Ships › EMILE FRANCQUI

S/S EMILE FRANCQUI

Lost during the Second World War

The steamer Emile Francqui. MAS Antwerp, Public domain. — **The steamer Emile Francqui.** Photographer unknown · MAS Antwerp · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

More photographs (2)

Survivors of the Emile Francqui; two of them wear the cap tally of the Belgian Marine. Photographer unknown · Public domain · Commons
Two photographs of the survivors of the ss Emile Francqui (CMB), sunk in the Atlantic on 16 December 1942. Photographer unknown · Public domain · Commons

68crew

56lost

78aboard

Type: Steam merchant
Tonnage: 5,936 GRT
Built: 1929 – Flensburger Schiffsbau-Ges., Flensburg
Owner: Compagnie Maritime Belge (Lloyd Royal) SA, Antwerp
Home port: Antwerp
Date: 16 December 1942
Fate: Sunk by U-664 (Adolf Graef)
Attacker: U-664 (Adolf Graef)
Convoy: ON-153
Voyage: Liverpool → St. John, New Brunswick
Cargo: 634 tons of stores
Position: 50.9667, -24.7000 · grid BD 3338

78 aboard and 56 lost in all: 68 crew (46 lost) plus 10 passengers, of whom only six are named - all six lost.

Position of the attack. Click the map to enable zoom.

Crew list (74 names)

The voyage

Departure: Liverpool · 11 December 1942
Destination: St. John, New Brunswick · never reached
Sunk: 16 December 1942

Rank	Name	Nationality	Fate
Master (Kapitein)	†Paret Florent		Lost
1st Officer (1ste officier)	†Lauwereins Karel		Lost
2nd Officer (2de officier)	†Ortegat Jacques		Lost
3rd Officer (3de officier)	†Reclercq Marcel		Lost
4th Officer (4de officier)	Van Steenkiste Henri		Survived
Radio Officer (Marconist)	†Conincx Robert		Lost
Cadet (Kadet)	†Gormley Desmond	United Kingdom	Lost
Carpenter (Timmerman)	†Schepers Petrus		Lost
Boatswain (Bootsman)	†Galle Edward		Lost
Able Seaman (A.B.)	Alewijnse Cornelis		Survived
Able Seaman (A.B.)	Armado Augusto	Portugal	Survived
Able Seaman (A.B.)	Cornelissen Frans		Survived
Able Seaman (A.B.)	Da Luz Rijo Antonio	Portugal	Survived
Able Seaman (A.B.)	De Kuyffer Jan		Survived
Able Seaman (A.B.)	†Le Leup Hughes		Lost
Able Seaman (A.B.)	Pauwels Victor		Survived
Able Seaman (A.B.)	†Rouzee Karel		Lost
Able Seaman (A.B.)	†Van Wyck Petrus	South Africa	Lost
Ordinary Seaman (Lichtmatroos)	Brown John	United Kingdom	Survived
1st Engineer Officer (1ste mecanicien)	†Raes Edouard		Lost
2nd Engineer Officer (2de mecanicien)	†Nolke Frans		Lost
3rd Engineer Officer (3de mecanicien)	†Mennes Willem		Lost
4th Engineer Officer (4de mecanicien)	†Mewis Jozef		Lost
Assistant Engineer (Assistant-mecanicien)	†Grielens Henri		Lost
Assistant Engineer (Assistant-mecanicien)	Gyse René		Survived
Assistant Engineer (Assistant-mecanicien)	†Van Goethem Franciscus		Lost
Donkeyman	†Van Den Plas Louis		Lost
Donkeyman	Van Duysse Adolf		Survived
Donkeyman	†Van Heurck Frans		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	Boudou Jan		Survived
Fireman (Stoker)	†Buckley John	Ireland	Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	Burms Michel		Survived
Fireman (Stoker)	Coppens Frans		Survived
Fireman (Stoker)	†De Bruyn August		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	†Jago Albert		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	†Jones John	United Kingdom	Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	Kelly Peter	Canada	Survived
Fireman (Stoker)	†Maeckelberghe Maurice		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	†Maerens Edward		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	Pooters Corneel		Survived
Fireman (Stoker)	†Van Der Aa Jan		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	†Van Gestel Victor		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	†Van Goethem Frans		Lost
Fireman (Stoker)	Van Roosbroek Victor		Survived
Trimmer (Tremmer)	†De Nora Mariano	Spain	Lost
Trimmer (Tremmer)	De Wever Frans		Survived
Trimmer (Tremmer)	†Oosterlinck Karel		Lost
Steward	†Van Gool Frans		Lost
1st Cook (1ste kok)	Verlegh Jan		Survived
1st Cook (supernumerary) (1ste kok suppl.)	†Vervoort Jozef		Lost
2nd Cook and Baker (2de kok-bakker)	†Van Suyt Albert		Lost
Messroom Steward (Messroom-steward)	†Heurter Florent		Lost
Messroom Steward (Messroom-steward)	†Swinburn William	United Kingdom	Lost
Assistant Steward (Assistant-steward)	†Hartman Edmond		Lost
Assistant Steward (Assistant-steward)	†Lenie Jozef		Lost
Assistant Steward (Assistant-steward)	†Wauters Pieter		Lost
Cook's Mate (Koksmaat)	†Bricklebank Christopher	United Kingdom	Lost
Cabin Boy (Cabin-boy)	†Ribeira Da Costa Sebast.	Portugal	Lost
Gunner	De Graeve Louis		Survived
Gunner	†Dua Victor		Lost
Gunner	†Imhof Thomas		Lost
Gunner	Mommen Georges		Survived
Gunner	†Notebaert Jules		Lost
Gunner	†Van Damme Frans		Lost
Master (supernumerary) (Kapitein suppl.)	†Biebuyck Paul		Lost
Leading Naval Signalman (Lead. naval signall.)	Collins Ray	Canada	Survived
Naval Signalman (Naval signall.)	†Thomson William	Canada	Lost
Naval Signalman (Naval signall.)	Ainsworth Thomas	Canada	Survived
Passenger (Passagier)	†Mr. Best Lewis	United Kingdom	Lost
Passenger (Passagier)	†Mr. Harrison David	United Kingdom	Lost
Passenger (Passagier)	†Mrs. Miles R. printed as "Mrs. Miles R. (Honeywell Rosalind)"	United Kingdom	Lost
Passenger (Passagier)	†Miss Sellar Pamela	United Kingdom	Lost
Passenger (Passagier)	†Miss Sellar Betty	United Kingdom	Lost
Passenger (Passagier)	†Mr. Tunn Herbert	United Kingdom	Lost

The convoy ON-153

Route: Outward, northbound (North Atlantic)
Dates: 15–21 December 1942
Escort: British group B7: Firedrake and Ripley with four corvettes
Merchant ships: 43
Sunk: 4 · 19,551 tons
Damaged: 1 · 9,551 tons

The dotted line follows the great circle the ON series ran, Liverpool to New York, with the coastal bends the fairway imposes. The red point is where the Belgian ship was hit, from the U-boat’s attack report.

About the line on this map

A convoy steered the great circle: the shortest way over the globe, not the straight line on the map. That is why the Atlantic crossing here runs so far north, and why ships on that route were hit around 55 to 58 degrees and not at 48. The bends closer to land follow the fairway – the North Channel above Ireland, round Land’s End, through the Strait of Gibraltar.

The line is the route of the series, not the track that one convoy actually steered. The Admiralty shifted convoys north or south from sailing to sailing, according to the season and where the U-boats were; ONS-154 was deliberately routed south past the Azores in December 1942. And a straggler or a dispersed ship was by definition no longer with the group. Where the red point sits far from the line, that is usually what you are looking at.

The destroyer Firedrake was lost on 17 December. Further attacks were frustrated by a gale reaching force 10.

Convoys (35)

From the Arnold Hague Convoy Database. Convoys only, not independent voyages: a ship sailing alone does not appear. See the convoy page.

Convoy	Departed	Route	Sunk
FN.272	4 September 1940	Southend – Methil
OA.211	8 September 1940	Methil - Dispersed
HX.84	28 October 1940	Halifax - Dispersed	6 sunk
WN.36	10 November 1940	Clyde – Methil
FS.338	18 November 1940	Methil – Southend
FN.355	9 December 1940	Southend – Methil
EN.40/1	12 December 1940	Methil – Oban
OB.262	20 December 1940	Liverpool - Dispersed
HX.102	11 January 1941	Halifax – Liverpool	1 sunk
OB.287	16 February 1941	Liverpool - Dispersed	3 sunk
HX.114	11 March 1941	Halifax – Liverpool
WN.107	30 March 1941	Clyde – Methil
EN.2A	5 November 1941	Methil – Oban
ON.34	7 November 1941	Liverpool - Dispersed 46.18N 52.40W
HX.164	8 December 1941	Halifax – Liverpool
ON.59	23 January 1942	Liverpool - Dispersed 41.30N 52.53W
HX.177	25 February 1942	Halifax – Liverpool
ON.79	23 March 1942	Liverpool – Halifax
ON.80	27 March 1942	Liverpool – Halifax	1 sunk
BX.12	30 April 1942	St John Nb – Halifax
HX.188	3 May 1942	Halifax – Liverpool
ON.101	5 June 1942	Liverpool – Boston
SH.14	14 June 1942	Sydney CB - Halifax.
HS.14	17 June 1942	Halifax – Sydney CB
SH.20	5 July 1942	Sydney CB – Halifax
HX.198	12 July 1942	Halifax – Liverpool
ON.119	5 August 1942	Liverpool – NYC
XB.35	23 August 1942	Halifax – Boston
BX.36F	3 September 1942	St John Nb – Halifax
HX.206	6 September 1942	Halifax – Liverpool
ON.137	9 October 1942	Liverpool – NYC	1 sunk
HF.10	1 November 1942	Halifax – St. John NB
FH.13	9 November 1942	St. John NB – Halifax
HX.215	11 November 1942	NYC – Liverpool
ON.153	11 December 1942	Liverpool – NYC	2 sunk

Sources

Crew list from the printed source.