Excello
American Steam merchant
Name | Excello | ||
Type: | Steam merchant (Hog Island) | ||
Tonnage | 4,969 tons | ||
Completed | 1919 - American International Shipbuilding Corp, Hog Island PA | ||
Owner | American Export Lines Inc, New York | ||
Homeport | New York | ||
Date of attack | 13 Nov 1942 | Nationality: American | |
Fate | Sunk by U-181 (Wolfgang Lüth) | ||
Position | 32° 23'S, 30° 07'E - Grid KZ 1914 | ||
Complement | 51 (2 dead and 49 survivors). | ||
Convoy | |||
Route | Port Said, Egypt - Capetown - New York | ||
Cargo | Ballast | ||
History | Laid down as Cinnebar, completed in October 1919 as Sinsinawa for US Shipping Board (USSB), Philadelphia. 1928 renamed Examiner for American Export Lines Inc, New York. 1941 renamed Excello for the same owner.
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Notes on event | At 08.01 hours on 13 Nov 1942 the unescorted Excello (Master Maurice Almond Kent) was hit by one torpedo from U-181 about 50 miles south of Port St.John, South Africa, while proceeding on a nonevasive course at 9 knots. The torpedo struck on the port side at the #5 hold, blew the hatch covers off the #4 and #5 holds, brought down the main mast, unseated the winches and threw wreckage all over the boat deck. The engine room began to flood within three minutes and the engines were secured. The eight officers, 30 men and 13 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, four 20mm and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship in three lifeboats. The falls of the first boat jammed, forcing several men to jump overboard and climb on board rafts. The ship sank stern first in less then 20 minutes. The explosion had killed one armed guard and the first engineer died later in the third lifeboat from shock and suffocation after swallowing fuel oil. The U-boat surfaced and questioned the survivors before leaving. U-181 was informed of the sailing times of the Alcoa Pathfinder, East Indian and Excello from a secret transmitter located aboard the German motor merchant Ehrenfels which was interned along with the German motor merchants Braunfels and Drachenfels and the Italian steam merchant Anfora in the Portuguese Mormugao Harbor. The information was given to the ship by a German spy living in Goa. On 9 March 1943 the Ehrenfels was scuttled by the own crew to prevent seizure by Portuguese. | ||
On board | We have details of 18 people who were on board. |
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