Empire Crusader

Type of vessel - Steamship

How sunk – Air raid by Luftwaffe

Former names – SS Leander

Wreck height - 6m

The Empire Crusader was part of a convoy CW9 in which 7 ships and 10 Hurricane fighters were lost. 3 ships sunk off the Sussex coast by fast German E-boats. The Ajax, Borealis, Coquetdale and Empire Crusader were all sank on the 8th August 1940 by German aircraft in a tale in which many lives were lost. She was travelling from Seaham for Devonport with a cargo of 1020 tons of coal.

The wreck lies on her port side. The engines are covered, but one of the boilers stands up on end. The stern gun lies partly buried.

South Coast
Shipwrecks

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