Clement (1934)

Builder:
Cammell Laird
Birkenhead, England
Ordered:
N/A
Keel Laid:
N/A
Year Built:
1934
Launched:
October 11, 1934
Type:
Passenger/Cargo
Completed:
December 1934
Fate:
Captured and sunk Sept. 30, 1939 by the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee.
Sunk with five 11" (288mm) and twenty five 5.9" (150mm) shells after opening the seacocks
and scuttling charges failed to sink the ship. Two torpedoes were also fired but both missed.

Location: South Atlantic, 90mi SE of Recife, Brazil.
(09.05S - 34.05W)

47 crewmen abandoned in 4 lifeboats, 2 crewmen taken POW.
No casualties.


Owner
Booth Steamship Company Ltd.
Liverpool, England


Dimensions, machinery and performance
Length:
412' 2"
Engines:
1 three cylinder triple expansion
1 low pressure exhaust turbine
Beam:
55' 7"
Boilers:
N/A
Draft:
26' (depth)
Shafts:
1
Gross Tons:
5,051
HP:
N/A
DWT:
7,870
Speed:
12.5 knots
Crew:
N/A
Funnels:
1


Captains
From
To
Name
N/A
Sept. 30, 1936
Captain F. C. P. Harris RNR (later O.B.E.)


Notes
The first ship sunk by the Admiral Graf Spee.
Sept. 30, 1939:
The Arado 196 from Admiral Graf Spee was launched and signals were sent warning the
ship not to transmit a distress signal, however this was ignored and the radio officer
continued to transmit her position and that they were being attacked. The Arado fired
several bursts of machine gunfire at the Clement. After warning shots were fired at
the Clement the transmissions stopped and the captain had the ship's papers thrown
overboard. One man was injured by the gunfire from the aircraft and was treated by
medical staff of the Admiral Graf Spee.

Captain F. C. P. Harris RNR and Chief Engineer W. Bryant were taken aboard the Admiral
Graf Spee as POW's and questioned. The other crewmen were given directions to
Pernambuco, Brazil.

Capt. Harris and Chief Bryant were put aboard the Greek steamship Papalemos, which was
stopped and searched later the same day, they were landed in the Cape Verde Islands on
Oct. 9.

The remaining crewmen were in four lifeboats, one boat with 16 on board was
picked up by the Brazilian ship Itatinga on Sept. 30, the other 31 crewmen landed at
Maceio, Brazil on Oct. 1.



Additional information for this page was provided by General Enrique R. Dick and Hugo R. Sochi.


Builder's Data
Page published Mar. 14, 2008