SS Shuntien (1934)

SS Shuntien

Company type	Steamship
Industry	Shipping, Passenger and Cargo Transport
Founded	1934
Headquarters	Hong Kong , British Hong Kong
Owner	The China Navigation Company Ltd
Parent	John Swire and Sons Ltd

SS Shuntien was a coastal passenger and cargo vessel with a gross register tonnage of 3,059, owned by the British firm The China Navigation Company Ltd (CNC). Constructed in Hong Kong in 1934, she primarily served the route between Shanghai and Tianjin. In 1941, enemy forces sank the ship in the Mediterranean Sea, causing considerable casualties. A Royal Navy corvette managed to save most of the survivors but was itself sunk a few hours later, with no one surviving.

Peacetime service

Built by Taikoo Dockyard in Hong Kong for CNC in 1934, Shuntien replaced an earlier, smaller vessel constructed by Scotts at Greenock in 1904, which was dismantled in 1935. Her sister ship was SS Shengking, also built by Scotts in 1931. Both CNC and Taikoo Dockyard were subsidiaries of John Swire and Sons Ltd, a British-owned enterprise headquartered in Hong Kong.

Equipped with steam turbines manufactured by Taikoo Dockyard, Shuntien was designed for coastal operations along China’s shores. She featured a shallow draught to navigate rivers such as the Hai River near Tianjin, and her bow was reinforced like an icebreaker to handle northern waters. In 1937, while undergoing repairs at Taikoo Dockyard, she ran aground during the Great Hong Kong Typhoon but was subsequently refloated and returned to active duty.

War service and sinking

During the Second World War, the British government requisitioned Shuntien and outfitted her as a Defensively-Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS). Photographic evidence from this time indicates she was converted into a prison ship while docked in Shanghai. Operating in the Mediterranean, her crew comprised British officers alongside Chinese sailors and recruits from Arab and Maltese backgrounds.

In December 1941, as part of Convoy TA 5 departing from Tobruk en route to Alexandria, Shuntien carried between 800 and 1,000 Italian and German prisoners of war. These prisoners were guarded by over 40 soldiers from the Durham Light Infantry. At approximately 19:02 on 23 December, the German submarine U-559 launched a torpedo that struck Shuntien, obliterating her stern section and killing her captain, four officers, and chief steward. The vessel sank rapidly within five minutes without any lifeboats being deployed.

The escort corvette HMS Salvia (K97) rescued around 100 survivors, including Master William Shinn, officers, crew members, prisoners, gunners, and guards. Additionally, the Hunt-class destroyer HMS Heythrop (L85) saved between 11 and 19 survivors.

Shortly after midnight on 24 December at about 01:35, U-568 torpedoed HMS Salvia, approximately 100 nautical miles west of Alexandria. The attack split the corvette into two sections and ignited an oil fire that resulted in total loss of life aboard. Survivors rescued by Heythrop were brought ashore at Alexandria; among them was only one officer from Shuntien, Second Engineer John Hawkrigg.

See also

• — torpedoed in November 1942 while transporting Italian prisoners of war and interned civilians