SS Empire Blessing
Introduction '''''Empire Blessing''''' was a cargo ship which was built in 1943 by Bartram & Sons Ltd, Sunderland. She was built for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and operated under the management of W Runciman & Co Ltd. In March 1945, ''Empire Blessing'' struck a mine in the River Scheldt and sank.
Description ''Empire Blessing'' was a  cargo ship. She was built by Bartram & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, as yard number 298.The ship was launched on 1 October 1943 and completed in January 1944.She was  long, with a beam of   and a depth of . The ship was powered by a triple expansion steam engine which had cylinders of ,  and   diameter by   stroke. It was manufactured by Worthington Simpson Ltd, Newark-on-Trent.
Career ''Empire Blessing'' was a member of a number of convoys during the Second World War. ;ON 220Convoy ON 220 sailed from Loch Ewe on 15 January 1944, bound for Canada and the United States. ''Empire Blessing'' set off in the convoy, but returned to Loch Ewe. ;ONS 29Convoy ONS 29 sailed from Oban on 13 February 1944, bound for Canada and the United States. ;HX 291Convoy HX 291 departed Halifax, Nova Scotia on 10 May 1944 and arrived at Liverpool on 27 May. ''Empire Blessing'' was carrying a cargo of sugar and was bound for the Inverness Firth to await further orders. ''Empire Blessing'' was involved in the Normandy Landings in June 1944.On 19 March 1945, ''Empire Blessing'' struck a mine in the River Scheldt at Knocke, Belgium () and sank. On 13 February 1954,  (formerly ''Empire Seablue'') struck the wreck of ''Empire Blessing'' and was holed. Although attempts were made to beach ''Seablue'', she sank  west south west of Vlissingen, Netherlands.
Official Numbers and Code Letters Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. ''Empire Blessing'' had the UK Official Number 180054 and used the Code Letters GCTW.
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