British pass/cargo liner CERAMIC (1), imo 1135474/ 204m/ 18.481gt/ 3Xturbine/electric driving/ 15kn/ pax 600 3rd class; 05/07/1913 completed by Harland, Wolff, Ltd, Belfast, for Oceanic Steam Navigation Co., Ltd, (White Star Line), Liverpool; 1914 requisitioned as troopship for the Australian Expeditionary Force (AEF); 1934 CERAMIC, Shaw Savill & Albion Co., Ltd, Southampton; 23/11/1942 CERAMIC departed from Liverpool with 378 passengers plus 278 crew and gunners; 06/12/1942 while in transit without escort with pax and generals, she was torpedoed and sunk by U-515, circa 420 miles west-northwest of Azores in a storm. A distress signal from CERAMIC had been heard and HMS ENTERPRISE (D 52), and the Portuguese destroyer NRP DÃO were sent to search for survivors on 09/12/1942, but none were found. Only one survivor, a royal engineer, called Sapper Eric Munday, who was picked up by U-515 for interrogation and was interned in Malag-Malug North, near Hamburg, as prisoner of war. Other sailors in the area considered later that this storm was one of the worst storms that they had experience.
(OwnerÂ’s promotional brochure - my collection). |
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