Ordered on 9th January 1919 for Det Forenede Dampskibs Selskab (DFDS) Copenhagen the keel of the Egholm was laid on 16th February 1923 (Yard No 167) and she was launched from the yard of Fredrikshavens Vaerft & Flydedok A/S on 14th December that year. She measured 254.6′ x 37.2′ x 16.0′ and her tonnage was 1317 gross tons, 754 net tons. Her DR geared steam turbine by A/S Atlas, Copenhagen delivered 915 shaft horse power. Her trials were completed on the 19th February 1924 and she was handed over to her new owners two days later.
Steamship Egholm dockside
Lloyds register 1939
On 23rd February her maiden voyage was from Fredrikshaven to Bordeaux. Initially her main route took her from Copenhagen to a number off Mediterranean ports before she was transferred to shorter routes from Copenhagen to the east coast of the UK and the North Sea ports of Europe. As the second World War grew in intensity she continued to cross the North Sea but, when the Germans invaded Denmark on 9th April 1940, she was off the Irish coast and did not return to her home port. Instead she was docked in Lisbon where she was laid up. On 16th November 1943 she was requisitioned by the Ministry of War Transport in London and handed over the Ellerman Wilson Line who were to manage her wartime voyages.
Egholm under way
On December 13th 1943 she departed from Gibraltar in convoy MKS 33G arriving on Loch Ewe on 28th December. A number of shorter trips around UK waters were to follow through 1944 before she joined the small coastal convoy FS1739 off Methil consisting of eight ships bound for Southend of 25th February. The Egholm was carrying a full general cargo and was under the command of Captain K S Kristensen with a crew of twenty five men. Only hours after leaving the Firth of Forth the convoy was attacked by U-2322 under the command of Oberleutnant Fridtjof Heckel. U-2322 was on it’s first wartime patrol and had departed from Horten on 6th February crossing the North Sea to patrol off the British east coast. Heckel fired a single torpedo hitting the Egholm which sank with seven minutes. The explosion killed three Royal Navy gunners and two of the remaining crew were to die from their injuries. The surviving crewmen including Captain Kristensen were picked up and landed in the Tyne later.
U-2332 at Krupp’s shipyard shortly after her launch
The position of the attack was reported north of Holy Isle but we believe the wreck in position 55° 49.033’N, 001° 50.782’W oriented 068/248 degrees is the Egholm. The seabed depth is 68 metres with a least clearance of 56 metres although some netting is reported to rise shallower than this. She sits upright and in mainly in tact on a flat seabed.. The wreck has been positively identified by Marine Quest who recovered the makers plate.
