SS City of Cairo
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SS ''City of Cairo'' was a British passenger steamship. She was sunk in the
Second World War 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 ...
with heavy loss of life, most after the sinking, but before being rescued. It was built by Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd,
Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
in 1915 for Ellerman Lines Ltd of
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. It was long, had two decks, two masts and . She was registered in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. On 29 January 1929, ''City of Cairo''′s propeller struck the British
tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
at
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, then ''Speedy'' sank.


Final voyage

''City of Cairo'' was requisitioned during the Second World War to bring supplies to the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. Her last voyage, under the command of her master, William A. Rogerson, was to take her from
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, which she departed on 1 October 1942 for the United Kingdom, via
Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
,
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, and
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,
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. The ship departed Cape Town at 0600 hours on the morning of 1 November, carrying 101 passengers, including 28 women and 19 children. Also on board were 10 DEMS Gunners from the Army and
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. Among the total complement were two spare
Lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland, or other land east of the Cape of Good Hope, who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the middle of the 2 ...
crews recruited in
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for service on British ships. She was carrying 7,422 tons of general cargo, including pig iron, timber, wool, cotton, manganese ore and 2,000 boxes of silver coins. The ship sailed north for , zigzagging during the day and keeping about off the African coast, before turning westwards across the
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towards Brazil and her next port of call. She was unescorted and capable of only . Its problems were exacerbated by the excessive smokiness of her engines which increased her visibility.


Torpedoed

On 6 November, the smoke trail was sighted by the under the command of
Karl-Friedrich Merten Karl-Friedrich Merten (15 August 1905 – 2 May 1993) commanded the U-boat in Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Merten was credited with the sinking of ...
. At 2136 hours, ''U-68'' fired a torpedo at the lone merchant ship. The torpedo struck ''City of Cairo'' abreast of the after-mast. The master gave the order to abandon ship. Only six people, two male crewmen and four male passengers, were lost in the evacuation. Several women and children were struggling in the water, but they were later rescued by other boats. The ship, still underway, had stabilised, but she was slowly settling by the stern. A distress call was sent, which was acknowledged by the ''U-68'', which provided the callsign of the
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station in
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. Merten fired a second torpedo 20 minutes after the first, which smashed one of the lifeboats, overturned another, and caused the ship to sink by the stern about south of
St Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
. One of the two crewmen lost in the sinking, Chief Radio Officer Harry Peever, was killed by this strike. He had remained in the wireless room to send distress signals. Once ''City of Cairo'' had sunk, ''U-68'' surfaced alongside the six lifeboats that had been launched. Merten spoke to the occupants of No. 6 boat, asked the ship's name, cargo and whether it was carrying prisoners of war. He then gave a course for the nearest land, which by now was either the Brazilian coast, approximately away, Africa was and St Helena was distant. Merten then left them, with the words "Goodnight, and sorry for sinking you". He privately thought that they had little chance of survival.


Journey

There were 296 survivors: 54 in Lifeboat 1, 56 in Lifeboat 5, 57 in Lifeboat 6, 57 in Lifeboat 7, respectively, whilst the smaller Lifeboat 4 held 17 people. After assessing the situation, it was decided to attempt to reach the nearest land, St Helena, despite the danger of overshooting the small island and becoming lost. Each boat had a
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
, but there was only one
sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celes ...
which had been recovered from his belongings as the ship went down by second officer Les Boundy. These, along with Master William Rogerson's
Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...
watch, would be needed for navigation, and this would require the boats to remain together. The survivors hoped to reach St Helena within two or three weeks, and water was rationed at 110 ml a day per person, despite the tropical heat. Over the next three weeks, most of the boats lost contact with each other, and numerous occupants died. Rogerson had hoped to prevent the dispersal of the boats for as long as possible, but as the situation worsened, he was compelled to allow one of the faster boats, which was short of supplies and taking on water, to press on ahead. The boats also suffered damage, with rudders or masts being broken, causing some to lag behind. Eventually, most of the boats had lost sight of each other and proceeding alone.


Rescue

Lifeboat 6 was rescued on 19 November by the , en route to St Helena. 48 of 57 occupants had survived (all 9 who died were Lascars). George Nutter informed the captain that there were other boats further ahead of his. The ''Clan Alpine'' then rescued the survivors from Boat 7 (55 of 57 occupants survived — 2 Lascars had died at sea) and then Boat 5 (47 of 56 occupants had survived — 2 Europeans and 7 Lascars had died at sea). The survivors reported that there were three other boats at sea, but by now were unsure where they were. After fruitless searching, the ''Clan Alpine'' landed the survivors at St Helena, though more would die after being transferred to the hospital. On the evening of 19 November, Boat 8, with 48 survivors out of 55 occupants (1 European and 7 Lascars died at sea) was rescued by the SS ''Bendoran'', and taken to Cape Town. These four boats had been at sea for 13 days before being rescued. Of those picked up, one man later died aboard the ''Bendoran'', two aboard the ''Clan Alpine'', and another four died in hospital in St Helena. Another three survivors — Angus MacDonald, John Edmead, and Diana Jarman — were picked up by the German merchant ship and
blockade runner A blockade runner is a merchant vessel used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait. It is usually light and fast, using stealth and speed rather than confronting the blockaders in order to break the blockade. Blockade runners usuall ...
, which was travelling from
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to
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, on 12 December 1942. They had spent 36 days at sea. One of the survivors — Diana Jarman — then died aboard the ''Rhakotis''. The ''Rhakotis'' was intercepted by the cruiser , torpedoed and sunk off
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on 1 January 1943. The two remaining survivors from ''City of Cairo'' managed to make it to different lifeboats and survive their second sinking. One was picked up the next day by and landed at
Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...
three days later. The submarine was almost destroyed en route, when she was detected and attacked by British bombers. The other survivor's lifeboat eventually landed in
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. Boat 4, with 17 people on board, having not sighted St Helena by 23 November, decided that they must have overshot it. Several of the occupants were already dead, and rather than trying to search the area for the island, decided to head west for the coast of
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to the west. On 27 December, after a voyage of 51 days, only the third officer and a female passenger were still alive when their boat was spotted by the
Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...
minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controll ...
''Caravelas''. They had got within of the Brazilian coast and were landed at Recife. The third officer, James Whyte, was awarded the
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. He was repatriated on the , but was killed when the ship was torpedoed and sunk by on 4 March 1943. The female survivor, Margaret Gordon, was awarded the BEM, but refused to cross the Atlantic until the war was over. Out of a total of 302 people aboard ''City of Cairo'', 107 died, with 195 surviving. Six are known to have died in the sinking, 94 in the boats, and seven after being rescued. Some of the names of those lost are inscribed on the
Tower Hill Memorial The Tower Hill Memorial is a pair of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials in Trinity Square Gardens, on Tower Hill in London, England. The memorials, one for the First World War and one for the Second, commemorate civilian, merchant seaf ...
.


Rediscovery

In April 2015, it was announced that the wreck had been rediscovered in 2011 at a depth of approximately 17,000 feet (5,150 metres), and that £34 million of silver, a "large percentage" of the total, had been salvaged by September 2013. The money generated from this recovery is still undergoing a legal dispute as to the true ownership. This is the current record for the deepest marine salvage operation.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:City of Cairo 1914 ships Ships built on the Humber Maritime incidents in 1929 Maritime incidents in November 1942 Ships of the Ellerman Lines Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Steamships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean