Roker, Sunniva (Sunvia)

A steel 1913 ton British steamship. 81.4m long, 11.6m beam and 5.4m draught. She was built by J. Crown & Co. Ltd at Sunderland in 1917 and owned by E.R. Newbiggin of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her single screw was powered by a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine. The ship had a bronze or brass pedestal-mounted steering helm and brass telegraph. On 28 June 1918 she was en route from London to the Tyne carrying ballast, when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-17 four miles north-east of Roker lighthouse. She lies at a general depth of 40m and stands upright. Grid reference conversion made 14.11.09 with http://www.nearby.org.uk/coord-ll-cgi with WGS84 Lat/Lon. N 54 56 420 W 001 15 470 or N 54 56 420 W 001 14 094. Collings gives the co-ordinates as N 54 57 00 W 001 17 21.