Darkest Before Dawn

In the autumn of 1944 the Second World War was coming to an end. In the Atlantic the U-boats had been beaten back through a massive programme of Allied shipbuilding combined with tactical, technological and intelligence improvements. The threat to Allied shipping had diminished. But it had not disappeared, and a lone U-boat on its first active patrol slipped into the North Channel; in just a few days five ships lay broken on the seabed including the Empire Heritage, one of the largest Allied ships lost in the entire war. Also lost was the Jacksonville, an American tanker sailing out of New York. Many of those lost burned to death in the sea. The massive convoy itself, HX-305, of which these vessels formed a part, is fascinating.