SS Falaba was a British cargo liner. She was built in Scotland in 1906 and sunk by a U-boat in the North Atlantic in 1915. The sinking killed more than 100 people, provoking outrage in both the United Kingdom and United States.
Falaba's registered length was 300.5ft (91.6m), her beam was 47.4ft (14.4m) and her depth was 22.9ft (7.0m). Her tonnages were 4,806GRT and 3,011NRT.[5] She had berths for 210 passengers: 138 in first class, and 72 in second class.[6]
In 1911 Elder, Dempster bought Albertville and renamed her Elmina.[3][6]
Loss and rescue
On the afternoon of 27 March 1915 Falaba left Liverpool for West Africa carrying 151 passengers and 95 crew.[6] They included 30 British Army officers on their way to prepare for the Kamerun campaign, and 70 Colonial Service officers.[9] Her cargo included 13 tons of cartridges and gunpowder.[10][11]
The next day Falaba sighted a submarine in St George's Channel38 nautical miles (70km) west of the Smalls Lighthouse. The submarine was flying the White Ensign, but as it closed on her, it replaced it with the ensign of the Imperial German Navy, and signalled "Stop and abandon ship". The submarine was U-28. Falaba's Master, Captain Frederick J Davis, ordered "full ahead", which increased her speed to 15 knots (28km/h). Falaba also fired distress rockets. U-28 gave chase at 16 knots (30km/h) for a quarter of an hour, and ordered "Stop or I will fire". Falaba hove to, and U-28 told her "You have ten minutes".[6][9]
Falaba's Chief Officer ordered the Marconi wireless operator to transmit a distress signal.[14] It said "Submarine alongside. Am putting off passengers in boats." Cymric was one of the ships that received the signal, and was no more than 15 nautical miles (28km) away, but Admiralty standing orders forbade her to put herself at risk by going to assist.[13] A few minutes later, Cymric's Marconi operator heard Royal Navy warships answering Falaba's signal.[12]
Falaba began abandoning ship. After 23 minutes, before she had launched all her lifeboats, smoke was sighted on the horizon. U-28 fired one torpedo from a range of only 100 yards,[15] hitting Falaba's engine room,[16] and causing her to sink within ten minutes at position 51°30′N06°36′W / 51.500°N 6.600°W / 51.500; -6.600. The explosion also capsized the first two lifeboats that had been launched, throwing many people into the water.[15]
One survivor said that about 50 people were standing on Falaba's poop when the torpedo struck, and he believed that all of them were killed. He said that he was with about 40 people in a lifeboat, but it was leaking badly, and within about 20 minutes it filled with water and capsized. Falaba's wireless operator described being in a lifeboat "but almost as soon as it touched the water it began to sink, a part of the side having burst through". A passenger with a piece of rope held the crack together as well as he could, but water poured in and soon we were up to our waists in water." He added that a member of the crew was washed away from the swamped lifeboat.[14]
111 people were killed, including Captain Davis. Some survivors, including the Second Engineer, alleged that about a dozen of U-28's crew were on deck, laughing at the victims, and making no effort to rescue anyone.[17] The German government rejected such accusations as "shameless lies".[18]
One British passenger took photographs aboard Falaba while the passengers and crew were abandoning ship. The film in his camera survived, although he was in the water for an hour before being rescued. The Daily Mirror published his photographs.[19]
Two drifters, Eileen Emma and Wenlock, rescued survivors, and towed the lifeboats to safety. Eight people, including Captain Davis, died of hypothermia after being rescued.[6][16] Survivors were landed in Milford Haven, Wales.[14][20]
At the end of March, Dr Bernhard Dernburg, a German former Colonial Minister who was living in the United States, said that Germany had given "ample warning" on 18 February that persons traveling on any British ship would be in danger. He called U-28's actions "perfectly justifiable", because Falaba did not heave to when ordered.[22] A few days later, in an official message to the German Embassy in Washington, the German government also stressed that it had given due warning, and held the British government responsible for the loss of British vessels and neutral passengers.[23]
On 6 April a German statement that was described as a "semi-official account" criticised Falaba for spending 15 minutes speeding away from U-28 instead of heaving to, and pointed out that when Falaba did finally obey the order, U-28 did not fire its torpedo until after 23 minutes, and then only because of the approach of vessels, which it feared were Allied warships. The German statement reasoned that Falaba's officers and men should have used the 15 minutes of the chase to prepare her lifeboats for launching. It alleged that when they did launch her lifeboats, it was "in an unseamanlike manner", and that "They failed to give assistance, which was possible, to passengers struggling in the water."[9]
A German communiqué drafted at the end of May 1915 complained that the UK had advised its merchant ships to disguise themselves by flying the flag of a neutral country, and to try to ram enemy submarines. U-boats were therefore entitled to torpedo merchant ships in self-defence.[24]
Some survivors told the inquiry that the lifeboats were "rotten", and that some of them were damaged when being launched.[25]Counsel for Elder, Dempster denied that the boats were unseaworthy.[26]
When the inquiry concluded on 8 July, Lord Mersey said he was satisfied that those witnesses were "mistaken", and the damage was not due to neglect by Falaba's officers or crew.[25] He declared that "The cargo was an ordinary one", and he dismissed the presence of 13 tons of cartridges and gunpowder as "no more than is usually carried in peace time".[11] He found the officers and men of U-28 "exclusively" responsible for the loss of life.[25]
Related Research Articles
RMS Lusitania was an ocean liner that was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 and held the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing in 1908. She was the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania three months later. The Lusitania was sunk on her 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing, on 7 May 1915, by a German U-boat 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,197 passengers and crew.
RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner, built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson as a successor of the 1911–1917 Laconia. The new ship was launched on 9 April 1921, and made her maiden voyage on 25 May 1922 from Southampton to New York City. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and later a troopship. She was sunk in the South Atlantic Ocean on 12 September 1942 by torpedoes. Like her predecessor, sunk during the First World War, this Laconia was also destroyed by a German submarine. Some estimates of the death toll have suggested that over 1,658 people were killed when the Laconia sank. The U-boat commander Werner Hartenstein then staged a dramatic effort to rescue the passengers and the crew of Laconia, which involved additional German U-boats and became known as the Laconia incident.
The Thrasher incident, as it became known in US media, was a political and diplomatic incident in 1915, when the United States was still neutral in World War I. On 28 March 1915 the German U-boat U-28 sank the British steamship Falaba by torpedo, killing more than 100 people. One of the victims was a passenger from the US, Leon Chester Thrasher.
Mount Temple was a passenger cargo steamship built in 1901 by Armstrong Whitworth & Company of Newcastle for Elder, Dempster & Co Ltd of Liverpool to operate as part of its Beaver Line. The ship was shortly afterwards acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway.Although nearby, it did not assist the Titanic during its time of crisis, nor respond to its repeated stress flare signals.
SS Robin Moor was a United States cargo steamship that was built in 1919 and sunk by a U-boat in May 1941, several months before the US entered World War II.
SS Georgia was a passenger and cargo ship that was launched in Germany in 1891 as Pickhuben. The Hamburg America Line acquired her in 1892, and renamed her Georgia in 1895. In 1915 a US company bought her and renamed her Housatonic.
SS Montrose was a British merchant steamship that was built in 1897 and wrecked in 1914. She was built as a cargo liner for Elder, Dempster & Company. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought her and had her converted into a passenger liner.
SS Ancona was an ocean liner, built in 1908 by Workman, Clark and Company of Belfast for the Societa di Navigazione a Vapore Italia of Genoa. She was an emigrant ship on a route between Italy and the United States. SM U-38 sank her on 8 November 1915 off the coast of Tunisia.
SS Armenian was a British cargo liner that was launched in Ireland in 1895. In her first few years she carried cattle from Boston to Liverpool. From 1903 she carried cattle from New York to Liverpool. Leyland Line owned her throughout her career, but White Star Line managed her from 1903. She carried prisoners of war in the Second Boer War, and horses and mules in the First World War.
Ramón Alonso R. was a merchant steamship that was built in Scotland in 1898 and scrapped in Spain in 1959. Her original name was Montclair. She was renamed José Gallart in 1901, Balmes in 1911 and Ramón Alonso R. in 1929. Her first owner was the British Elder Dempster Lines, but she spent most of her career with a succession of Spanish owners. She was built as a transatlantic ocean liner with some cargo capacity, but in 1927 she was refitted as a cargo ship. In 1913, when she was called Balmes, the ship survived a serious cargo fire in mid-Atlantic.
The RMS Lusitania was a British-registered ocean liner that was torpedoed by an Imperial German Navy U-boat during the First World War on 7 May 1915, about 11 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. The attack took place in the declared maritime war-zone around the UK, shortly after unrestricted submarine warfare against the ships of the United Kingdom had been announced by Germany following the Allied powers' implementation of a naval blockade against it and the other Central Powers. The passengers had been warned before departing New York of the danger of voyaging into the area in a British ship.
SS Ebani was a cargo steamship that was built in England in 1912 and scrapped in Belgium in 1950. She was renamed Maristella in 1938, Rio Atuel in 1941, and reverted to Maristella in 1946.
MV Abosso was a passenger, mail, and cargo liner, the flagship of Elder Dempster Lines. In peacetime she ran scheduled services between Liverpool and West Africa. In the Second World War she was a troop ship, running between the United Kingdom, West Africa, and South Africa.
SS Winifredian was a British cargo liner that was launched in Ireland in 1899. She was designed to carry a large number of cattle or other livestock, and a smaller number of passengers. When she was built she had a small amount of refrigerated space in her holds. This was increased twice in the first 15 years of her career. In the Second Boer War and the First World War she carried troops and horses. She survived striking a mine in 1917. She spent her whole career with Frederick Leyland & Co, mostly on a scheduled route between Liverpool and Boston. She was scrapped in Italy in 1929.
SS Rio Tercero was a cargo steamship that was launched in England in 1912 as Eboe. She was renamed Fortunstella in 1938, and Rio Tercero in 1941. A U-boat sank her in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1942.
SS Devonian was a British cargo liner that was launched in Ireland in 1900. She was designed to carry a large number of cattle or other livestock, and a smaller number of passengers. When she was built she had a small amount of refrigerated space in her holds. This was increased twice in her career. She spent her whole career with Frederick Leyland & Co, mostly on a scheduled route between Liverpool and Boston.
SS Prinz Oskar was a twin-screw cargo liner that was launched in Germany in 1902 for Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). She served various transatlantic routes between Europe and the Americas until the First World War began.
HMS Lucia was a steamship that was launched in England in 1907 as the passenger and cargo ship Spreewald for Hamburg America Line (HAPAG)'s Caribbean services. The Royal Navy captured her in 1914, and renamed her Lucia. Elder Dempster Lines managed her until 1916, when she was converted into the submarine depôt ship HMS Lucia.
SS Aguila was a British merchant steamship that was built in Scotland in 1909. She was one of a small fleet of ships that Yeoward Brothers ran between Liverpool and the Canary Islands, importing fruit to Britain, and carrying passengers in both directions. A U-boat sank her in 1915.
SS Vigilancia was a merchant steamship that was built in Pennsylvania in 1890. She sailed between New York and Brazil via the West Indies until 1893, when her original owners went bankrupt. The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, commonly known as Ward Line, owned her from 1894 until 1914, and ran her between New York and Mexico via Cuba. In 1898 she was a troopship in the Spanish–American War.
Walker, Alastair (2012). Four Thousand Lives Lost: The Inquiries of Lord Mersey into the Sinking of the Titanic, the Empress of Ireland, the Falaba and the Lusitania. Stroud: The History Press. ISBN978-0752465715.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United Kingdom
