SS Prunelle (1874)

SS Prunelle was a British Cargo ship that was torpedoed by the German submarine SM UB-112 in the North Sea 2 nmi south east of Blyth, Northumberland on 22 August 1918 while carrying a cargo of jute from London, United Kingdom to Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Construction
Prunelle was built at the Bergsund Mekaniske Verksted shipyard in Stockholm, Sweden in 1874. Where she was launched and completed that same year. The ship was 47.5 m long, had a beam of 7.9 m and had a depth of 4.3 m. She was assessed at and had 1 x 2 cyl. compound engine a screw propeller. The ship could reach a maximum speed of 8 knots.

Sinking
Prunelle left London and set sail for Dundee on 22 August 1917 with a crew of 16 and a cargo of jute on board. One of the crew members, namely the second officer, was Alfred Cheetham who had served as third officer during the Nimrod and Imperial Trans-Antarctic expeditions which were led by famed polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

At 1.40 pm on the same day as it had left London, Prunelle was targeted by the German submarine SM UB-112 when the ship was 2 nmi south east of Blyth, Northumberland. The U-boat fired a torpedo at the ship without warning and the torpedo hit the ship on the port side near the engine room. The following explosion and rapid sinking of the ship killed 12 of the 16 crewmen on board including Captain Storm and second officer Cheetham. The four survivors were rescued shortly after, having clung themselves to the ships wreckage, and were brought ashore at Blyth.

Wreck
The wreck of Prunelle lies at a depth of 24 m, but the current condition of the wreck is unknown.