water and other chemicals or plant-based additives, pul ...

was discharged. The engine room was severely damaged. Greaser Maurice Holden escaped from the engine room, but then realised that the engineer was trapped, went back in and rescued him. For his bravery, Holden was awarded a

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

. ''Empire Commerce'' was declared a constructive total loss and was scrapped ''

''. She was the first

to be lost through enemy action.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodleigh 1928 ships Ships built on the River Wear Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of Germany Merchant ships of Germany World War II merchant ships of Germany Maritime incidents in September 1939 Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships Maritime incidents in June 1940 World War II shipwrecks in the North Sea Ships sunk by mines