convoy. SL 178 Convoy SL 178 departed Freetown, Sierra Leone on 25 November 1944 and arrived at Liverpool on 15 December. Tobruk was on a voyage from Pepel to Barry, Glamorgan. She was carrying a cargo of iron ore and two passengers. On 9 December, a deceased seaman from Tobruk was buried at sea. Postwar, Tobruk continued in Polish Government service. On 21 June 1946, the ship entered Gdynia in Poland for the first time. After disbanding of Gdynia Ameryka Line, from 1951 the Tobruk became part of Polish Ocean Lines fleet. In 1950 during a storm in the Bay of Biscay in order to prevent the ship from crashing into the local reefs the crew improvised a sail, saving the ship; this is the only known example of a modern bulk carrier using a sail. In June 1967 Tobruk was given to other Polish state-owned operator, Polska Żegluga Morska (Polsteam), but was stricken already in November 1967. She was scrapped at Gdynia by June 1968. In popular culture The wartime history of the ship has been portrayed in a novel S.S. Tobruk – w konwojach śmierci (SS Tobruk – in the convoys of death) by Jana Kazimierza Sawickiego. References 1941 ships Ships built on the River Tees Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of Poland Steamships of Poland Merchant ships of Poland Maritime incidents in April 1942 Ships of the Gdynia-America Line