SS Bury Hill was a cargo ship built in England during the First World War as Cardigan, later becoming Pensylvanie of Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT).

[6] The boilers fed a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that was built by Blair & Co, Stockton-on-Tees and rated at 425 NHP[6] (2,600 IHP).

[4] She was reconditioned at Newport, Monmouthshire for a gross cost of £13,007, renamed Bury Hill and returned to the British flag.

At 23.43 hrs she stranded on the Almadi Reef, which was a known navigational hazard near Dakar port, marked by a fixed white light with a range of 10 miles.

[5] On 4–7 May 1937 the UK's Board of Trade held an investigation hearing into the accident and on 17 June the Court published its report.

However, the Court made allowance for what it called Smith's "sheer ill fortune" that the necessary chart was out of stock when he sought to buy a copy in Durban.

The court therefore recommended: that it should be a standing order on all British sea-going vessels that all entries in log books should be made either in ink or, if pencils are used, in indelible pencil; and that no erasure should be permitted, any alteration necessary being made by drawing a line through the original entry, the alteration being initialled by the officer making it.