SS Hatarana

SS Hatarana was a steam merchant cargo ship built in Japan in 1917 and owned by the British-India Steam Navigation Company. During World War II it was sunk without loss of life near The Azores in the north Atlantic Ocean .

German U-Boat commander Günther Reeder claimed that at 1852 hours on Tuesday 18 August 1942, U-214 fired four torpedoes at the convoy SL-118 comprising 34 vessels sailing from Freetown, Sierra Leone to the United Kingdom. British Admiralty war diaries record that Hatarana was torpedoed at 1903 hours. A rescue tug was sent from Gibraltar, but was recalled after it was reported that Hatarana had sunk.

The Hatarana was scuttled by gunfire by HMS Pentstemon, which also picked up 20 survivors and landed them at Londonderry. The remaining 88 survivors of the 98 crew members and ten gunners were picked up by the Corabella.

The Master of the Hatarana on its final voyage was Percival Arthur Clifton James (1887–1967), brother of M. E. Clifton James. Another survivor of the Hatarana sinking was Alan Bristow.

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