# Saint Essylt (1)



## Richard Green (Apr 9, 2006)

Still researching the career of the Saint Essylt (1) which went down in the Med in July '43. I have found this in the Official History of NZ in WWII - 

"Actually it was a full-dress rehearsal for the assault at Ras el Ali which had not then been abandoned. The exercise was watched by General Auchinleck.
At the jetties at Fanara and Fayid (Great Bitter lake - rg.) four Glen ships—Saint Essylt, Glengyle, Princess Marguerite and Derwentdale—were loaded with guns, vehicles and men, and on 4 February they sailed in convoy to Port Tewfik. Next morning the ships moved into the Gulf of Suez to a point opposite Ras el Sudr (Red Sea coast - rg.) on the east coast." 

I suppose there is an error - the Essylt was S. A. S. L. and not Glen Line. Can anyone give me a year? Was the Suez Canal still open all the way then? If it was Feb '43, could the Essylt have got back in time to load Canadian troops in the Clyde and get down to the Med by July?


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## Baltic Wal (Jun 27, 2005)

St Essylt sailed from the clyde in convoy on 24th June. Suez canal was usually open throughout the war, as some convoys to Malta came from the East. The question is was the Mediterranean fully open? during the war a lot of the hold ups were waiting for convoys, convoys being slow, convoys going on longer then normal routes, congestion at ports. I therefore find it difficult to believe that the St Essylt could have made it from the Red Sea to to have discharged her original cargo, loaded new (Bringing an empty ship back to the UK was a waste) discharged then loaded for the African landings far fetched. She could have kept the original cargo on, but then this would have been owned by the NZ's rather than the Canadians, but still a tight schedule.


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## Richard Green (Apr 9, 2006)

Thanks for your lights Wal. Is there a Glen vessel with a name similar to Essylt? Surely not two vessels with exactly the same name? In view of your comments perhaps the year was '42....


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

Next months (June) Ships monthly has an article on St Essylt (2).


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## Richard Green (Apr 9, 2006)

R58484956 thanks, 
Wal, I have just found some very interesting first hand accounts of the event I'm interested in (sinking of St. Essylt (1) and City of Venice) here -
http://forums.army.ca/forums/index....ml?PHPSESSID=8f191e34294698d4f891f36037228c06.

The other vessels named in the report above were HMS Glengyle (5), Pricess Marg - torpedoed Aug 17 '42, HMS Derwentdale - Tanker coverted to landing ship during build...


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