SS Avila Star — BrandWiki

SS Avila Star

type	passenger and refrigerated cargo liner
tonnage	as built: tonnage under deck 9314 after lengthening: tonnage under deck 11399
length	as built: 510.2 ft after lengthening: 550.4 ft
beam	68.2 ft
draught	as built: 37 ft after lengthening: 46 ft
depth	as built: 33.9 ft after lengthening: 42.6 ft
decks	3
power	as built: 2,007 NHP after lengthening: 1,840 NHP
propulsion	as built: 5 boilers feeding 4 steam turbines driving 2 screw propellers after rebuild: boilers reduced from 5 to 4
speed	16 kn
capacity	162 1st class passengers plus refrigerated cargo
crew	159 plus (in wartime) 6 DEMS gunners
armament	(as DEMS)
sensors	direction finding equipment plus (after 1934) echo sounding device
notes	sister ship: SS Avelona Star

SS Avila Star, originally SS Avila, was a British turbine steamship of the Blue Star Line. She was both an ocean liner and a refrigerated cargo ship, providing a passenger service between London and South America and carrying refrigerated beef from South America to London. She was built in 1927, renamed Avila Star in 1929 and lengthened in 1935. She was sunk by a German submarine in 1942 with the loss of 84 lives.

Building

In 1925 Blue Star ordered a set of new liners for its new London – Rio de Janeiro – Buenos Aires route. Cammell Laird of Birkenhead built three sister ships: Almeda, Andalucia and Arandora. John Brown & Company of Clydebank built two: Avelona and Avila. Together the quintet came to be called the "luxury five".[1]

John Brown & Co launched Avila on 22 September 1926 and completed her in March 1927.[1]

Wartime service

After the UK entered the Second World War Avila Star became a Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship. She continued her valuable service shipping frozen meat from South America to Britain but was largely left to sail unescorted. At first she continued her peacetime route of London – Lisbon – Mindelo, Cape Verde – Rio de Janeiro – Santos – Montevideo – Buenos Aires. After May 1940 she stopped using the Port of London and no longer called at Lisbon. In June France surrendered to Germany and in July–August 1940 Avila Star docked in Cardiff and Swansea to avoid a now-dangerous voyage via the English Channel and North Sea to London. There were repeated Luftwaffe attacks on Cardiff, and on her next two arrivals home in September 1940 and January 1941 Avila Star docked in Liverpool. In October 1940 Avila Star took part in her first convoy, OL 9, which left Liverpool on 25 October and dispersed in the Atlantic two days later.[6] In November she called at Rio de Janeiro and Santos on her outward voyage but not on her return from Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

The Luftwaffe was also inflicting heavy damage on Liverpool and April 1941 Avila Star changed again, calling at Belfast Lough and docking at Avonmouth.[7] Avila Star's route was changed again, now omitting Mindelo as well as Lisbon. This trip was also her last visit to Rio de Janeiro, where she called on her outward trip on 12 May but not on her return trip or any subsequent voyage.[7]

Returning from South America she now called at Trinidad on 10 June 1941. After May 1941 Luftwaffe raids on Liverpool reduced, so on 26 June she docked in Liverpool. On this visit she also called at Avonmouth and Belfast Lough, and then on 8 July 1941 reached the Firth of Clyde to join Convoy WS 9C. This heavily escorted fleet left on 12 July and went as far as Gibraltar.[8] Thence Avila Star continued via Trinidad and straight on to Buenos Aires. On her return voyage she called at Trinidad again on 23–27 June 1941, Belfast Lough on 1 October and reached Avonmouth on 2 October.[7]

Avila Star's route was now changed yet again. She left Avonmouth on 15 October 1941 and reached the Firth of Clyde the next day. This time she joined a small transatlantic convoy, CT 4, which seems to have been three passenger liners sailing together with no naval escort.[9] CT 4 left the Clyde on 17 October bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, but Avila seems to have left en route to reach Trinidad on 30 October without calling at Halifax. She then called at Buenos Aires and Montevideo and returned via Trinidad to reach Liverpool on 26 December 1941.[7]

In 1942 Avila Star had more changes of route. After leaving Liverpool on 14 January she called at Bermuda on the 25th before reaching Trinidad on the 31st. After her usual calls at Buenos Aires and Montevideo she returned via Freetown, Sierra Leone. If she was seeking a home-bound convoy she found none, for she sailed unescorted two days later and reached Liverpool on 28 March.[7]

Loss

Avila Star's next outward voyage she left Liverpool on 20 April, went straight to Trinidad and reached Buenos Aires on 16 May. She loaded a cargo of 5,659 tons of frozen meat and embarked passengers, left Buenos Aires on 12 June, called at Montevideo three days later, and then set off across the South Atlantic for Freetown. One passenger, Maria Elizabeth ″Mary″ Ferguson (20 June 1923 – 16 June 2006), was a young British woman from Argentina on her way to enlist in the WRNS. On 20 June, five days out of Montevideo, she celebrated her 19th birthday aboard.[10]

In mid-Atlantic Avila Star found and rescued the First and Third officers and a DEMS gunner from J&J Denholm's cargo steamship SS Lylepark, which the GERMAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Michel had sunk in on 11 June.[11] Avila Star reached Freetown on 28 June.[7] Again she seems not to have found a suitable home-bound convoy, as she left unescorted. On this leg of her voyage the liner was carrying 30 passengers, including 10 women and the three survivors from Lylepark that she had rescued. Her Master was Captain John Fisher. The crew and passengers had a lifeboat drill every day, and throughout the voyage each person either wore or carried a lifejacket plus a red marker light to attach to it.[1]

On the evening of 5 July the GS U-201 (Oblt. Adalbert Schnee) started following Avila. At 00:36 on 6 July by Berlin Time, 90 mi east of São Miguel in the Azores, the submarine hit Avila's starboard side with two G7e torpedoes,[12] one of which detonated in her boiler room.[1]

The order was given to abandon ship. The ship's engines and main generator were disabled, but her emergency dynamo was started which restored electric light. Avila Star carried eight lifeboats: the odd-numbered ones on her starboard side and the even-numbered ones on her port side. Crew and passengers proceeded calmly but there was an accident with No. 5 boat, the after fall of which descended far too quickly. The boat was left suspended by the bow, tipping some of its occupants and most of its equipment into the sea below.[1]

At 0054 U-201 attempted a coup de grâce with a third torpedo but it failed to detonate. At 0058 the submarine fired a fourth torpedo, which struck the liner amidships.[12] The torpedo exploded beneath No. 7 boat, which had just been lowered with a full complement of passengers and crew. The Second Officer, John Anson, blames this incident for most of Avila Star's casualties. The bottom was blown out of the boat, but its buoyancy tanks kept it afloat.[1]

One of No. 7 boat's occupants was the ship's doctor, Maynard Crawford. He was thrown in the air and fell in the sea in a layer of oil far from both the ship and the boat. Dr Crawford was wearing a rucksack packed with medicines, dressings and a syringe to treat survivors, but alone in the water he had to abandon it to swim for his life. He was eventually rescued by No. 4 boat, commanded by the Chief Officer, Eric Pearce.[1]

Another of No. 7's occupants was Mary Ferguson. She was thrown 15 ft in the air, hitting her head on a block that momentarily knocked her unconscious. She swallowed oily water but regained consciousness in the sea and swam back to the remains of No. 7 boat. She shared the stern of the damaged boat with four wounded men whom she nursed through the night.[10]

After all boats had been launched four crew remained aboard ship: Captain Fisher, his First Officer, Michael Tallack, the junior Fourth Engineer, Habid Massouda, and a quartermaster, John Campbell. They jumped overboard with lifebuoys and oars for buoyancy. Campbell was lost without trace. Massouda and Captain Fisher survived the jump but later died in the cold sea. No. 4 boat eventually rescued Tallack.[1] Avila Star sank about 01:10. One report says she capsized to starboard;[12] another that she sank fo'c's'le first.[1]

In the lifeboats

At daybreak on 6 July the boats found each other. No. 8 was flooded but had been bailed out, and had an engine that could now be started. Tallack was transferred from No. 4 to No. 8 boat to take charge of her. No. 8 then rescued the men from the waterlogged remains of No. 7 boat.[1] The last to leave, however, swam to No. 2 boat.[10] No. 5 boat was leaking badly and had to be abandoned. The boatswain commanded No. 1 boat. Second Officer Anson commanded No. 2 boat, whose occupants included Ferguson and four other passengers. The Chief Officer from Lylepark, Robert Reid, commanded No. 6.[1]

Boats 1, 4 and 8

The nearest land was the Azores 90 mi to the west, but with crude navigation in lifeboats there was too great a risk of missing the islands and continuing out into the Atlantic. Therefore, the boats sailed east together, aiming for mainland Portugal 600 mi to the east. At nightfall the boats' commanders disagreed as to what to do. Tallack wanted all boats to lower sail and heave to with their sea anchors to allow survivors to rest. Anson and Reid with boats 2 and 6 chose to continue east, leaving boats 1 and 4 with the motor boat No. 8. On 7 July boats 1, 4 and 8 again began to east together, but Tallack soon became concerned for the condition of his wounded survivors. After consultation he and No. 8 boat therefore left boats 1 and 4 together and sailed east as quickly as possible.[1]

At nightfall Tallack switched from sail to motor power and continued east. At about 21:30 he sighted the lights of a neutral ship on No. 8 boat's port beam. He altered course to port toward the ship and signalled to it with distress flares. The ship was a Portuguese Navy Douro-class destroyer, NRP Lima, en route from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada on São Miguel Island in the Azores. She rescued the occupants of No. 8 boat and then proceeded west, where she found and rescued the occupants of Nos. 1 and 4 boats. The Lima then spent more than 24 hours searching for Nos. 2 and 6 boats, but then ran short of fuel and had to continue to Ponta Delgada.[1]

Boats 2 and 6

Boats 2 and 6 kept together until 11 July, sailing by day and heaving to with their sea anchors by night. On 8 July one man was transferred from No. 2 to No. 6. On 11 July the two boats estimated they were 370 mi from the Portuguese coast. That evening No. 6 was unable to deploy her sea anchor and the two boats lost contact. Mr Reid and the 23 occupants of No. 6 boat were never seen again.[1]

No. 2 boat had 40 occupants. Half were covered with oil, one had a smashed and bleeding hand and injured ankle, a second had a bad cut across his eyebrow and a third seemed to have a broken rib.[1] Five were passengers, including two women, Mary Ferguson and Pat Traunter. Food and water rations were short, but Ferguson and Traunter firmly refused all offers of preferential treatment.[10]

On the night of 11 July one man grew delirious. His companions kept watch on him but at 04:10 on 13 July he jumped overboard saying he was going for a swim. Anson brought the boat round and the crew rowed against the heavy sea for 50 minutes, but they failed to find him. On 14 July the man with the wounded hand and foot was feared to have gangrene in his foot. Another crewman was reported to have drunk seawater. Anson feared that a north northeast wind was putting the boat off course, making it impossible to reach Portugal. He estimated the coast of Spain to be 225 mi away.