MV Atheltemplar was a motor tanker built by Lithgows, Port Glasgow. She was launched on 15 April 1930, registered in Liverpool and operated by the United Molasses Co Ltd of London. She was transferred to Athel Lines on 1 January 1940.
Early wartime career
Atheltemplars first recorded voyage during the Second World War was to Abadan on the Persian Shatt al-Arab. She departed home waters with Convoy OB 10 and returned to Gibraltar with her cargo before sailing east again to Port Said.
Atheltemplar returned to Great Britain with Convoy HG 9 which left Port Said on 19 November 1939, but on the afternoon of 14 December 1939, she struck a mine laid by German destroyers off the Tyne Estuary. The destroyers and were sent as escorts for the rescue tugs Great Emperor, Joffre and Langton. During the operation Kelly also struck a mine and sustained damage to her hull. While Mowhawk put a party aboard Atheltemplar, and Joffre and Langton took the tanker under tow, Kelly herself was taken in tow by Great Emperor and returned to the Tyne.
After repairs, Atheltemplar returned to service on 9 April 1940 and sailed to Bermuda before returning to home waters with Convoy HX 42. During late May and early June 1940 she was involved in Operation Dynamo, during which she bunkered Royal Navy destroyers and was attacked by the Luftwaffe several times in and around Dover Harbour. More transatlantic crossings followed, including a homeward-bound voyage in Convoy HX 84 which was attacked by the German . Atheltemplar and her sister-ship Athelempress managed to escape unscathed.
Atheltemplar then made a series of coastal voyages in home waters before undergoing refit in Smith's Yard, North Shields in the winter of 1940–41. Sailing for Methil Roads on 25 February 1941, she joined the 26-ship Convoy EN 79 which departed Methil on 1 March 1941, bound for the Atlantic convoy marshalling area at Loch Ewe on the west coast of Scotland. Sailing northbound in ballast, Atheltemplar was the convoy's Vice-Commodore ship, positioned at the head of the starboard column of vessels when, with darkness falling, Convoy EN 79 was attacked off the Aberdeenshire coast by Heinkel He 111 bombers from Luftwaffe KG26, a combat group based in Denmark. Atheltemplar bore the brunt of the attack and was struck on the navigation bridge superstructure by two 250 kg bombs; at least five members of the crew were killed instantly (12 crew died during the incident), and a fire swept the vessel forcing the survivors to abandon ship. One of the He 111s was hit by defensive fire from , and subsequently ditched off the Banffshire coast; the crew was captured. Atheltemplar'''s survivors were taken aboard the . Another Halcyon-class minesweeper, , fought the blaze and then took Atheltemplar in tow. Taken initially to the Imperial Dock at Leith, Atheltemplar later returned to Smith's Dock for extensive repairs; she resumed trading in June 1941. The remains of five unidentified members of her crew ("Known only unto God"), killed during the 1 March 1941 air attack, lie within a marked Commonwealth War Grave towards the south-east corner of New Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh, about south of Port Leith.
Convoy PQ 18
Later in the Second World War Atheltemplar was used on convoys to carry fuel oil and supplies to the Kola Inlet and the northern Soviet ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. The first of these was Convoy PQ 14 which arrived in Murmansk on 19 April 1942. On this voyage Atheltemplar was damaged by ice and she was repaired in Murmansk before sailing for the return journey with Convoy QP 11. This Convoy was attacked by German destroyers, U-boats and torpedo bombers; once again Atheltemplar was damaged but it is not clear whether the cause was ice, enemy action or both. After reaching Iceland on 7 May 1942, Atheltemplar then returned to North Shields for repairs (and possibly for the fitment of additional anti-aircraft defensive armament). She left the Tyne on 21 June 1942 for Loch Ewe and Iceland, arriving at Reykjavik on 16 July. On 7 September 1942 she sailed to join Convoy PQ 18 which had departed Loch Ewe on 2 September 1942. This was the next attempt to supply the Soviet Union since the disastrous losses sustained by the previous Convoy PQ 17. Atheltemplar, carrying 9,400 tons of Admiralty fuel oil plus 63 tons of dry stores, was to travel with the convoy to Archangel via Hvalfjörður, Iceland, commanded by her Master, Carl Ray.