Daily Event for September 25


Sept. 25, 1942 the Boston, an ex-Great Lakes passenger ship, was sunk by U-216 about 700 miles SW of
Iceland. Built in 1924 for the Eastern Steamship Co. in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, she was transferred to
the Ministry of War Transport in England in 1942. At the time of her loss she was sailing in convoy RB-1 so an escort, the HMS Veteran D-72 rescued all sixty-five of her crew.

A second ship in convoy RB-1 was the New York, a sister of Boston, she was sunk on Sept. 26 by U-91. Her
history was the same as that of the Boston. Of her sixty-four man crew only thirteen were picked up by
HMS Veteran.

Unfortunately for the crews of the Boston and New York, HMS Veteran was also sunk on the 26th by U-404. This time only two men were rescued, both from the Boston, all one hundred and fifty-nine of Veteran's crew and the thirteen survivors from New York perished.

© 2007 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com


HMS Veteran D-72