- Arandora Star
"Arandora Star" was a
cruise ship that was sunk in controversial circumstances by a GermanU-boat duringWorld War II .History
She was built by Cammell Laird & Company, Limited for the
Blue Star Line in 1927. She measured 12,847 grosstonnage , was 535 feet long, accommodated 354 first class passengers, and cruised at a service speed of 16 knots. "Initially named "Arandora", she sailed from London to the east coast of South America from 1927 to 1928. She was later rebuilt to 15,501 grt as a full-time luxury cruise ship. She was also renamed "Arandora Star" to avoid confusion withRoyal Mail ships (which typically bore names beginning and ending in 'A').She was refitted during
World War II and was assigned to transport Axis prisoners of war toCanada .inking
On
July 2 1940 , having leftLiverpool unescorted the day before, under the command ofEdgar Wallace Moulton , she was bound for St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and Canadianinternment camps with nearly 1,500 German and Italian internees, including 86 POWs, being transported from Britain. Most were elderly Italians, who were resident in Britain. The ship was bearing no Red Cross sign, which could have shown that she was carrying prisoners, and especially civilians.At 6.58 AM off the northwest coast of
Ireland , she was struck by atorpedo from the German submarine "U-47", commanded by U-Boat aceGünther Prien . It is assumed that "U-47" mistook her grey wartime livery for that of an armed merchant cruiser. "U-47" fired its single damaged torpedo at "Arandora Star". All power was lost at once, and thirty five minutes after the torpedo impact, "Arandora Star" sank. Over eight hundred lives were lost.At 0705 hours
Malin Head radio received the distress call which it retransmitted toLand's End and toPortpatrick . Throughout August bodies were washed up on the Irish shore. The first was 71-year-old Ernesto Moruzzi, who was found nearBurtonport . Four others were found on the same day,30 July . During August 1940, 213 bodies were washed up on the Irish Coast, 35 were from the "Arandora Star", there were a further 92 unidentified, most probably from the "Arandora Star". [ arrived to pick up the survivors. There were 586 survivors out of the 1,216 detainees. The sick were taken toMearnskirk Hospital .Citations
"Arandora Star"'s Master, Edgar Wallace Moulton, was posthumously awarded the
Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea , and the Canadian commanderHarry DeWolf was cited for his heroism in the rescue operation, as was Captain Burfeind.Wreckage and memorials
The wreck is located at . The bodies of those who perished on "Arandora Star" were carried by the sea to various points in
Ireland and theHebrides . There are a number of memorials at places where the ill-fated passengers were eventually laid to rest.The most recent is that on the Scottish island of
Colonsay , unveiled on2 July 2005 , on the sixty-fifth anniversary of the tragedy. As described in [http://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk Hidden Europe magazine] , it is dedicated "to the memory ofGiuseppe Delgrosso and more than 800 others who perished with "Arandora Star" July 2nd 1940."In the small graveyard of Termoncarragh,
Belmullet Luigi Tapparo, an internee, fromEdinburgh , and John Connelly a Lovat Scout lay buried, side-by-side.ee Also
Collar the Lot ! How Britain Interned & Expelled its Wartime RefugeesReferences
*Gardner, N. (2005) "Tragic Waters: The Sinking of the Arandora Star" [http://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk "Hidden Europe" magazine] , 4 September 2005, pp. 34-36.
* Miller, William H., Jr. "Pictorial Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners, 1860-1994". Dover Maritime Books.
*Balestracci, Maria Serena (2008) "Arandora Star: from Oblivion to Memory", Mup Publishers, Parma, Italy [http://www.mupeditore.it] . The book, with both English and Italian texts, includes rare and previously unpublished material, such as pictures related to the rescue of the Arandora Star taken in 1940 by "St. Laurent"'s crew.
* The story of the sinking and the wider context is told in "Collar the Lot! How Britain Interned & Expelled its Wartime Refugees", by Peter Gillman and Leni Gillman.External links
* [http://www.arandorastarcampaign.com Story of the sinking]
* [http://www.thearandorastar.com The Arandora Star]
* [http://www.bluestarline.org/arandora.html Blue Star's S.S. "Arandora Star"]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/94/a2618994.shtml Sinking of the Arandora Star: A Donegal Perspective]__NOTOC__
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