The steel steamship Fornebo was launched from the Middlesbrough yard of Sir Raylton Dixon and Co Ltd (Yard no 523) on 7th August 1906. She measured 360.1′ x 52.0′ x 25.2′ and her tonnage was 4259 gross tons, 2417 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by North East Marine Engineering Co Ltd delivering 339 nominal horse power. She was built for A/S Atlantic (Fernley and Egar) of Christiana. In 1913, she was sold to Quattor Ltd (Houlder Middleton and Co Ltd) of London before she was sold to her final owners, the Fornebo Steamship Co (Harold A de Mattos) Ltd of Cardiff in 1915.
SS Fornebo
Lloyd’s register 1915
On 22nd November 1916 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty for war service as an oiler and placed under the management of the Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd. She was converted to a tanker with the installation of cylindrical tanks in the holds. On 17th June 1917, en route from Port Arthur in Texas with a cargo of fuel oil under the command of Captain W Barnes, she was attacked by the German U-boat U-78 under the command of Kapitanleutnant Otto Droscher. Droscher stopped the Fornebo with gun shots then, after allowing the crew to disembark safely in the ships boats, continued firing until the Fornebo was fatally damaged and sank. The attack took place in a position reported to be four miles north of Cape Wrath.
German U-boat record with symbol 136 depicting Fornebo attack position
The wreck believed to be Fornebo lies in position 58° 46.389’N 04° 55.318’W. She lies in 80 metres with a least depth clearance of 71 metres oriented 086/266 degrees. The surveys describe the wreck as lying on her side on her port side. We have no reports of divers on this wreck and therefore no confirmation that this is indeed Fornebo. However the position of the wreck close to the reported position of U-78’s attack and the length of the wreck, reported in the survey to be 100 metres long, would strongly suggest that this wreck is Fornebo.
