Prosper Schiaffino

Prosper Schiaffino

Ship data flag  France other ship names Petite Terre Owner Charles Schiaffino Shipyard Bergens Mekaniske Verksteder A / S , Bergen Launch 1931 Whereabouts Sunk on November 10, 1945

Ship dimensions and crew length 78.0 m ( Lüa ) width 12.0 m Draft Max. 5.5 m

Machine system Machine performance 1,800 hp (1,324 kW)

The Prosper Schiaffino was a cargo ship that was destroyed by a sea ​​mine in November 1945 and sank.

history

The Prosper Schiaffino was built in Bergen , Norway , and launched as the Petite Terre . The freighter was used to transport bananas from the Antilles to France . In 1939 it passed into the possession of Charles Schiaffino et Cie , the most important shipping company in Algeria, whose merchant fleet finally included 20 ships, all of which were named after members of the family of the founder Charles Schiaffino. So the Petite Terre changed its name and became Prosper Schiaffino .

View from Port-Cros towards Porquerolles

In October 1945, the ship left the port of Marseille with the destination Algeria . There was a cargo of vegetables on board. On the return journey from Algeria to Toulon , the freighter had loaded red wine. When the captain discovered that the passage between the Giens peninsula and the island of Porquerolles was blocked, he changed course on November 10, 1945 in order to navigate between Porquerolles and Port-Cros . In this channel, the Prosper Schiaffino ran into a sea mine at 1:10 p.m. The bow of the ship was torn off in the explosion and both parts sank within a few minutes. Nevertheless, 25 of the 29 seafarers on board were rescued. Two more were recovered alive but never regained consciousness, and two more remained missing.

The wreck of the Prosper Schiaffino lies at the position 42 ° 59 ′ 56 ″  N , 6 ° 16 ′ 40 ″  E. Coordinates: 42 ° 59 ′ 56 ″  N , 6 ° 16 ′ 40 ″  E at a depth of 40 to 51 meters and is exposed to strong currents. The mast of the ship, which was initially upright, has since been knocked down.

In addition to the Prosper Schiaffino , the shipping company lost 18 other ships during or after the Second World War .

literature

• Alberto Vanzo, Prosper Schiaffino , in: Egidio Trainito (ed.), Adventure wreck diving. In the footsteps of sunken worlds , White Star Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86726-120-3 , pp. 68–71.

Footnotes

1. ↑ according to Wrecksite.eu
2. ↑ On numerous websites, for example here , the name Donator is given instead of Petite Terre .
3. ↑ Laurent Sciaffinos biography