Cortona

SS CORTONA

At 0022 hours on 12 July, 1942, when and detached from the convoy, SS Cortona was torpedoed and damaged by U-116 in position 32 45'N, 24 45'W (south of the Azores) . Three minutes later, U-201 also fired torpedoes which sank the vessel. The master, 18 crew members and four gunners drifted in a lifeboat for ten days until they were picked up by the British destroyer HMS Pathfinder and landed at Londonderry.
For more details, see: http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/os33/cortona.htm.

Twenty-nine crew members and two gunners lost their lives. They are commemorated on Tower Hill Memorial Panel 32 plus two Canadians on the Halifax Memorial.

ALLAN, Carpenter, DAVID CHEYNE, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 65. Son of James and Sarah Allan, of Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire; husband of Mary Allan, of Port Glasgow.

CAMPBELL, Steward, ALEXANDER, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 34. Son of John and Catherine Campbell

CAMPION, Sailor, JOHN AUSTIN, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 11th July 1942. Age 26. Son of John and Mary Campion; husband of Edna Campion, of Tranmere, Birkenhead.

CARLEY Able Seaman DOUGLAS, S. S. Cortona (Glasgow). Canadian Merchant Navy 14th July 1942

CARTER, Fifth Engineer Officer, ARTHUR EDWARD, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 31. Son of Josiah and Catherine Carter.

CLARKSON, Able Seaman, ALFRED, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 27. Son of Algie and Mary Clarkson

CLOUTER, Cadet, RAYMOND CLIFFORD, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 18.

COCHRANE, Cadet, JAMES KENNETH, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 18. Son of James Stormont Cochrane and Octavia Smith Cochrane, of Glasgow.

COLQUHOUN, Steward, ROBERT, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 11th July 1942. Age 23. Son of Thomas and Margaret Colquhoun, of Gartcosh, Lanarkshire.

CURRIE, Fourth Engineer Officer, ANDREW, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 28. Son of Robert and Elizabeth Currie.

FERETTA, Able Seaman, KENNETH BOLTON, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 28. Son of Jerome and Mary Feretta.

FERNS, Fireman, JOHN JOSEPH, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 41. Husband of Rose Ann Ferns, of Huyton, Lancashire

GRAHAM, Donkeyman, RICHARD, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 29. Son of Richard and Ann Graham; husband of Ellen Graham, of Bootle, Lancashire.

HARDING Able Seaman AMBROSE, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow) Canadian Merchant Navy. 17th July 1942. Age 22.

HEADRICK, Second Engineer Officer, DUNCAN GOW, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 41. Son of Robert and Helen MacNaughton Headrick; husband of Marion Grieve Headrick, of Kirn, Dunoon, Argyllshire.

HUGHES, First Radio Officer, ERIC WILLIAM EVELYN, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 38. Son of William Faulkner Hughes and Evelyn Charlotte Hughes; husband of Lily May Hughes, of Moordown, Bournemouth, Hampshire.

KENYON, Second Radio Officer, ERNEST JAMES, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 26. Son of Ernest and Barbara Ethel Kenyon, of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

LAWRENCE, Sailor, CECIL HERBERT, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 22.

MUIRHEAD, Able Seaman, ROBERT, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 21.

McBLAIN, Fireman, ALEXANDER CROSSAN, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 22. Grandson of Sarah Hodgson, of Sharlston Common, Yorkshire.

McCALL, Apprentice, ALAN DEMPSTER, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 11th July 1942. Age 17. Son of Thomas and Jane Clark McCall, of Glasgow.

McDOUGALL, Assistant Steward, WALTER DUGALD, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 25. Nephew of Janet Leitch, of Old Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire.

McKEITH, Chief Steward, ROBERT, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 42. Son of Robert and Alice McKeith, of Glasgow; husband of Mary McKeith.

McLEAN, Boatswain, ROBERT HADDOW, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 44.

PARRISH, Chief Officer, HARRY, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 32. Son of Harry and Matilda Parrish; husband of E. M. O. Parrish, of Southsea, Hampshire.

ROBERTS, Able Seaman, THOMAS, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 11th July 1942. Age 40. Son of William and Mary Roberts; husband of Ellen Roberts, of Four Mile Bridge, Anglesey.

ROBERTSON, Chief Engineer Officer, JAMES PATTERSON, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 54. Son of John W. and Barbara A. Robertson; husband of Mary Forbes Robertson, of Greenock, Renfrewshire.

SCOTT, Donkeyman, WILLIAM GEORGE, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 35. Son of Lenard and Catherine Scott; husband of Frances Scott, of Bootle, Lancashire.

STRACHAN, Storekeeper, WILLIAM CAMERON, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 38. Son of Peter and Elsie Ann Strachan, of Troon, Ayrshire.

WILLIAMSON, Ordinary Seaman, FRANK EDWARD, S.S. Cortona (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 14th July 1942. Age 16. Son of Mr. and Mrs. G. S. Williamson, of Wanstead, Essex.

Commemorative data kindly provided by Billy McGee: http://www.british-merchant-navy.co.uk/.