The Iron Knight was torpedoed at 2.30am, allegedly 20 kilometres from Montague Island, on 8 February 1943 whilst in wartime convoy. The vessel was on a passage from Whyalla, South Australia, to Newcastle, NSW with a cargo of iron ore. Out of a crew of 50, 36 lost their lives including the captain, D. Ross. The vessel was of the ‘Chieftain’ class.
Owned by BHP, the 4812-ton steel screw steamer was built by Lithgows Ltd., Glasgow, in the United Kingdom during 1937. The vessel had a length of 123.3 metres, beam of 17.12 metres, and was powered by a quadruple expansion engine generating 553 nhp. The registration number was ON159568.
Iron Knight was reputedly torpedoed by Japanese I-class submarine I-21. The vessel sank in 2 minutes with the other nine vessels of the convoy escaping. The escort vessels HMAS Mildura and HMAS Townsville were in attendance, the torpedo passing under HMAS Townsville. Survivors stayed in a raft for 10 hours before being picked up by the French destroyer Le Triomphant.
I-21 was one of the 5 mother submarines involved in the midget submarine attack at Sydney on 31 May 1942, shelled Newcastle on 8 June 1942, and is credited with sinking the Iron Chieftain (3 June 1942), Kalingo (18 Jan 1943) and Starr King (10 Feb 1943). The submarine also damaged the Mobilube (18 Jan 1943) and Peter H Burnett (22 Jan 1943).
An armed shipwreck was inspected in 125 metres by The Sydney Project dive team on 27 May 2006 and 17 June 2006, eight miles east of Bermagui. The wreck was initially identified as Iron Knight and sits upright on sand, nets obscuring the bridge area, but substantially intact. A visually imposing element is the stern deck gun (4-inch), standing proud of the rails. On 29 July, the Heritage Branch supported a wreath laying ceremony over the wreck with relatives of the crew.
Subsequent dives by the club have raised questions on the identification as the deck arrangement, rudder, and size of the vessel seems at odds to Iron Knight's design. Additional research by the Heritage Branch suggests Iron Knight was torpedoed further out to sea in this general area. The wreck site might retain evidence of War Dead and should be treated with respect and care.
Few other armed merchant ships are suspected to have been sunk in the area, raising concerns about its ultimate identification.
