Able Seaman William Meek

Able Seaman William Alexander Meek, Merchant Navy. He was lost at sea aboard the S.S. “Benalbanach” on 7th January 1943, aged 27 and is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.  He had been born in Eyemouth and was the son of Guliema and the late William Meek of Priory House, Eyemouth. The “Benalbanach” was a Ben Line passenger ship launched on the Clyde in June 1940. She was part of convoy KMS-6 carrying troops from the Clyde to the Allied landing area in Algiers, North Africa with a crew of 74 and 389 members of a Motor Transport Unit when she was hit by 2 Aeriel Torpedoes in No. 3 and No. 5 holds. The ship blew up and sank almost immediately with the loss of 57 crew and 353 service personnel. The Master Captain D. MacGregor died in the water from exhaustion just as he was about to be rescued.

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