The steel cargo steamship Baron Minto was launched from the Deptford yard of Sir James Laing & Sons of Sunderland (Yard No.717) on 2nd November 1937 for her owners, the Hogarth Shipping Company of Glasgow. She measured 417.1′ x 58.2′ x 24.1′ and her tonnage was 4637 gross tons, 2693 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by George Clark (1913) Limited of Sunderland, delivering 250 nominal horse power. Her official number was 163846. Her owners had placed an order for two vessels to be built to the same design and specification and her sister ship, the Baron Elphinstone (Yard No.716) was completed shortly before the Baron Minto.
Baron Minto alongside
Extract Lloyds Register 1939.
After fit out and trials were completed in December 1937 she entered service for her owners. With the increasing ferocity of the war she was requisitioned by the Admiralty in January 1939 and came under the control of the Ministry of War Transport, hired to bring much needed supplies to support the British war effort.
Baron Minto stranded in Strathbeg Bay
Having recently arrived from Sydney, Nova Scotia with a cargo of scrap iron, the Baron Minto departed Oban for Hull on 27th October 1940 as part of convoy WN.27. The eleven ships were routed around the north of Scotland to then head south to various east coast ports. By 29th October they were off the Buchan coast in stormy conditions which resulted in five vessels going aground near Rattray Head. The Baron Minto was one of the five, running aground to the north of Rattray Head in Strathbeg Bay. Her crew were safely picked up by Peterhead lifeboat. She remained ashore for months while her managers looked at options to recover her cargo and the ship. In February 1941 the wreck was spotted by the Luftwaffe and bombed on the 12th and 14th. Later that month, in a second attack, she was hit by at least three aerial torpedoes. The additional damage forced a final decision. She was written off as a constructive total loss on 1st May 1941.
Lloyd’s voyage card extract
From their archive photo library, its clear the Dalmuir ship breaking firm of W. H. Arnott Young worked the wreck during the summer of 1941. The pictures below portray the removal of the cargo and upper structure of the ship to waterline. The remains of the Baron Minto lie in approximate position 57° 38.031’N, 001° 52.601’W. It is reported that the outline of the three island structure is still apparent in the wreckage which is visible at low tide.
We would like to thank W. Sloan Smith for allowing us to reproduce pictures from his photographic collection which records the work of the ship breaking company – W.H. Arnott Young & Company Ltd., of Dalmuir and Troon.
