SS Desabla

The SS Desabla was built by Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1913 for Bank Line, Glasgow (Andrew Weir Shipping & Trading Co. Ltd). She was the first oil tanker to join the Bank Line fleet and was chartered and operated for approximately one year by General Petroleum Company along the Pacific coast of the United States, Chile and Canada. In 1914 she was re-chartered to the British Government to transport oil from Texas to the United Kingdom. In 1915 she was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-17 off the coast of Scotland.

Known timeline

Main source: shipping records available on Ancestry.com

Sinking

On 12 June 1915 she was carrying a cargo of linseed oil from Port Arthur, Texas bound for Hull under the command of Mr. Fred S. Cowley. She was chased and intercepted by German submarine U-17. While the crew escaped in lifeboats, she was shelled, torpedoed and finally had to be scuttled with charges placed in the hull to sink her.