This point is only possibly HMS Astronomer. The known ship was torpedoed by U-58 on 1–2 June 1940 while carrying naval stores to Scapa Flow; four died and 101 survived. The point lies away from the best recorded sinking position, so the identity must remain doubtful.
Read the whole record
This point is only possibly HMS Astronomer. The known ship was torpedoed by U-58 on 1–2 June 1940 while carrying naval stores to Scapa Flow; four died and 101 survived. The point lies away from the best recorded sinking position, so the identity must remain doubtful.
The vessel and voyage
Astronomer was an 8,401-ton cargo steamship built in 1917 and taken over by the Admiralty in 1939 as a boom-defence vessel. She was travelling from Rosyth to Scapa Flow with about 3,000 tons of naval stores. There were 105 people aboard.
How it was lost
U-58 torpedoed the stern at 11.48pm on 1 June 1940. The submarine fired two further torpedoes in the early hours of 2 June, and the ship sank after the third hit. The well-recorded loss position is around 58 degrees north, 2 degrees west.
Deaths and survival
Four people died and 101 were saved. The trawlers Stoke City and Leicester City carried out the rescue and landed the survivors at Rosyth. Those totals belong to the known Astronomer loss even though this particular seabed point is uncertain.
What remains
The Scottish record itself says the identification is possible. Its saved position differs materially from the better Astronomer point in record 321951 and from the documented final position. It may be a displaced historical report, wreckage from the ship or a different wreck; present evidence does not settle which.
Why it mattered
Keeping this page is useful because it prevents a doubtful point from becoming a second invented sinking. The known Astronomer story is important, but the map evidence is not equally strong at both positions. Local history is clearer when the ship's certain fate and the point's uncertain identity are shown together.
Sources for this account
Sources checked 15 August 2026.
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