Cameronia (ship, 1911)
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The Cameronia (I) was a 1911 passenger ship of the British shipping company Anchor Line , which was used in transatlantic passenger traffic from Great Britain to the USA . The Cameronia was sunk on April 15, 1917 in the Mediterranean in use as a troop transport by a German submarine . 140 seamen and soldiers were killed.
history
The 10,963 GRT steamship Cameronia was built in the Partick district of Glasgow in the Meadowside Dock of the D. & W. Henderson & Company shipyard. The ship was 156.97 meters long, 18.97 meters wide and had a side height of 7.8 meters. The two triple expansion steam engines made 2328 nominal horsepower (15,600 bhp) and accelerated the ship up to 19 knots (35.2 km / h). The average cruising speed was 16 knots (29.6 km / h). The Cameronia was propelled by two propellers and had two funnels.
The Cameronia was built by the Anchor Line for the transatlantic route Glasgow - Moville - New York . After her launch on May 27, 1911, she cast off on September 13, 1911 for her maiden voyage to New York. The passenger accommodations were designed for 250 first class passengers, 450 second class passengers and 1000 third class passengers. She was the fastest ship of the shipping company on her route. In August 1914, the Cameronia brought 1218 back to New York Americans who had fled Europe before the war. As part of the merger of the Anchor Line with the Cunard Line , the ship served the Glasgow – Liverpool – New York route from February 1915. The passenger capacity also changed: 362 first class, 304 second class, 802 third class.
During the First World War , the Cameronia served as a troop transport in the Mediterranean . According to official information from the Cunard Line, the Cameronia was not used for military service until January 1917. On May 1, 1915, their departure from New York was canceled at short notice, as the ship was taken over by the British government and should be sent to Montreal to pick up troops . The 7 first class passengers, 30 second class passengers and five stewardesses on the Cameronia were transferred to the Lusitania , which left New York on the same day. This delayed the departure of the Lusitania by two and a half hours. 30 of the 42 people taken over died in the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915 in front of the Old Head of Kinsale .
On June 20, 1915, the Cameronia drove into the mouth of the River Mersey on the way to Liverpool when the periscope of a submarine was sighted on the starboard side . The ship was unarmed and Captain James Kinnaird decided to ram the submarine by the bow before it could launch a torpedo. The submarine dived and surfaced on the other side of the Cameronia . Kinnaird then let his ship sail away at full steam. The sub chased the steamer for a while, but then gave up and disappeared.
Sinking
On Sunday, April 15, 1917, the Cameronia was less fortunate. She was with 2650 soldiers and crew under the command of Captain David William Bone (1874-1959), DSC , on a journey from Alexandria to Marseille when she was 150 nautical miles east of Malta by U 33 under the command of First Lieutenant Hellmuth was torpedoed by Doemming. The Cameronia went under within 40 minutes. 129 soldiers and 11 crew members were killed (other sources even name 229 dead). Among the fatalities was the chief officer Robert McBurnie, who had survived the sinking of the California two months earlier . Some of the survivors were picked up by the British destroyer HMS Rifleman . Since the submarine was still in the area, the other castaways had to wait until the next morning until they were rescued by a Maltese sloop . The Cameronia was the largest ship sunk by U 33 .
Web links
- Technical and historical data in the Clydebuilt Ships Database (with photo)
- Technical key data of the Cameronia
- The sinking of the Cameronia in the submarine database
- Information about Cameronia on the Lusitania website
- Report of the sinking in the New York Times, May 19, 1917
- Information on Commander David Bone, last captain of the Cameronia