SS Hoihow was a British passenger ship built in 1933 in Hong Kong by the Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Company of Hong Kong Ltd. in 1933 for The China Navigation Company of London[1] to operate on the Indochina trade.[citation needed][2]
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | SS Hoihow |
| Owner | China Navigation Company Ltd., London |
| Builder | Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Company of Hong Kong Ltd., Hong Kong |
| Completed | 1933 |
| Fate | Sunk 2 July 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger ship |
| Tonnage | 2,798 gross register tons |
| Propulsion | Steam engine |
During World War II, Hoihow was used to carry food to the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
At 02:00 on 1 July 1943, the German submarine U-181 sighted three Allied merchant ships – Hoihow, under Master William Mackensie Christie, among them – in port at Port Louis, Mauritius. U-181′s commanding officer, Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Lüth, decided to loiter offshore and wait for them to leave port. On the morning of 2 July 1943, two of them put to sea, and U-181 set out in pursuit of the second to leave, which was Hoihow. After a 10-hour chase, at 21:07 on 2 July U-181 hit Hoihow with two torpedoes in the Indian Ocean 105 nautical miles (194 km) north-northwest of Mauritius. Hoihow sank by the bow at 19°30′S 55°30′E / 19.500°S 55.500°E with the loss of 145 of the 149 people aboard, including Christie, 90 crew members, seven naval gunners, and 47 passengers. The four survivors – three crew members and a passenger – were rescued by the American merchant ship SS Mormacswan, which put them ashore at Montevideo, Uruguay, on 25 July 1943.[1]