Richard Huzzey

 20^th June 1940, the S.S. Empire Conveyor sunk.

S.S. Empire Conveyor 
credit - uboat

S.S. Empire Conveyor on a route from Montreal to Manchester with 7,666 tons of wheat.

1917, S.S. Empire Conveyor was built as British S.S. Farnworth for R. S. Dalgliesh Ltd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 1924 renamed S.S. Illinois for Harlem SS Co, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 1926 sold to France for Cie Générale Transatlantique, Le Havre. 1934 sold to Greece and renamed Mount Pentelikon for Kulukundis Shipping Co SA, Piræus. 1939 sold to Germany and renamed Gloria for Orion Schiffahrts GmbH, Rostock.

On 21 October 1939 the Gloria was captured by H.M.S. Sheffield on Northern Patrol in the Denmark Strait. The ship had left Buenos Aires on 6 October and was taken by a prize crew to Kirkwall and later to Leith. Three German crew members tried to escape in a lifeboat but were later captured and landed at Methil on 28 October. The vessel was renamed S.S. Empire Conveyor by the Ministry of Shipping (MOS). 

At 13.15 hours on 20^th of June 1940, U-61 observed how the unescorted and zigzagging S.S. Empire Conveyor was hit on the port side forward by a torpedo about 50 miles south of Barra Head, Hebrides. The attacker must have been U-122, which was lost shortly afterwards but reported sinking a large freighter in a radio message at 00.30 hours on 21 June.

The S.S. Empire Conveyor did not sink immediately, but because the aerials had been damaged the radio operator was unable to call for help. Luckily a flying boat on patrol in the area arrived, dropped bombs to keep the U-boat down and alerted the Admiralty. The tug HMS Amsterdam was sent out, escorted by HMS Atherstone and HMS Campbell, but at 16.00 hours she suddenly sank before the ships arrived. The crew had abandoned ship in three lifeboats and several rafts, but one boat swamped during launch. The master, the second engineer and the cook were lost. 38 crew members were picked up by HMS Campbell after six hours and landed at Liverpool the next day.

The names of the crew that died from the sinking are

Surname	Forenames	Rank	Age	Additional Information
Cook	William	Second Engineer Officer	53	Son of Alexander and Elizabeth Cook
Huzzey	Richard	Cook	34	Husband of F. M. Huzzey of Port Tennant Swansea
Macintyre	Frank B.	Master	49	Son of William and Mary Macintyre; husband of Hilda M. Macintyre of Glasgow

 

Richard Huzzey, was born in 1905, was the son of Richard Henry Huzzey and Eliza Jane Jones.

The 1911 Census records the Huzzey living at 99 Norfolk Street.

1911 Census

Richard Henry, 54, a Grocer’s Warehouseman; Eliza Jane, 35.  Their children were

Muriel May, 7; Richard Henry, 5 and 4 year old Florence Anne.

Also present was Louisa, 67, sister of Richard.

Richard married in 1935 to Florence M. Davies. Florence was living at 188 Danygraig Road, at the time of the 1939 Register.

However, the Seaman Death Record, records that Richard’s address was 217 Danygraig Road.

Seaman Death Record

Richard Huzzey
S.S. Empire Conveyor 
Tower Hill Memorial
credit - Benjidog Histroical Research Resources.
The Merchant Navy Memorial

Richard is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial