Hms Anchusa (probably)

HMS Anchusa was a roughly 1,290-ton convoy sloop, launched on 21 April 1917 and built for escort and anti-submarine work. It left Lough Swilly on 14 July 1918, escorted a convoy and was later sent away to search for a reported submarine. The present record says probably because this is a proposed position for that ship, not a second Anchusa.

At around 2.07 in the morning on 16 July, U-54 fired two torpedoes into Anchusa. The ship broke apart and went down in roughly two minutes. Its boilers or depth charges may also have exploded, but surviving evidence makes the German torpedoes the direct cause.

Twelve men were rescued. Detailed loss histories give 78 killed out of 90 aboard, although published totals vary by one and not every online memorial list has the same number of names. Seventy-eight is the strongest working figure, not a claim that every source agrees.

A public, detailed seabed survey proving Anchusa at this point was not found. The other saved position is around 25 kilometres away and marked possibly; this one is marked probably. The two records should keep the same vessel history but remain separate candidate locations until physical evidence decides between them.

Anchusa's loss demonstrates both the value and danger of convoy escort work near the end of the First World War. The speed of the sinking left little chance to escape. Its uncertain position is also historically meaningful because wartime reports from deep offshore water often produced wide or conflicting locations rather than an exact modern map point.