Gandia
Gandia under her former name Arawa. Photo Courtesy of A. Duncan
| Name | Gandia | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 9.626 tons | ||
| Completed | 1907 - Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend, Sunderland | ||
| Owner | Compagnie Maritime Belge (Lloyd Royal) SA, Antwerp | ||
| Homeport | Antwerp | ||
| Date of attack | 22 Jan, 1942 | Nationality:  Belgian | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-135 (Friedrich-Hermann Praetorius) | ||
| Position | 45.00N, 41.00W - Grid BC 9159 - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 79 (65 dead and 14 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | ON-54 (straggler) | ||
| Route | Liverpool (15 Jan) - St.John, New Brunswick | ||
| Cargo | 500 tons of potash as ballast | ||
| History | Built as British steam passenger ship Arawa for Shaw Savill & Albion Co Ltd. 1914 she was requisitioned, used as troopship and returned to commercial service in 1921. 1928 sold to Arnold Bernstein, Germany and renamed Königstein for Red Star Linie GmbH, Hamburg. 1939 bought by Van Heyghen Frères, Gent for scrap, but then purchased by Cie Maritime Belge and renamed Gandia. | ||
| Notes on loss | At 22.21 hours on 22 Jan, 1942, U-135 fired a spread of two torpedoes at the Gandia (Master Maurice Potié), a straggler from convoy ON-54 due to heavy seas, about 420 miles east of Cape Race and hit her in the stern. The master, 68 crew members (62 Belgians) and ten gunners tried to abandon ship in four lifeboats, but two of them were destroyed by the rough sea while the remaining boats were only partially filled. Most of the crew drowned when the ship sank, including the master. Ten survivors in one of the boats were picked up by USS Bernadou (DD 153) (LtCdr R.E. Braddy) on 5 February and landed at Reykjavik. Four survivors in a second boat were picked up by the Portuguese motor trawler João Corte Real and landed at Oporto on 26 February. | ||
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