SS Empire Blessing

Empire Blessing was a cargo ship which was built in 1943 by Bartram & Sons Ltd, Sunderland. She was built for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and operated under the management of W Runciman & Co Ltd. In March 1945, Empire Blessing struck a mine in the River Scheldt and sank.

Description
Empire Blessing was a 7,064 GRT cargo ship. She was built by Bartram & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, as yard number 298. The ship was launched on 1 October 1943 and completed in January 1944. She was 431 ft long, with a beam of 56 ft and a depth of 35 ft. The ship was powered by a triple expansion steam engine which had cylinders of 24+1/2 in, 39 in and  70 in diameter by  48 in stroke. It was manufactured by Worthington Simpson Ltd, Newark on Trent.

Career
Empire Blessing was a member of a number of convoys during the Second World War.

Convoy ON 220 sailed from Loch Ewe on 15 January 1944, bound for Canada and the United States. Empire Blessing set off in the convoy, but returned to Loch Ewe.
 * ON 220

Convoy ONS 29 sailed from Oban on 13 February 1944, bound for Canada and the United States.
 * ONS 29

Convoy HX 291 departed Halifax, Nova Scotia on 10 May 1944 and arrived at Liverpool on 27 May. Empire Blessing was carrying a cargo of sugar and was bound for the Inverness Firth to await further orders.
 * HX 291

Empire Blessing was involved in the Normandy Landings in June 1944. On 19 March 1945, Empire Blessing struck a mine in the River Scheldt at Knocke, Belgium (51.4°N, 3.28333°W) and sank. On 13 February 1954, MV Seablue (formerly Empire Seablue) struck the wreck of Empire Blessing and was holed. Although attempts were made to beach Seablue, she sank 5 nmi west south west of Vlissingen, Netherlands.

Official Numbers and Code Letters
Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. Empire Blessing had the UK Official Number 180054 and used the Code Letters GCTW.