SS Empire Dryden Empire Dryden was a cargo ship that was built in 1941 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd , Sunderland , Co Durham , United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport ( MoWT ) . Completed in February 1942 , she had a short career , being torpedo ed and sunk on 20 April 1942 by . Description . The ship was built in 1942 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd , Sunderland . She was yard number 682 . The ship was long , with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was assessed at 7 , 164 GRT , 5 , 051 NRT . As built , the ship was propelled by a 511 nhp triple expansion steam engine , which had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke . The engine was built by Fairfield & Co Ltd , Glasgow . It could propel the ship at . History . " Empire Dryden " was launched on 22 October 1941 and completed in February 1942 . The United Kingdom Official Number 169010 and Code Letters BCTN were allocated . Her port of registry was Sunderland and she was placed under the management of Sir R Ropner & Co Ltd . She was armed with a four - inch gun , a 20 mm gun and four machine guns . Her crew totalled 51 officers and men , including six DEMS gunners . " Empire Dryden " made her maiden voyage on 27 February 1942 , departing fron Sunderland to join Convoy FN 642 , which had departed from Southend , Essex the previous day and arrived at Methil , Fife on 28 February . She then joined Convoy EN 53 , which departed on 1 March and arrived at Oban , Argyllshire on 4 March . " Empire Dryden " was in ballast . She left the convoy at Loch Ewe on 3 March . She then joined Convoy ON 74 , which departed from Liverpool , Lancashire on 9 March and arrived at Halifax , Nova Scotia , Canada on 25 March . She the joined Convoy XB 5 , which departed on 27 March and arrived at Boston , Massachusetts , United States on 29 March . She left the convoy at the Cape Cod Canal that day and sailed to New York , arriving on 1 April . " Empire Dryden " departed from New York on 17 April , laden with of general cargo and military stores . She was bound for Alexandria , Egypt via Table Bay , South Africa . On 19 April , she reported the position of some from the survivors of the Argentine tanker to , which was nearby . At 03 : 06 ( German time ) on 20 April , " Empire Dryden " was hit by one of the three torpedo es which had been fired by . She was north west of Bermuda ( ) . The torpedo hit the starboard side of the No . 2 hold , blowing off the bow and causing the ship to start sinking . All on board took to the lifeboats , with some difficulty as the engine was still running . The next day , the smallest of the three lifeboats had to be abandoned as it was taking on water . The survivors in that lifeboat were divided between the other two lifeboats . One lifeboat with 25 of the crew and the three DEMS gunners on board was last seen on 22 April , and is presumed to have foundered in a gale sometime during the next two days . The other lifeboat , with 22 crew and three DEMS gunners on board sailed for until the survivors were spotted by the American passenger ship at and rescued . They were landed in Bermuda on 8 May . Those lost from " Empire Dryden " are commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial , London .