The loss of the gypsum queen

[Ian Adrian Millar]

THE LOSS OF THE GYPSUM QUEEN

The North Atlantic Ocean,
Can be treacherous and mean,
And ever lurking in the deep,
The hunting submarine,

She sailed from Nova Scotia,
For Glasgow she was bound,
She had sailed on past Cape Farwell,
When the U-boat laid her down,

The tin fish struck the GYPSUM QUEEN,
Ten of her crew were lost,
The VESTLAND saved the survivors few,'
Not counted in the cost.

It's rare to hear the merchant lads,
Boast of the deeds they've done,
But wartime found the convoys too,
On the North Atlantic Run.

Ian A. Millar

[DeepSea]

Cargo ship Gypsum Queen, 3,915grt, (Gypsum Packet Co. Ltd) loaded a cargo of Sulphur at New Orleans for Glasgow and sailed to Sydney, Cape Breton to join up with the 65 ship Convoy SC-42 destined for Liverpool, which sailed on the 30th August 1941. On the 10th September 1941 South of Cape Farewell after enduring over a week in heavy seas and gales as the weather began to moderate a member of the Gypsum Queen’s gun crew spotted a U-boat on the surface off the ships starboard beam only 300 yards away. The U-boat was U-82 who had just recently torpedoed a tanker, which could be seen burning fiercely in the distance less than a mile from the Gypsum Queen’s position. As the U-boat swung away from the Merchant ship a torpedo was fired from the stern tube and detonated squarely in the ships engine room. The ship sank so rapidly those lucky enough to be near the only surviving lifeboat merely stepped into this boat as the keel touched the sea and drifted away. Those still onboard the ship could only hurl themselves over the side and swim away in desperation as the ship began to slip beneath the waves in position 12’ 27N 64’ 04W. The survivors now found themselves surrounded by burning patches of oil from the burning tanker and the Norwegian Merchant ship Vestland had to hastily alter course to avoid a collision with the Gypsum Queen and then steamed around the immediate area plucking the twenty-six survivors from the sea. Nine crewmembers and one gunner were killed.