She sailed from Montreal carrying general cargo and grain to the UK, and on 14 September she was steaming unescorted off the coast of Ireland when at 1323 hours she was sighted by the German submarine U-30.

[3] The distress call reached the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, then on an anti-submarine patrol 200 miles (320 km) north-east of Fanad Head's position.

[3] When the first Skua reached Fanad Head, the pilots were surprised to find the U-boat surfaced alongside her and dropped the bombs immediately at very low level.

The bombs detonated on contact with the water, causing shrapnel to hit the aircraft, damaging it enough to force the pilot to ditch his burning Skua in the sea.

The Royal Naval pilots initially remained aboard, but on being told that U-30 intended to torpedo Fanad Head, they jumped overboard and were captured.

At 1820 hours U-30 launched a G7a torpedo from one of her stern tubes at Fanad Head from a range of 500 metres (550 yd), causing her to sink.

[3] The Repair Shop is a UK television programme in which people bring in artefacts with an interesting history for restoration by a team of craftsmen.

In Series 6 Episode 1 a Jo Blackwell from Chichester brought in the compass and binnacle from one of the lifeboats used to escape from SS Fanad Head at its sinking.

She related how her grandparents, father and his two brothers were amongst the passengers and at the time of rescue by HMS Tartar her grandfather asked to remove and keep the compass and binnacle.