SS Marietta E

SS Marietta E was a British cargo ship completed by William Hamilton & Co in Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde in June 1940.^[1] She had a single 520 NHP triple-expansion steam engine built by David Rowan and Company of Glasgow,^[1] that drove a single screw. She had eight corrugated furnaces heating two 225 lb_f/in² single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 7,643 square feet (710 m²), plus one auxiliary boiler.^[1]

History
United Kingdom
Name	SS Marietta E
Owner	Leith Hill Shipping Co Ltd[1]
Operator	Counties Ship Management Co Ltd, London[1][2]
Builder	William Hamilton & Co, Port Glasgow[1][2]
Completed	June 1940[2]
Out of service	4 March 1943[2]
Identification	UK official number 167596[1]
Fate	Sunk by torpedo[2]
General characteristics
Type	Cargo ship
Tonnage	7,628 GRT tonnage under deck 7,217[1] 5,595 NRT[1]
Length	421.1 ft (128.4 m)[1] p/p
Beam	60.4 ft (18.4 m)[1]
Draught	28 ft 2+1⁄2 in (8.60 m)
Depth	35.8 ft (10.9 m)[1]
Installed power	520 NHP[1]
Propulsion	triple-expansion steam engine; single screw[1]
Crew	45[2]
Notes	sister ships: SS Kingston Hill, SS Lulworth Hill, SS Michael E, SS Primrose Hill

She was owned by Leith Hill Shipping Co Ltd and managed by Counties Ship Management Co Ltd of London^[1] (CSM), both of which were offshoots of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking company.^[3] She was named after Marietta Eustathiou, a member of Nicholas Eustathiou shipping concerns that had a major shareholding in her.^[3]

Marietta E was a sister ship of SS Michael E, SS Lulworth Hill and SS Primrose Hill, which also were managed by CSM and owned by companies associated with R&K.

Position of Marietta E's wreck off the coast of South Africa

Sinking

Early in 1943 she sailed from New York, bound for Alexandria in Egypt via Durban and Aden.^[2] She was laden with a cargo of government and commercial stores and deck cargo of eight LCPL landing craft.^[2] In Durban she joined convoy DN-21 to Alexandria via Aden.^[2] At 0346 hrs on 4 March in the Indian Ocean east of East London, German submarine U-160 fired two torpedoes at the convoy, one of which sank the Marietta E killing four crew and one DEMS gunner.^[2] South African Navy rescue launch R8 rescued the Master, 33 crew and six DEMS gunners and landed them at Durban.^[2]