Ss Temple Yard

[alivicwil]

Hi!
My great-grandfather was aboard the SS Temple Yard during WWII.
He died of heart failure in a British Hospital in Argentina on 01/08/1940, and is buried in the CWGs in Bueos Aires.

I understand that his ship was NOT damaged in WWII.

I would very much like to find out what caused the death of my great-grandfather.

Family-lore tells me that his ship was caught up in the Battle of the River Plate, he was wounded, and later died in hospital. That seems unlikely to me - I know that River Plate happened the previous December, and none of the books I've read on the Battle mention the Temple Yard. I have Googled Temple Yard (several times), with no luck.

I have a little information (given by some kind people on warsailors.com):
The TEMPLE YARD, belonged to the Temple Steamship Co. Ltd. (part of Lambert Brothers, Cunard House, London) She was built as DARLENY in 1937 by William Hamilton Co at Port Glasgow, was 5,205-tons gross (9,450-tons deadweight, was 447ft2in long, 56ft2in beam and 25ft draught and had a speed of 10.5-knots
(The World's Merchant Fleets 1939 Roger Jordan)

The Ship Movement Records for the Temple Yard should be contained in the document BT 389/29 in the National Archives in Kew. I can pay for a quote, and then pay again to receive the documents, but I don't actually know what they will tell me.

My questions are such:
1. Can anyone recommend a way for me (in Australia) to discover how my Scottish great-grandfather, employed with the British Merchant Navy, died in Argentina?
2a. Does anyone know the movements of the SS Temple Yard?
2b. What information is likely to be contained in BT 389/29, and will it be what I want?
2c. Is anyone in a position to have a look at BT 389/29 for me?
3. Does anyone have information about the Merchant Navy Medals? - the National Archives site gives an email address to query, but this address bounces my mail back to me.
4. Have I forgotten anything?


I appreciate any suggestions or guidance that anyone can give me.
I am thinking that my best bet is to go to the National Archives in Kew, and search through the records myself, but it's a bit of a commute from Wollongong, Australia, to London!
Thanks!