Hendon, Balzac

HER Number:
12752

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Hendon, Balzac

Place:
Hendon

Map Sheet:
NZ45NW

Class:
Maritime Craft

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Motor Launch

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Wreckage

Description:
A steel 963 ton Norwegian-registered motor vessel. 65.53m long, 0.54m beam and 3.88m draught. She was built in 1921 by Odense Staalskibsvaerft at Odense for A/S Granger Rolf (Fred Olsen). Her single steel propeller was powered by a six-cylinder oil/diesel engine. Her aft machinery was built by Akt Burmeistr & Wain of Copenhagen. She had one deck, a 42m poop-deck and a 9.4m forecastle. On 26 July 1940 she was en route from Sunderland to Cowes, Isle of Wight, with coal. She detonated a German-laid mine just north of Hendon Rock. The vessel was blown in half and six of the crew were killed. She now lies in two sections 70m apart at a depth of 16m. The bronze propeller was salvaged by divers in the 1960s. She was next discovered in 1978. Grid reference conversion made 14.11.09 with http://www.nearby.org.uk/coord-ll-cgi with WGS84 Lat/Lon. N 54 54 521 W 001 19 320 or N 54 54 510 W 001 19 621

Easting:
4380

Northing:
5724

Grid Reference:
NZ43805724

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Ron Young, 2001, The Comprehensive Guide to Shipwrecks of the North East Coast, Volume Two (1918-2000), pages 105-106; National Monuments Record MONUMENT NUMBER: 908705; Hydrographic Office wreck index 09-MAR-1993; Richard and Bridget Larn 1997 Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 3. The east coast of England : Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, County Durham, Northumberland, Section 6, County Durham; 1989 Lloyd's war losses: the Second World War 3 September-14 August 1945, Volumes I and II Page 105; Ian T. Spokes Wreck Database, Inga Project; Alan Burns, 2007, Sunderland's War Diary