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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
with heavy loss of life, most after the sinking, but before being rescued.
It was built by
Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd,
Hull in 1915 for
Ellerman Lines Ltd of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. It was long, had two decks, two masts and . She was registered in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
.
On 29 January 1929, ''City of Cairo''′s propeller struck the British
tug at
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Her last voyage, under the command of her master, William A. Rogerson, was to take her from
Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
, which she departed on 1 October 1942 for the United Kingdom, via
Durban
Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Situated on the east coast of South ...
,
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, and
Pernambuco
Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
.
The ship departed Cape Town at 0600 hours on the morning of 1 November, carrying 101 passengers, including 29 women and 18 children. Also on board were 10
DEMS Gunners from the Army and
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
. 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 lands east of the Cape of Good Hope who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the mid-20th centur ...
crews recruited in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
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
South Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...
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. 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
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay (; ; ) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the List of cities in Namibia, second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers an area of of land.
The bay is a ...
station in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
.
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 one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory.
Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...
. 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 No ...
, 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 cel ...
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 () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...
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 usua ...
, which was travelling from Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
to Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, 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 Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre (, also ; ; ) is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain.
In Roman times it was believed to be an end of the known world. The name Finisterre, like that of Finistère in France, derives from the Latin , mean ...
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 (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...
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 Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
.
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 South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
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
The Brazilian Navy () is the navy, naval service branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces, responsible for conducting naval warfare, naval operations.
The navy was involved in War of Independence of Brazil#Naval action, Brazil's war of independence ...
minelayer
A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle 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 ins ...
''Caravelas''. They had got within of the Brazilian coast and were landed at Recife. The third officer, James Whyte, was awarded the MBE. 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 (Ingham), 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.
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
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{{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 South Atlantic