Paul,
It was indeed the aircraft of HMS Shropshire. See
www.nzetc.org where you can read:
...patrol a line off the north-west coast of
Brazil. The submarine
Clyde was ordered to patrol an area midway between that coast and Free-town. Force ‘H’ was between St. Helena and the African coast when, on the morning of 9 December, the German ship
Adolf Leonhardt, 3000 tons,
was
intercepted by the Shropshire's aircraft. The cruiser arrived three hours later, but the
Adolf Leonhardt was scuttled by her crew.
Regards,
Leendert