Garston Bound 1940

Matina


Name Matina
Type: Steam merchant
Tonnage 5.389 tons
Completed 1929 - Cammell Laird & Co Ltd, Birkenhead
Owner Elders & Fyffes Ltd, London
Homeport Liverpool
Date of attack 29 Oct, 1940 Nationality: British

Fate Sunk by U-31 (Wilfried Prellberg)
Position 57.30N, 16.31W - Grid AL 3880
- See location on a map -
Complement 69 (69 dead - no survivors)
Convoy
Route Port Antonio, Jamaica - Garston
Cargo 1500 tons of bananas
History Completed in March 1929

Notes on loss At 04.32 hours on 26 Oct, 1940, the unescorted Matina (Master David Alexander Jack) was hit in the stern by one torpedo from U-28 (Kuhnke) west of Rockall, after the ship had been missed by a first torpedo at 21.50 hours the day before. The U-boat then surfaced and fired 28 rounds with her 8,8cm deckgun, achieved 15 hits and left the vessel in a sinking condition.
At 22.00 hours on 29 October, U-31 reported the sinking of a drifting wreck by coup de gr?ce, this must have been the Matina. The master, 66 crew members and two gunners were lost. The first U-boat had observed that the crew abandoned ship, but they were never seen again.