From cclausen.net.
On Wednesday, I posted about ships sunk off the North Carolina coast in January 1942, at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic off the American coast. One of those nine ships went down with the loss of 251 lives. I'd never heard of the ship, so had to do some further research.
Of the 322 persons aboard the RMS Lady Hawkins, there were only 71 survivors. The ship was built by Cammel Laird & Co. in 1928 and weighed 2908 tons, capable of going 14 knots and owned by the Canadian national Steamship Company, Ltd..
At 7.43 hours 19 January 1942the unescorted Lady Hawkins, under the command of Master Huntly Osborne Geffen was hit by two stern torpedoes from the U-66 and sank in 30 minutes about 150 miles from Cape Hatteras. Geffen, 85 crew, 1 gunner and 164 passengers lost their lives.
The chief officer, 21 crew and 49 passengers were picked up after five days floating in the Atlantic by the Coamo and landed in Puerto Rico Jan. 28th. Chief Officer Perry A. Kelly was awarded the MBE and the Lloyd's War Medal for bravery at sea.
The rescue ship, Coamo was torpedoed itself December 9, 1942, and sank with the loss of 133 passengers and crew. The U-66 was sunk May 6, 1944, by the destroyer escort USS Buckley with 36 survivors and 24 dead.
Completely Lost in All the Titanic Hub-Bub. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
Hi, I realize that this blog is two years old, so I hope you receive my comment. My great-grandfather, Ervin Oscar Allen, was on the Lady Hawkins when it sank, and he was one of the many who did not make it. I too, wrote a blog about the Lady Hawkins and another on all five of the Lady Boats. Over the past year, I've been able to collect a lot more information on the Lady Hawkins and U-66. It is interesting, yet sad, and also one of the lesser-known disasters of World War II. Please let me know if you would be interested in any of the info that I have; I will gladly share it with you.
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