Bedankt/Thank you Kees !

I just discoverd that there are more photos of allied vessels sunk by the UC-17 on Beeldbank Brugge. This cofirms that the ellerman vessels is indeed the 'City of Florence'.
Best wishes,
Schepekees

The same photograph appears at image library (beeldbank) of the city of Brugge (catalogue nr. FOA18539) with the description in Dutch: 'Deze opname is van Duitse origine en dateert van 1917' i.e. this is a German photo and dates from 1917. The photo was clearly taken by an U-boat officer who operated from Zeebrugge. I conclude that this is an Ellerman vessel. Two vessels of the Ellerman fleet -and indeed sisterships- were sunk by German U-boats in the vicinity of the Belgian coast: on May 21st the 'City of Corinth' (1913-Hall Line) was torpedoed by the UB-31 12 miles west of the Lizard (Cornwall) and on July 20th the 'City of Florence' (1914-Hall Line) was sunk by the UC-17 188 miles of Ushant. At least the 'City of Florence' had a single pair of lifeboats on the funnel deck (as did her sister 'City of Norwich' which survived the war). In the photograph, it looks as if there was only space for a single pair of lifeboats. Hence, I guess we see here the 'City of Florence' depicted.
Best wishes,
Schepekees ([email protected])