The SS ''City of Rayville'', also referred to as the MV and/or MS ''City of Rayville'' was a 5883-ton American

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

. She was built in 1920 by Oscar Daniels & Co. of

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

.www.lighthousedepot.com
/ref> It was the first American vessel sunk by enemy action in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Sinking

The SS ''City of Rayville'' was the first American vessel sunk during

, sunk by a German

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

off the coast of southern Australia. Over three nights in November 1940, the German minelaying ship ''

Passat The Volkswagen Passat is a series of large family cars manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973, and now in its eighth generation. It has been marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Mago ...

'', a captured Norwegian tanker, had strategically planted 110 sea mines in

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

, a busy trade route between

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. This field of mines had already claimed the British steamer less than 24 hours previously off

Wilsons Promontory Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria. South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nearb ...

. On 8 November 1940, ''City of Rayville'' sailed into the

with a cargo of 1,500 tons (37,520 bars) of

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...

lead. At 7:47 pm the ship hit one of the mines. The explosion was powerful enough to rip out the

foremast The mast of a Sailing ship, sailing vessel is a tall spar (sailing), spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessa ...

, as

shrapnel Shrapnel may refer to: Military * Shrapnel shell, explosive artillery munitions, generally for anti-personnel use * Shrapnel (fragment), a hard loose material Popular culture * ''Shrapnel'' (Radical Comics) * ''Shrapnel'', a game by Adam C ...

and ingots of lead rained down on the ship's decks. The 38 crew members were able to safely abandon the vessel in lifeboats, although one mariner (James Bryan of Norfolk, Virginia) re-entered the vessel to find his personal items and subsequently drowned. The vessel sank, bow first, in 35 minutes. A period news account listed the victim as Third Engineer Mac B. Bryan, of Randleman, North Carolina.Associated Press, "U.S. To Return Survivors Of Lost Freighter", ''Chicago Daily Tribune'', Chicago, Illinois, Monday 11 November 1940, Volume XCIX, Number 271, page 2. The lightkeeper stationed at Cape Otway Lightstation witnessed the sinking, and three boats from

Apollo Bay Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway Shire. The town had a population of 1,790 at ...

went in search of survivors. The ship's lifeboats were found, and successfully towed back to Apollo Bay, arriving at dawn, 9 November 1940. This preceded the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

, in December 1941, by more than a year, and resulted in the death of the first US seaman in World War II.

Wreck

The site of the wreck is approximately south of

Cape Otway Cape Otway is a cape and a bounded locality of the Colac Otway Shire in southern Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Great Otway National Park. History Cape Otway was originally inhabited by the Gadub ...

, with the vessel at a depth of . The wreck's general location had been known since 2002, but it was finally pinpointed using advanced sonar equipment.

Commemoration

In memory of this event, a group of villas in the little village of

( from Cape Otway), is named ''Rayville Boat Houses''. Moreover, the villas themselves are baptized according to the names of the local fishermen who rescued the victims: Lincoln Allen, Les Barrand, Harry Blyth, Bill Burwood, Roy Fisk, Jock Muir, Bill Ovens, James Slater and Len Stephens.www.rayville.com.au
/ref> These villas have been built by Ross Stephens, one rescuer's father.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:City of Rayville Design 1027 ships Ships built in Tampa, Florida 1920 ships Maritime incidents in November 1940 Shipwrecks of Victoria (state) World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Ships sunk by mines Ships built by the Oscar Daniels Shipbuilding Company