Sandar

Requisitioned Auxiliary - Sandar

Built by: Burmeister and Wain, Copenhagen    Completed: 1928

Tonnage: 7624 grt, 4544 nett, 12,000 dwt

Length: 451.9 feet

Beam: 59.2 feet

Draught: 33.9 feet

Machinery: 6 cylinder Burmeister and Wain diesel engine

In Admiralty Service (Royal Fleet Auxiliary) from 1940

The ship was on passage from Port of Spain to Gibraltar with a cargo of 11,500 tons of fuel oil, when on 2 May 1942, she was torpedoed by U 66 (Korvettan Luitenant Richard Zapp) in position 11º 42 N  61º 10 W.

The amidships section was ablaze and one lifeboat had been destroyed in the attack, the order was given to abandon ship and the Port lifeboat was launched with 25 men in it, and the ship’s motorboat with the rest of the crew.

Shortly after leaving the ship a loud explosion was heard from the engine room and the ship started to sink by the stern, she slipped beneath the waves after about 2 minutes.

The motorboat capsized and the men in it were rescued by the Port lifeboat, the Captain was found to be badly burned and two men were missing.  Shortly afterwards the U Boat surfaced and came alongside the lifeboat, after questioning the survivors, the U Boat passed some food and medical supplies to the lifeboat and gave them the course and distance to Trinidad, before departing.

The survivors were rescued the next day, 25 miles North of Port of Spain, after being spotted by aircraft, the Captain was admitted to hospital there, but later died of his injuries, of the 28 Norwegian, 4 British, 1 Australian, 1 Danish, 1 Greek and 1 Irish seamen, 3 were lost.