| Also known as | Iopas |
|---|---|
| IMO number | 1165349 |
| Call sign | GZFP |
| Construction number | 722 |
| Tonnage | 12.151 ton |
| Beam | 18m |
| Length overall | 140m |
| Year of construction | 1936 |
| Year of renaming/broken up | 1960 |
| Service for Shell | 1936 to 1960 |
| Cargo | |
| Class | |
| Flag state | |
| Home port | |
| Manager | |
| Shipyard | |
| Status |
TORNUS
Sailors
| Name | Job | Period | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Austin Br... | steward | 1941 to 1944 | |
| Daniel Joseph Fox | 5th engineer | 1942 to 1943 | |
| Peter Ralph Davison | 5th engineer | 1942 to 1943 | |
| Robert Bruce | 3rd officer | 1943 | my father was 3rd officer. Torpedoed 1700 31/12/1943 |
| Frank G Bragge | 2nd engineer | 1949 | |
| E. Kevin Donnelly | 3rd mate | 1951 | |
| William Stanley... | deck apprentice | 1951 to 1952 |
Anecdotes
| Date | Visitor | Anecdote |
|---|---|---|
| 06/21/2016 - 05:01 | Peter Ralph Davison |
From Peter's memoirs: The award winners of the torpedoing of the M.S.Tornus (8054 tons) on 31/12/193, followed by being chased under gunfire although she was holed badly - these men were given awards for saving the ship and the men Captain Keith Robert Martin Kinnear DSO RNR who was awarded the OBE for saving her to port (ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Robert_Martin_Kinnier ) Mr Tom Collins Chief Engineer who was awrded the MBE for working with Mr Sharpe in action Mr Charles Butterworth, Second Engineer, was Mentioned in Despatches. Mr Peter Ralph Davison, Fifth Engineer, was Mentioned in Despatches as assistant to Mr Butterworth in putting thje ship right, and keeping the engines at full speed on watch for an indefinite period. He also wrote about the incident: P.R.Davison (Submitted by Terry Bowden) |
| 05/28/2016 - 00:38 | Peter Ralph Davison |
I have a photo of my father, Peter Ralph Davison wearing a white uniform and cap of the Merchant Marine. On the front he has written "5th Engineer, "Tornus" at Bombay, Mar 1944." On the back he recounts -"The months after being torpodoed. Taken around March, 1944 in Bombay, India, where the "Tornus" came in to have temporary repairs done to the bow plates, so as the bow will not drop off. The torpedo from the Jap submarine made a bid hole in her bottom, 80 feet long, and from bilge keel to bilge keel." |
| 01/28/2013 - 00:00 | Rossfleet |
I sailed on ship in 1969 as a engineer many fond memories. |
| 08/07/2012 - 11:25 | Simon Holroyd |
My father Captain Brian Holroyd sailed on the Tornus when joining Shell. He joined his first ship, the MV Tornus, as a deck apprentice in 1943, spending his first day chipping rust off the ship with a hammer and chisel. But action found him soon enough. After crossing the Atlantic in a convoy, the Tornus headed east to India without escort, tasked with running aviation fuel from Karachi in Pakistan to British forces in Chittagong, Burma. A Japanese torpedo hit the tanker without warning on 31 December 1943. When the torpedo failed to sink the ship, the submarine surfaced to shell it. However, the vessel was fitted with gun emplacements. The Tornus's crew managed to fire off several shells, driving the submarine away. Brian was sent back on watch and spent the rest of the dark, terrifying night watching the trails of porpoises drawn, out of curiosity, towards the hole in the side of the ship, and worrying whether one would be the trail of a torpedo sent to finish them off. The ship limped back to port, and and my father remembered enjoying his enforced relaxation whilst awaiting the repairs to be completed. |
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