The SS Anglo Saxon, built in 1929, was a 5,596-ton merchant cargo vessel engaged in transporting coal. She was equipped with a single deck gun, indicative of her operational period during the early years of World War II. Her construction details are not explicitly described on the Wikipedia page, but her tonnage and role as a cargo ship suggest a typical early 20th-century merchant design, optimized for coal and general cargo carriage. Her service history includes departing from Newport Docks on 6 August 1940, with a crew of 41 officers and men, bound for Bahia Blanca, Argentina. The vessel called at Milford Haven en route and joined the Liverpool Convoy OB 195 on 8 August. Her notable wartime encounter occurred on 21 August 1940, approximately 800 miles west of the Canary Islands, when she was attacked and sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser Widder. During the attack, the Widder engaged with gunfire, shelling the Anglo Saxon’s superstructure, igniting ammunition, and damaging vital components, including the wireless room and boiler. The captain, Paddy Flynn, was killed while attempting to dispose of confidential documents. The attack culminated with a torpedo strike, causing the vessel to sink stern-first. The Widder did not rescue survivors but strafed the lifeboats. Remarkably, seven crew members escaped in a small clinker-built jolly boat, which they used for over 70 days to drift across the Atlantic. Only two of these survivors, Wilbert Widdicombe and Robert Tapscott, ultimately reached land at Eleuthera in the Bahamas after an arduous journey of nearly 2,800 miles and 70 days afloat. Their survival story, marked by extreme deprivation and loss of companions, remains a poignant chapter of maritime wartime history. The sinking of the SS Anglo Saxon exemplifies the peril faced by merchant ships during wartime, the resilience of survivors, and the ongoing significance of her story, notably through the preserved jolly boat, which is now displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.