Samuel Dexter

The steel steamship Samuel Dexter was laid down at the yard of the Delta Shipbuilding Company in New Orleans, USA (Yard No 42/USMC No.1031) on 16th February 1943. Launched just over a month later on the 29th March 1943 and completed two weeks later, she was a Type EC2-S-C1 Liberty ship, one of many built by the Americans during WW2 as part of their Emergency Shipbuilding Programme. She measured 422.8′ x 57.0′ x 34.8′ and her tonnage was 7191 gross tons, 4360 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by the Filer & Stowell Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA delivering 2500 registered horse power. The ship was named after Samuel Dexter, the American politician and jurist, and ordered by the US Department of Transportation under the Maritime Commission Contract process. The Delta yard’s total output during WW2  was 132 standard Liberty ships, 32 Liberty tankers and 24 Liberty colliers.

On completion the Samuel Dexter was allocated to the Waterman Steam Shipping Agency of New Orleans. By mid January 1944 she was off the west coast of Ireland as part of convoy ON.220 heading for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and east coast ports of the USA.  The convoy had departed Liverpool on 15th January, and by 21st they had been battling against a south-westerly storm for number of days. The ships of the convoy were finding it difficult to stay in formation due to poor visibility and heavy seas. The Samuel Dexter was travelling in ballast and had been loosing ground on the rest of the convoy. Later that day serious structural failures were found to some welds to her aft deck.  In short she was beginning to open up.  Her captain took preventative measures by sailing with the prevailing seas to relieve the constant buffeting of heading into the storm. This unfortunately took them in the opposite direction to the rest of the convoy and she was heading north east towards the Scottish coast. The Senior Officer on the lead convoy escort HMS Hotspur,  directed an armed trawler, HMS Sapper, and a fleet tug, HMS Assiduous, to go to the assistance of the Samuel Dexter, passing on an approximate position. The men aboard Sapper sighted the Samuel Dexter around 09.30 on 22nd January and, as Assiduous reached the scene, both vessels proceeded to shadow her.  The master of the Samuel Dexter later passed a message that the two major cracks across the stern deck had now travelled down to her water line on both sides of the ship. Over night they lost contact with the Samuel Dexter as the weather again deteriorated but regained contact around 18.00 on 23rd. At daylight on the 24th the master of the Samuel Dexter signalled that the condition of his vessel had worsened and that he and crew were forced to abandon ship. The crew commenced launching lifeboats at 16.30 and were picked up by Sapper, safely completing by the transfer of the 70 crewmen and DEMS gunners by 18.00. Due to the sea conditions, they could not recover the strong box from the first lifeboat which contained the ship’s confidential papers and the the boat was later sunk by small arms fire from Sapper. Signals were made by C in C – Western Approaches, to all naval vessels in the area regarding the now derelict vessel drifting at the mercy of the wind off the west coast of Scotland.

The Samuel Dexter later came ashore at Bagh nan Clach, Eoligarry on the north west coast of the Isle of Barra,  and broke her back on the rocky coastline. 

In February 1944 the Dalmuir based ship breaking company of  W. H. Arnott Young was contracted to dismantle and remove the wreck and work commenced that summer through to 1945. The pictures below show the works in progress, and are sub-titled to provide more information. 

The wreck site in the bay on the west coast was linked to a onshore base by a small trackway, where scrap could be sorted for onward transit to their base on the Clyde. From the photographs there appears to be a beach holding area on the east side of the island where smaller puffer type craft could be beached and loaded. It appears that the wreck was substantially removed and this may have included some further works in 1952. Pictures of the salvage vessels Miles K. Burton and Esk are included as they assisted with the logistics of transporting the scrap south to the Clyde, they also assisted with the scrapping of a number of vessels around the Isle of Barra both during and post WW2. A note for the eagled eyed, the pictures of the Miles K. Burton and Esk were taken on the Clyde while helping to refloat the SS Rockpool, aground on Little Cumbrae.

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.