Killoran

• 1900
  Built of steel by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon for Killoran Barque Co. She was rigged as a three-masted barque carrying royals over double topgallant sails.

• 1909
  Sold to J. Hardie & Co., Glasgow.

• 1924
  Sold to Gustaf Erikson, Mariehamn. She had been the last three-masted barque that sailed under ``The Red Ensign.'' The Killoran sailed on various trades, carrying coal, timber and guano, but ended up going regularly on the Australian wheat trade.

• 15 June 1940
  Sailed from Buenos Aires with a cargo of corn and sugar for Las Palmas. This was to be her last voyage.

• 10 August 1940
  Encountered the German merchant cruiser Widder, who ordered the Killoran's crew to come on board the Widder, and then sunk the Killoran by placing explosives on board. This action has been questioned since the Killoran belonged to Finland, which at the time was a neutral country, and she was carrying cargo from one neutral country to another.

  It has been reported that the commandant of the Widder was reluctant to sink Killoran, and that it was the ship surgeon who pressed him into doing it. The surgeon had been filming the voyage, and needed the sinking to have a good ending to the film, and threatened to report the commandant to Berlin if it was not done. The true seamen on board the Widder regarded the sinking as a murder.

	The Killoran		The Killoran off Durban, as seen from the Clan Fraser. 17 September 1939 Photo by H.J. Buckingham
	The Killoran off Durban, as seen from the Clan Fraser. 17 September 1939 Photo by H.J. Buckingham		The Killoran with sails braced aback. 10 August 1940 The cutter is probably from the Widder, going to Killoran to take off the crew and place explosives on board.
	The Killoran sinking. 10 August 1940 The sails are still up, but the Finnish flag has been taken down, as ordered by the German commandant of the Widder.		The Killoran going down. 10 August 1940 An upsetting sight for her master and entire crew, who witnessed it aboard the Widder.

Thanks to Jan Klootwijk for providing some of the information above.

• Göte Sundberg: Mordet på Killoran, Longitude - tidskrift från de sju haven 29 pp. 2 - 16, ISSN 0024-6328, published by JE Carlstedt förlag AB, Stockholm 1993
• Sten Lille, Lars Grönstrand: Suomen valtameripurjehtijat, ISBN 951-9064-31-1, published by Etelä-Suomen Kustannus Oy 1979