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Description: | S S ABOSSO / TORPEDOED IN ATLANTIC / CREW AND COMPASS IN / SHIPS BOAT SAVED BY / H.M.S. MAGIC
Liquid compass from a ship's lifeboat, card diameter 4 inches (102 mm), on a wooden stand. An inscription on a label on the stand reads: 'SS Abosso torpedoed in Atlantic. Crew and compass in ship's boat saved by HMS Magic'.
SS 'Abosso' was built in 1935 at Cammel Laird, Birkenhead. It was torpedoed and sunk by U-575 (Guenther Heydemann) 700 miles NW of the Azores, having sailed from Cape Town on 8 October 1942 bound for Liverpool with 207 passengers and a cargo of 3000 tons of wool and bags of mail. The master, Captain Reginald William Tate, 148 crew, 18 gunners and 173 passengers were lost. 34 crew, 2 gunners and 17 passengers were rescued and landed at Londonderry.
This item was not sighted for many years. However in 2008 it was found to have lost it's number and been transferred to Kidbrooke as TN2001.016.2. The only thing to throw doubt in this identification is a handwritten note in the box stating: "SS Abosso compass and photograph. Donated by Mr and Mrs Schaal, Bookany, Church Lane, Tydd, St. Giles, Wisbech, 01945 870798. Sarah MacCormack". This note had been transferred to the Mimsy record of TN2001.016.2. However X1999/010 clearly identifies this item as bequeathed from the estate of Robert William Elliott, both in it's description and by a photograph of the compass on the file. We can find no V- or X-file for Schaal in TRIM, therefore we believe the identification with the Schaals as donors to be false. Stephen Goddard, 2009-01-12 | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | lifeboat compasses | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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