Italian submarine fates

Ships hit by Italian submarines

Type	Sailing ship
Country	Panamanian
Built	1919	GRT	1,087

Date of attack	3 Jun 1942	Time	0730
Fate	Sunk by submarine Leonardo da Vinci (C.C. Luigi Longanesi Cattani)
Position of attack	7° 00'N, 13° 15'W
Complement	11 (no casualties, 11 survivors)
Convoy
Notes	At 1745 hours, a sailing ship was sighted. Da Vinci chased her. At 2250 hours, the submarine stopped her with three 100mm rounds and machine gun fire. This was the Panamanian windjammer *Reine Marie Stewart* (1,087 GRT, built 1920) on passage Lourenço Marques to New York. She stopped and was evacuated. Da Vinci sent a three-man boarding party. They attempted to blow it up with a demolition charge of 20 kgs. She was damaged but did not sink. A new boarding party of four men attempted to set her afire but she was still afloat. At 0655 hours on 3rd June, a stern torpedo was fired but, after a run of about 50 metres, it disappeared from view. At 0730 hours, a second torpedo was fired and hit the vessel amidship and she finally sank. The following evening, tubes 7 and 8 were reloaded while the submarine was surfaced. All the crew was rescued (11 survivors) by the British *Afghanistan*.