SS Hatarana

History
Name	War Sailor (1917-1919) Hatarana (1919-1942)
Owner	Furness Withy (1917-1919) British-India Steam Navigation Company (1919-1942)
Port of registry	London, United Kingdom
Builder	Kawasaki Dockyard Company Ltd, Kobe
Completed	August 1917
Identification	UK Official Number 140430 Code letters GRZW
Fate	Sunk on 18 August 1942
General characteristics
Class and type	Steam merchant
Tonnage	7,522 GRT
Length	445 ft (135.64 m)
Beam	58 ft 3 in (17.75 m)
Depth	31 ft 3 in (9.53 m)
Propulsion	2 x screw propellers

SS Hatarana was a steam merchant cargo ship built in Japan in 1917 and owned by the British-India Steam Navigation Company. She was sunk without loss of life near the Azores during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War.

German U-Boat commander Günther Reeder claimed that at 18:52 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. Admiralty war diaries record that Hatarana was torpedoed at 19:03 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.

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

References

• "Hatarana Cargo Ship 1917-1942 - wreckSite.eu". 20 August 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
• "Hatarana (British Steam merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net". Retrieved 8 April 2012.
• "North Atlantic Command, Gibraltar, Admiralty War Diary 1943, including French North African landings - naval-history.net". August 1942. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
• "Hatarana-01 image - photoship.co.uk". Retrieved 8 April 2012.
• "Convoy SL.118 - SL/MKS Convoys - convoyweb.org". Retrieved 8 April 2012.
• "Arnold Hague Ports database - Ship Movements - Hatarana - convoyweb.org". Retrieved 8 April 2012.