| Arandora Star |
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Information AboutArandora Star |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ARANDORA STAR | |
| ships sunk by u-boats | |
| cruise ships | |
| mersey built ships | |
| shipwrecks in the atlantic ocean | |
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Built by Cammell Laird & Company, Limited for the Blue Star Line in 1927, at 12,847 gross Tonnage and a length of 535 feet she was capable of transporting 354 first class passengers at a service speed of sixteen knots. Initially named Arandora she sailed from London to the east coast of South America from 1927 to 1928 before being rebuilt to 15,501 grt as a fulltime luxury cruise ship and renamed '''Arandora Star''' to avoid confusion with ships associated with Royal Mail (which typically bore names beginning and ending in 'A'). She was refitted during the Second World War and was assigned to transport Axis prisoners-of-war to Canada . On July 2nd 1940, having left Liverpool unescorted the day before, under the command of Edgar Wallace Moulton , she was bound for Canadian Internment Camps with nearly 1500 German and Italian internees, including 86 POW's, being exported from Britain. Off the coast of Ireland , she was sunk by a torpedo from the German U-47 who had mistaken her grey wartime livery, for that of an armed merchantship. They fired their single damaged torpedo at the ship hoping to damage it before returning home to Kiel . Almost 700 lives were lost. LIFEBOATS The modified cruise ship carried fourteen lifeboats, of which one was immediately destroyed upon torpedo impact, another could not be lowered off its winches, and two were damaged during their launch and thus useless. At least four of the remaining lifeboats were launched with a very small number of survivors. One other lifeboat was swamped and sank shortly after the sinking. Captain Burfeind from the SS Adolf Woermann stayed aboard the sinking ship organizing the ship's evacuation until he was lost when it finally sank. RESCUE After a brief scout by a Sunderland Seaplane following their SOS distress-signal, the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent arrived to retrieve the survivors, a total of 586 out of the 1,216 detainees. The sick were taken to Mearnskirk Hospital . CITATIONS The ''Arandora Star'''s Master, Edgar Wallace Moulton, was posthumously awarded the Lloyd’s War Medal for "Bravery at Sea", and the Canadian commander Harry DeWolf was cited for his heroism in the rescue operation, as was Captain Burfeind. WRECKAGE The wreckage is located at REFERENCES
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