Ships › LIMBOURG
M/V LIMBOURG
Lost during the Second World War
- Type
- Motor merchant
- Tonnage
- 2,396 GRT
- Built
- 1938 – John Cockerill SA, Hoboken, Antwerp
- Owner
- Armement Deppe, Antwerp
- Home port
- Antwerp
- Date
- 29 March 1941
- Fate
- Sunk by U-48 (Herbert Schultze)
- Attacker
- U-48 (Herbert Schultze)
- Convoy
- HX-115
- Voyage
- Curaçao → Aberdeen
- Cargo
- 3,450 tons of phosphate
- Position
- 61.3000, -22.0833 · grid AE 7844
Position of the attack. Click the map to enable zoom.
Crew list (24 names)
The voyage
- Departure
- Curaçao · 17 March 1941
- Destination
- Aberdeen · never reached
- Sunk
- 29 March 1941
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master (Kapitein) | †Spiessens Louis | Lost | |
| 1st Officer (1ste officier) | †Van Oudenhove Gaston | Lost | |
| 2nd Officer (2de officier) | †Van Den Berghe Achiel | Lost | |
| 3rd Officer (3de officier) | †Fortemps Louis | Lost | |
| Radio Officer (Marconist) | †Bragard Edouard | Lost | |
| Boatswain (Bootsman) | †Verdonck Jacobus | Lost | |
| Able Seaman (A.B.) | †Demoor August | Lost | |
| Able Seaman (A.B.) | †Derba Pieter | Lost | |
| Able Seaman (A.B.) | †Inghels Pieter | Lost | |
| Able Seaman (A.B.) | †Jacobs Jules | Lost | |
| Able Seaman (A.B.) | †Molder Arnold | Estonia | Lost |
| Able Seaman (A.B.) | Paeye Polydore | Survived | |
| Ordinary Seaman (Lichtmatroos) | †Parkinson James | United Kingdom | Lost |
| 1st Engineer Officer (1ste mecanicien) | †Boogaert Florent | Lost | |
| 2nd Engineer Officer (2de mecanicien) | †Niehuis Jozef | Lost | |
| 3rd Engineer Officer (3de mecanicien) | †Donckers Louis | Lost | |
| 4th Engineer Officer (4de mecanicien) | †Troch Victor | Lost | |
| Assistant Engineer (Assistant-mecanicien) | †Boyne James | Canada | Lost |
| Assistant Engineer (Assistant-mecanicien) | †Gummersbach Jan | Lost | |
| Assistant Engineer (Assistant-mecanicien) | †Oger Marcel | Lost | |
| Steward | †Vermaelen Jozef | Lost | |
| Messroom Steward (Messroom-steward) | Cellier Guillaume | Survived | |
| Assistant Steward (Assistant-steward) | †Borre Jan | Lost | |
| Cook (Kok) | †Bowen Clarence | United Kingdom | Lost |
The convoy HX-115
- Route
- Halifax to the United Kingdom
- Dates
- 17–29 March 1941
- Escort
- HMCS St. Croix and Orillia; HMS California; HMS King George V and Thunderbolt
- Merchant ships
- 29
- Sunk
- 3 · 13,032 tons
The dotted line follows the great circle the HX series ran, Halifax to Liverpool, 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.
U-48 attacked in the gap between two escorts: the heavy escort had left and the local escort had not yet arrived.
Convoys (6)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SL/MKS.39 | 9 July 1940 | Freetown – Liverpool | |
| OB.211 | 10 September 1940 | Liverpool - Dispersed 56.30N 15.08W | |
| BHX.81 | 14 October 1940 | Bermuda – -> HX.81 | |
| HX.81 | 16 October 1940 | Halifax – Liverpool | |
| OB.277 | 22 January 1941 | Liverpool - Dispersed | |
| HX.115 | 17 March 1941 | Halifax – Liverpool | 3 sunk |
The source’s search page broke off halfway for this ship; this list may be incomplete.
Sources
Crew list from the printed source.