Bruce, A (Alexander)
Bruce, A (Alexander)
Chief Officer Alexander Bruce served on Merchant Vessel Oilfield[1] and was the son of Alexander and Mary Jane Bruce, of 175 Vincent Street, South Shields, Co. Durham; husband of Florence Jane Bruce, of South Shields also.
On April 28th at 19:25 U-boat U96 fired three torpedoes at convoy HX-121. Merchant Vessel Oilfield was on route from Aruba to London when it was struck by one of these torpedoes and burst into flames. Another two ships were also hit. One was a Norwegian motor tanker called Caledonia[2] and the other a British Merchant ship called Port Hardy.[3]
The Port Hardy[4] was the luckiest of the three ships. It would stay afloat for three hours before being lost to the waves. 97 souls were saved by the British rescue ship Zaafaran.[5]
The Norwegian tanker was not so lucky. 7 crew died in the blast in the engine room, 5 others jumped overboard and 25 got into a lifeboat.
The five sailors in the water drifted into burning oil from the Oilfield and could not be rescued due to the intense heat and so perished.
All the sailors in the lifeboats were also rescued by the Zaafaran.
The Zaafaran later landed all the rescued sailors at Greenock, Scotland on the 1st of May.
The unluckiest of the three ships was M.V. Oilfield.[6] It would break in half and sink the next day. The 7 surviving crew members from the ship were picked up by HMT St. Zeno[7] and were then taken to Londonderry’s port.
Chief Officer Alexander Bruce was rescued by Saint Zeno but would ultimately die from shock soon afterwards.
Date of Death: 28/04/1941 (aged 45)
Service: Chief Officer, Merchant Navy, M.V. Oilfield (Newcastle)
Burial Location: Londonderry (or Derry), City Cemetery, Sec. S. Class B. Grave 1217.Casualty:
[1] MV Oilfield was an oil tanker and had been launched during 1938.
[2] Caledonia was a Norwegian Motor tanker and was launched during 1936.
[3] Port Hardy was a British steam merchant ship and was launched during 1923.
[4] Port Hardy only suffered one casualty.
[5] The Zaafaran was a rescue ship built in 1921, it was eventually sunk during 1942 by aircraft, with the loss of 1 crew member.
[6] MV oilfield lost 47 crew in this incident.
[7] HMT St. Zeno was a trawler and had been launched during 1939.
