75446: MV Ben Hann

Merchant Vessel Ben Hann was a coastal tanker owned by the National Benzole Company Ltd. She sailed from Fort William on 10th November 1941; it is thought that she was bound for Bowling shipyard in the Firth of Clyde for repairs, but was never seen again. The vessel had been under the command of Master James Henry Blathwayt Eynon (born in Cardiff, 3rd October 1896), with a total of ten crew on board.

The boat was officially recorded as missing on 17th December of that year. A raft and two lifebelts washed ashore five miles East of Port Ellen, Isle of Islay; the bodies of five of her crew were later washed ashore and were buried at Islay, Berneray, Cardiff and Drumtemple. A Joint Arbitration Committee considered MV Ben Hann lost on 11th November 1941.

In 2012 a makers plate correlating with the Ben Hann‘s shipbuilder, the Rowhedge Ironworks in Colchester, and its yard number of 585, was recovered from a wreck situated on a mud flat at 55^o30.298’N 005^o51.412’W.