SS Tiger Hill was a cargo ship that was one of the major vessels involved in the Aliyah Bet movement.

Early history

The ''Tiger Hill'', a 1,481-ton ship, was built in 1887 by Archibald McMillan & Son Ltd., Dumbarton,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The cargo vessel was originally built for the Panhellenic Steamship Co. (Navigation a Vapeur Panhéllenique) of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and sailed as the ''SS Thrace'' in the period 1887-1910. It then went through various names and owners until it was renamed as the ''SS Tiger Hill'' and was owned by the

General Steamship Company General Steamship Company was founded in 1920 in Houston, Texas, as a Private Company, and now goes by Gensteam since 1996. General Steamship Company has a fleet of cargo ships that operate worldwide. Gensteam has a ''Gensteam Operations Desk'' w ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and sailed under a Panamanian flag. However the crew was Greek.

Last Voyage

The ship sailed from Constanţa,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on August 3, 1939 laden with between 750-800 Jewish refugees with a destination of the Palestine Mandate. The refugees were overwhelmingly of Czech, Austrian and German origin (being the three territories the Nazis then controlled) plus some from the Free City of Danzig. Hundreds of bulk beds had been assembled within the holds of the cargo ship. Passengers were allowed a maximum of 25 kgs of luggage. The voyage was a very long one. Towards the end of the voyage the ''Tiger Hill'' rendezvoused with another Panamanian vessel, the '' S.S. Frossoula'' off the coast of

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, on August 29, 1939, and several hundred more Jewish refugees were transshipped to the "Tiger Hill". Many of the refugees were malnourished and dysentery broke out amongst the passengers. The ''Frossoula'' (another Panamanian-flagged Greek ship) had set sail even earlier (from Sulina in Romania on 29 May 1939) with its voyage having been organised by a few Slovakian Jews from Bratislava (working as the Black Rose organisation) with the agreement of the Nazi government. The ship did not have approval to land therefore the passengers were technically illegal immigrants in the eyes of the British, that then controlled the Mandate. On the 1st of September 1939 (the day that World War II began) SS Tiger Hill was intercepted and fired on by Royal Navy gunboats off Tel Aviv. Two passengers r Robert Schneider and Zvi Binderwere killed when the vessel was strafed by British planes. The vessel was run aground on Frishman Beach at

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. It is estimated that there were between 1,150 and 1,400 refugees aboard. Crowds gathered on the beach and cheered as the refugees descended from the stranded ship.

Fate

The wreck was broken up ''in situ'' in 1940.

Gallery

S.S_Tiger_Hill_memorial_in_Tel_Aviv_beach.JPG, Memorial at Frishman Beach

References

{{reflist Steamships Dumbarton 1887 ships