Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow under her former name Anja
| Name | Scapa Flow | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 4.827 tons | ||
| Completed | 1914 - Flensburger Schiffsbau-Ges., Flensburg | ||
| Owner | American-West African Line Inc, New York | ||
| Homeport | Panama | ||
| Date of attack | 14 Nov, 1942 | Nationality:  Panaman | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-134 (Rudolf Schendel) | ||
| Position | 12N, 30W - Grid EH 9464 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 60 (33 dead and 27 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Takoradi - West African ports - Freetown (8 Nov) - Trinidad - St. Thomas - Philadelphia | ||
| Cargo | 4500 tons of manganese ore, 1500 tons of latex in drums and 500 tons of baled rubber | ||
| History | Built as Gera, 1914 renamed Lübeck, 1921 renamed Trelevan, 1929 renamed Airthria, 1938 sold to Finland and renamed Anja for Birger Krogius, Helsinki. In September 1939, the Anja was interned at Baltimore and on 27 Dec, 1941, seized by the US under an Executive Order and turned over to the US War Shipping Administration (WSA). She was renamed Scapa Flow, registered in Panama and allotted to the American-West African Line Inc, New York under a GAA agreement on 2 Jan, 1942. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 16.58 hours on 14 Nov, 1942, the unescorted Scapa Flow (Master Samuel Newbold Mace) was hit on the port side under the bridge and at #3 hatch by two torpedoes from U-134 and sank in less then one minute. The ship had been spotted at 11.37 hours on a route on which attacks were prohibited and the U-boat had first to ask the BdU for an attack permission. The U-boat surfaced 45 minutes after the attack, questioned 23 survivors in a damaged lifeboat with two rafts in tow and gave them a tin of bandages. The Germans asked for the master and chief engineer but they were not among the survivors. The 47 crew members and 13 armed guards on board had no time to launch the four lifeboats. Only a metal boat, which had been obtained from the John Carter Rose at some port where they had been berthed together and four rafts floated free. The master, 25 crew members and six armed guards (they were pinned under the aft gun platform when it collapsed after the hits) were lost. The men on the rafts transferred the next morning into the boat together with the supplies, but one armed guard later died and was buried at sea. The survivors were picked up on 1 December by HMS Armeria (K 187) and landed at Freetown six days later. On 1 Jan, 1943, they were repatriated to New York, arriving on 15 January. | ||
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