Official Number:                      119195

Laid down:

Builder:                                  J Shearer & Son Ltd, Kelvinhaugh

Launched:                              24 November 1904 

Signal Letters:                        HBQM

Into Service:                            7 September 1914

Out of service:                        1919

Fate:                                      21 July 1940 torpedoed and sunk

Items of historic interest involving this ship: –

Background Data:  One of an additional group of ships requisitioned by the Admiralty during WW1 to augment the ships of the RFA

Career Data:

24 November 1904 launched by J Shearer & Son Ltd, Kelvinhaugh as Yard Nr: 38 named SAGENITE for Wm Robertson & Co, Glasgow

26 November 1904 the Llloyds List newspaper reported …

13 December 1904 ships call letters allocated – HBQM

January 1905 completed

10 January 1905 alongside at No: 4 Dock at Manchester

14 March 1905 berthed in No: 4 Dock at Manchester

24 June 1905 arrived at Bristol from Fleetwood

24 May 1906 sailed Fraserborough in ballast

26 December 1906 sailed from the Royal Docks, Grimsby

28 December 1906 in the River Humber at Hawk Roads Cook & Steward Gilbert Jackson discharged dead from pneumonia

5 May 1907 sailed Preston with a cargo of coal for Dublin

28 May 1907 at Fleetwood Engineer Officer William Sanderson had both his feet badly crushed

9 June 1907 entered Eastham Docks for Warrington to discharge

8 July 1907 sailed Methil

10 February 1912 sailed Grimsby

4 July 1914 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

20 August 1914 berthed at Port Talbot with a cargo of pig iron from Grimsby

7 September 1914 requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as an Ammunition Carrier until 15 July 1916 – name unchanged. Rates of hire initially 12s 6d per ton until 31 December 1914 thence increased to 17sh 6d per ton until 28 February 1918 afterwards 23sh per ton

16 July 1916 re-deployed by the Admiralty as a collier

24 September 1917 to the south of Aberdeen when in convoy was in collision with the steamship Alexy whereby both ships were damaged

7 June 1918 in the Outer House of the Court of Session before Lord Hunter claims for damages made by the owners of both ships involved in the collision of 24 September 1917 (see above) each blaming the other for the cause of the collision were heard. The Lord Hunter held that both ships were jointly to blame for the collision

17 January 1919 further proceedings in the above matter in Second Divison of the Court of Session before the Lord Justice Clerk and Lords Dundas, Salvesen and Guthrie were held and the Divison found that both vessels were to blame. Damages were due in the proportion of three-fourths by the owners of the Alexy and one-fourth by the owners of the Sagenite. No expenses were due to either party in the Outer House and the owners of the Sagenite were awarded half expenses in the Inner House

1919  returned to her owners

30 March 1919 berthed at Hull from Rotterdam

11 April 1919 sailed Alexandra Dock, Hull with a cargo of coal

23 April 1919 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

1 June 1920 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west

9 August 1920 sailed Liverpool for Runcorn

24 June 1923 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

4 July 1924 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west

24 July 1924 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west

11 December 1924 arrived at Port Talbot from Bristol

23 July 1925 at Briton Ferry Sailor James Armstrong discharged dead having accidentally drowned

7 July 1930 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

14 December 1930 berthed at Dover with a cargo of coal for a local company

8 July 1932 sailed Methil for Rouen

30 December 1932 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

13 December 1933 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

21 February 1935 in the River Scheldt in collision with a lighter off the Kattendyk Sluice. Both suffered damage

23 January 1936 berthed at Seaham Harbour from London

24 January 1936 sailed from Seaham Harbour

1 June 1936 at Dover while on a voyage from Cardiff to London with a cargo of coal put into port for repairs to a leaking boiler

30 December 1936 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on Flamborough Head sailing south

15 June 1937 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west

29 March 1938 berthed at Dover with a cargo of granite chippings for a local company

11 June 1938 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

30 September 1938 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east

1940 purchased by Benjamin J Morgan, Cardiff and renamed SA

21 July 1940 was torpedoed, then shelled and sunk by the German submarine U-30 180 nmiles w of Cape Finisterre in position 42.30N 12.36W, while on an independent passage from Lisbon to Newport, Monmouthshire with a cargo of pit wood. Her Master (Captain Thomas G Smith) and the crew of 15 all landed at Vigo