SS Headlands: Torpedoed South of Scilly
On 12 March 1915 the steamer Headlands, bound for Bristol with ore and fruit, was torpedoed by U 29 south of Scilly. Her crew all survived.
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The Headlands was an ageing British cargo steamer making a routine run from the Mediterranean to Bristol. On the morning of 12 March 1915 she became one of three ships sunk around the Isles of Scilly in a single day by the German submarine U 29. Her crew escaped, but she went to the bottom some eight miles south of the islands.
Key Takeaways
- The Headlands was a British steamer of 2,988 tons, built at West Hartlepool in 1892.
- She was bound from Marseille to Bristol with ore and fruit.
- She was torpedoed by U 29 at about 10.25am on 12 March 1915, about 8 miles south of Scilly.
- No lives were lost.
An old tramp steamer
uboat.net records that she was built by Furness, Withy and Co at West Hartlepool in 1892 and had changed hands several times before Liverpool owners bought her in 1912. By 1915 she was a typical tramp steamer, carrying whatever paid. On her last voyage that meant ore and fruit from Marseille for Bristol.
A morning torpedo
U 29, under Otto Weddigen, was working the approaches to the Bristol and English Channels. The same day she sank the new steamer Indian City south of St Mary's and scuttled the Andalusian west of the Bishop Rock. uboat.net records that Headlands was torpedoed and sunk at 10.25am, and Wikipedia confirms that her crew survived. Five days later U 29 was rammed and sunk with all hands by HMS Dreadnought, according to Wikipedia.
A new kind of war
Early in 1915 Germany declared the waters around Britain a war zone, and merchant ships began to be sunk without the old rules of capture. Even so, Weddigen generally let crews take to their boats before he attacked, which is why all three crews survived that day. The Penwith Local History Group recalls how his crew even towed the Indian City's lifeboats towards the islands. Later in the war, sinkings off Scilly would often be far more deadly.
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uboat.net gives a position of 49 51 north, 6 26 west, which is roughly eight miles south of the Western Rocks rather than precisely surveyed. We show it as an area. No protection order is known, and nothing can be seen from the islands. See where she lies on our Isles of Scilly shipwrecks map.
Last checked October 2026
