History |
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RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE
S.S. ARANDORA STAR 1927 |
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In the 1920s Blue Star Line was becoming a major competitor for the service to South America to its rivals - Nelson Line and Royal Mail Lines - and were planning five large new passenger liners for their service from London. These were the Luxury Five and the Arandora Star was one of them. But sadly later on in her five when a troopship during the Second World War she was tragically sunk with the loss of well over 800 lives in what was one of the worst maritime tragedies of the Second World War. The Story of the Arandora Star http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeuZ6ft6pYw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auSftu5fnvI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3g6fga6dzE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b96d0IwFitU
Blue Star Line era (1927 - 1939): The
Arandora Star was originally built in 1927 by
Cammell Laird in Birkenhead for Blue Star Line as the Arandora. She was
one of the Luxury Five built in the 1920s for the South American
service from London. She sailed on this service until 1928 when she was
sent to be refitted as a cruise liner in 1929 at Fairfields
Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd at Govan in Glasgow on the River
Clyde. During the refit, her gross tonnage was increased to 14,694 and
first
class accommodation was increased to 354 passengers. Upon
completion
she returned to service as a full-time luxury cruise ship. At the time
of this refit, she was also renamed Arandora Star. The renaming was done to avoid confusion
with Royal Mail Lines ships
which typically bore names beginning and ending in 'A'. She re-emerged as the white hulled
Arandora Star. As a cruise liner she cruised to many different
destinations including Norway, the Northern Capitals, the
Mediterranean, the West Indies, Panama, Cuba, and Florida. The Arandora Star also had two unique nicknames due to her
colour scheme of a white hull with scarlet ribbon. The nicknames most
frequently used were "The Wedding Cake" or the "Chocolate Box". Sadly
her cruise life was relatively cut short by the onset of the Second
World War. In this cruise role she carried around 400 passengers in
luxury and she became a favourite of the rich and famous. Wartime
Service and Her Tragic Loss (1939 - 1940): In
1939 with the onset of the Second
World War the Arandora Star was requisitioned for troopship duties. She
was bound for New York when war broke out. She then returned to
Falmouth in England and was paid off and after a period of
experiments with anti-torpedo nets and other equipment she was ordered
to Liverpool to await orders by the Admiralty. Until June 7th, at any rate, the Arandora Star was in company of the Glorious and Coventry. The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and two destroyers were at sea. On June 8th, to the far north of Narvik, they sunk the troopship Orama, the tanker Oilpioneer and their escorting trawler HMS Juniper. That same day, after a running fight, the enemy also sank the HMS Glorious and her two escorting destroyers, the HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent. The Arandora Star disembarked her troops at Glasgow, and then sailed for Swansea. From there she was ordered to Brest to bring out any troops or refugees she could. Returning to Falmouth she disembarked a few refugees and refuelled. Then she was ordered to Quiberon Bay, where it was fairly quiet and she took about 300 people on board, again landing them at Falmouth. She was next sent to Bayonne, where a destroyer met her before returning to Liverpool. It was there on June 29th 1940, after the most strenuous and eventful month of her career, that the senior officers of the Arandora Star heard that they were to go alongside next day to embark a large number of German and Italian internees and some prisoners of war. These were destined for St. Johns, Newfoundland. These internees primarily consisted of enemy aliens, but during the first two years of the Second World War other aliens were also interned, including refugees who had fled Nazi Germany to escape persecution. Fears of invasion led to a general feeling of hostility towards all enemy aliens. After the outbreak of war in September 1939, known Nazi sympathisers were rounded up. This was the start of a campaign, which lasted until mid 1940, by which time, 8000 internees had been gathered into camps, to be deported to the dominions. What was appalling by today's standards, was that their wives and families were left behind without any information of their whereabouts or any communication. At about 4.00 a.m. on the 2nd July 1940 the Arandora Star sailed from Liverpool. In all she carried 1,673 people. She
departed Liverpool on the 1st July 1940
unescorted bound for St Johns in Newfoundland, Canada and the Canadian
internment camps. On board she had nearly 1,200 German and Italian
internees including 86 POWs. There were also 374 British men on board
in the form of miliary guards and the ship's crew. The ship bore no Red
Cross sign.At 6.58 AM on the 2nd July 1940 off the northwest coast of
Ireland , she was struck by a
torpedo from the German
submarine U-47, commanded by
U-Boat ace Gunther 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.
It was one of the worst maritime tragedies of the Second World War. At 0705 hours
Malin Head radio received the distress call which it retransmitted to
Land's End and to Portpatrick. Throughout August 1940 bodies were
washed up on the Irish shore. The first was 71-year-old Ernesto
Moruzzi, who was found near Burtonport.
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. The wreck of the ill fated
Arandora Star is located at 56°30′N 10°38′W / 56.5°N
10.633°W. In the weeks following the
sinking many bodies of those who perished on Arandora Star were
carried by the sea to various points in Ireland and the Hebrides. There
are a number of memorials at places where the ill-fated passengers were
eventually laid to rest. Now memorials are in place for the Arandora
Star in Liverpool, London, Glasgow and Italy. Arandora Star Memorial in Bardi, Tuscany, Italy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V86OvhWRGY http://www.bluestarline.org/arandora_memorial_herald.html On the 2nd July 2008 there was a ceremony in Liverpool to unveil a commemorative plaque. Today this plaque is at Pier Head in Liverpool and honours the ship in the city that she sailed from on that ill fated voyage back in 1940. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQL2mnnTBlE Finally a Commemorative Plaque was unveiled at Middlesbrough Town Hall on the 2nd July 2009 to remember the 13 local members of the Italian community that were lost on the Arandora Star. http://www.bluestarline.org/arandora_memorial/arandora_mem_plaque.htm Websites: Arandora Star http://www.thearandorastar.com/ Blue Star Line - S.S. Arandora Star http://www.bluestarline.org/arandora.html Scots Italian - Arandora Star http://www.scotsitalian.com/arandora.htm The Arandora Star Campaign http://www.chrisgibson.org/arandora/index.htm Arandora Star Memorial for Wales http://www.arandorastarwales.us/ Colonsay and Arandora Star http://www.colonsay.org.uk/Arandora1.htm |
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(c) The AJN Transport Britain Collection 2010 A Edward Elliott