Engine trouble was the common denominator in the loss of two ships and several landing craft needed by the Allies. The Empire Tarpon and the Southern Empress both sank on Oct. 14, 1942. The Southern Empress had some help provided by a torpedo from the U-221 on the evening of Oct. 13/14. Her cargo, over 11,000 tons
and 21 landing crafts. The human price was also high with forty-eight of her crew killed.

The Empire Tarpon just seems to have been a ragged old ship. She sank under tow for unexplained reasons
after her engines failed ...again. After leaving Liverpool on Nov. 21, 1941 in convoy ON-39 her engines
failed and she returned, and as part of convoy ON-55 in Jan. 1942 engine failure again forced her return. This
time she was part of HX-209 and she was also carrying landing craft for the British which she had loaded at
New Orleans, Louisiana.

The common denominator is that the Southern Empress had fallen out of convoy HX-209 the day they sailed
from New York with engine trouble, she joined convoy SC-104 which departed New York on Oct. 3. If she
had stayed with HX-209 she might have made it to Liverpool unharmed.