Ganda
Portuguese Steam merchant
Name | Ganda | ||
Type: | Steam merchant | ||
Tonnage | 4,333 tons | ||
Completed | 1907 - Flensburger Schiffsbau-Ges., Flensburg | ||
Owner | Companhia Colonial de Navegação, Lisbon | ||
Homeport | Loanda | ||
Date of attack | 20 Jun 1941 | Nationality: Portuguese | |
Fate | Sunk by U-123 (Reinhard Hardegen) | ||
Position | 34° 10'N, 11° 40'W - Grid DJ 1169 | ||
Complement | 66 (5 dead and 61 survivors). | ||
Convoy | |||
Route | Lisbon - Luanda, Angola - Mozambique | ||
Cargo | General cargo, including port wine | ||
History | Completed in April 1907 as Plauen for Deutsch-Australische DG, Hamburg. 1920 transferred to Britain and renamed City of Milan for Ellerman Lines Ltd, London. 1930 sold to Portugal and renamed Ganda. | ||
Notes on event | At 20.10 hours on 20 June 1941 the unescorted and neutral Ganda was hit near the engine room by one of two torpedoes from U-123 off Casablanca. After the crew abandoned ship, she was hit by a coup de grâce at 20.19 hours. When the ship settled but did not sink, the U-boat surfaced and sank her by gunfire. As the Germans approached the lifeboats for questioning they noticed their mistake of sinking a neutral ship and left. After the patrol the war diary was altered upon order of the BdU. The second officer, the chief engineer, a crewman and two passengers were lost and 19 others wounded. The master, 46 crew members and 14 passengers abandoned ship in a motorboat and a lifeboat. The 26 occupants of the lifeboat were picked up by a ship and landed in Lisbon on 22 June. The 42 occupants of the motorboat were later picked up by a Spanish trawler about 300 miles from the coast and landed at Huelva. |
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