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- Built by Harland and Wolff,
in
Belfast
in 1912 for the White Star Line.
- length
655ft x beam 691/2ft (200m x 21m).
- 18,481
gross tons.
- Steam
driven passenger vessel, one funnel, four masts, triple screw, speed
15 knots.
- Launched
11 Dec 1912, delivered 5
Jul, 1913.
- Maiden
voyage 24th Jul.1913.
- In 1914 requisitioned as troopship for the
Australian Expeditionary Force.
- In 1934 bought by Shaw Savill &
Albion SS Co. In 1936 rebuilt to 18,713 tons, modernised
and given a speed of 16 knots. Again taken over for trooping in
1940.
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Further history of the Ceramic.
In May of 1916.
while in the
Mediterranean
with 2,500 troops on board, Ceramic narrowly escaped after
having two torpedoes being fired at her and was able to out-distance
the U-boat. In June of 1917, Ceramic was fired on again in the
English Channel
. The torpedo missed and Ceramic took off once again out
running her attacker. One month later, in July of 1917, Ceramic was
chased for 40 minutes by a surfaced U-boat firing her deck guns, and
again, she out distanced the U-boat.
After WWI, she went back into service as a passenger ship,
sailing from Liverpool to
Sydney
. In 1939, (WWII) she was requisitioned once again for troop
transport duties out of Australia, but continued carrying passengers
as well. On November 23, 1942, Ceramic left
Liverpool
, commanded by Captain R. Elford, on what was to be her last voyage.
She was carrying about 200 military personnel (mostly medical staff)
and 150 civilians including children.
Sailing
in a convoy initially, Ceramic departed the convoy and
continued on her assigned route by herself. On the pitch dark evening
of December 6, while sailing in bad weather West of the
Azores
, Ceramic was hit by a torpedo fired from U-515
commanded by Kapitänleutnant Werner Henke. A few minutes later, two
more torpedoes hit the engine room below the water line, permanently
stopping the ship. About eight lifeboats managed to get launched.
Ceramic
was slow in sinking, and a few hours later the U-boat, lingering in
the area, fired 2 more torpedoes at the liner breaking her in two. She
disappeared within minutes. In rough seas and pouring rain, the
lifeboats began capsizing and survivors were left struggling in the
water.
The next day,
still in rough seas, U-515 returned to the scene and surfaced
near the survivors. Trying to find out where Ceramic was headed
for, the U-boast crew threw a rope to one of Ceramic's crew the
water, Engineer Eric Munday was taken aboard the submarine but not
able (or willing) to provide much information to the German U-boat
captain.
U-515 departed
the area leaving Ceramic's survivors behind to die. Engineer
Munday was kept on board the U-boat as a prisoner and transferred to
Stalag 8B in
Upper Silesia
where he remained a POW until the camp was liberated at the end of the
war. No one knew the story behind Ceramic's disappearance until
Munday's release and he was able to tell the story.
Acknowledgments & links.
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