SS s'Jacob

The SS s'Jacob was a Dutch freighter built by Maatschappij Fijenoord, Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1907, of 2484 gross weight and operated by Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij which was sunk off Papua New Guinea on 8 March 1943 during World War II.

After being requistioned as part of the war effort, "s'Jacob" was upgraded and a 4inch naval gun was mounted aft.

The "s'Jacob" was part of a convoy, as part of Operation Lilliput, transporting troops, weapons, and supplies from Milne Bay to Oro Bay. On 8 March 1943, as "s'Jacob" rounded Cape Nelson, nine high-flying Imperial Japanese bombers attacked her near Porlock Bay. The planes scored three direct bomb hits and at least 15 near misses which caused serious structural damage and wounded several merchant man aboard. A large fire started on the foreship and with the water pumps shutting down preventing any effort to extinguish the fire, the order was given to abandon ship. All those aboard had to jump overboard and clung to wreckage. 158 men were picked up by the Australian corvette HMAS "Bendigo". Within 18 minutes after the attack "s'Jacob" slid under the waves. 5 men were lost in the sinking, including Private George Watson, who remained in the water and instead of trying to save himself, assisted soldiers who could not swim into life rafts. George Watson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

References

* [http://www.awm.gov.au/alliesinadversity/seafaring/lilliput.asp Operation Liliput]
* [http://www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/other/sjacob.html s'Jacob details]
* [http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Kpm_ships.htm KPM Ships - s'Jacob details]