Ships hit by U-boats


Wawaloam

American Sailing ship



Photo courtesy of Patsy Kenedy Bolling

NameWawaloam
Type:Sailing ship
Tonnage342 tons
Completed1918 - Gebr. Van Diepen, Waterhuizen 
OwnerLouis Kenedy, Bridgewater NS 
HomeportNew York 
Date of attack6 Aug 1942Nationality:      American
 
FateSunk by U-86 (Walter Schug)
Position39° 18'N, 55° 44'W - Grid CC 4559
Complement7 (0 dead and 7 survivors).
Convoy
RouteBridgetown, Barbados - St. Johns 
Cargo700 puncheons of molasses 
History

Built as Dutch Johanna for Vrachtvaart Mij Neerlandia, Rotterdam. 1921 renamed Ida IV for J. Westers, Groningen. 1926 sold to an owner in the United States and renamed Wawaloam.

 
Notes on event

At 19.08 hours on 6 Aug 1942, U-86 fired a G7e torpedo at the unescorted and unarmed Wawaloam (Master Louis Kenedy) about 460 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland. The torpedo passed underneath the ship, so the U-boat surfaced at 19.56 hours and began shelling the three-masted schooner with the deck gun from a distance of 5 miles. Two officers, four crewmen and one passenger abandoned ship in two dories after the first shot. As the gun became hot and malfunctioned, they fired at 22.38 hours a G7a coup de grĂ¢ce which missed the stern by one metre and at 22.45 hours another G7a that missed the bow. The U-boat then fired from close range three rounds into the waterline, two in the stern and three into the superstructure. Some drums of diesel oil on deck caught fire and the ship sank about 3 hours later. The Germans tried to question the survivors, but moderate seas made a conversation difficult so the master was taken aboard and later placed back into a boat. The survivors experienced a storm that capsized one of the dories before they were picked up on 11 August by the Irish steam merchant Irish Rose off Sable Island, transferred to HMS Campanula (K 18) (LtCdr W. Hine, RNR) and landed in Argentia, Newfoundland.

 
On boardWe have details of 6 people who were on board


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