RMS Ebro
Encyclopedia
RMS Ebro was an ocean liner
built in 1914 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
. She was later owned and operated by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
, Jugoslavenska Lloyd and finally by Companhia Colonial de Navegaçãoi. In her last incarnation she made more crossings of the Atlantic during the Second World War than any other civilian vessel, leading to her being termed the Friendship vessel or Destiny ship. She was broken up in 1954.
shipbuilders Workman Clark & Company. She was launched in September 1914, and was 468 ft long with a beam of 55.8 ft.
, but due to the start of the First World War, she made only a single voyage on this service, in April 1915. She was then requisitioned, together with her sister ship , and four other liners of the company, by the Royal Navy
to serve as auxiliary cruisers armed with eight 6-inch guns, depth charges and mines
. The ships were integrated in the 10th Auxiliary cruiser squadron, were they served as convoy escorts throughout the war.
After the war Ebro was returned to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. The company decided to sell her to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
, which refitted her and then placed her on the New York
-Chile
service, sailing through the Panama Canal
. She carried out this service until the 1929 Wall Street crash forced the company into bankruptcy in 1930. Ebro was then moored at the mouth of the Avon River until 1935.
-Haifa
route, transporting passengers and general cargo. In 1940 Princess Olga was bought by the Portuguese company Companhia Colonial de Navegação.
on the Lisbon-Rio de Janeiro route. During 1940 Colonial transported around 2000 people to Brazil. With the increased demand, and already overstretched with passenger routes from Lisbon to Angola
and Mozambique
, to the Portuguese State of India, Macau
and East Timor
, Companhia Colonial de Navegação decided to purchase Princess Olga to carry greater numbers of passengers between Portugal
and its colonies. Prior to this the service had been carried out by pre-First World War liners, like Colonial, and her sister ship, Mousinho, the former . The Princess Olga was bought in April 1940, re-named Serpa Pinto and sailed to Lisbon. Her first voyage under the Portuguese flag was carried out soon after her arrival in Lisbon in May 1940, sailing to Lourenço Marques
.
When Italy declared war on the Allies
in June 1940, all Italian shipping routes were closed. Only three companies from neutral countries maintained their transatlantic routes. These were the Portuguese Companhia Nacional de Navegação and Companhia Colonial de Navegação and the Spanish Ybarra, from Seville
. The Spanish company did not have enough ships however to best utilize the transatlantic routes.
From August 1940 Serpa Pinto began her service on the transatlantic routes between Rio de Janeiro
, and North America (Philadelphia and New York). She was repeatedly stopped in mid-Atlantic by German submarines and US Navy and Royal Navy
ships for inspections. On the night of 26 May 1944, while en route to Philadelphia, the Serpa Pinto was stopped in the mid-Atlantic by a U-boat
. The U-boat's captain ordered the Serpa Pintos crew and passengers to abandon the ship in the lifeboats, and requested permission from Kriegsmarine
headquarters to torpedo the ship. The passengers and crew, with the exception of the captain who decided to remain on board whatever the German decision, duly left the ship in the lifeboats. There they were forced to wait all night while the German U-boat awaited a reply to its request. By dawn an answer had arrived from Admiral Karl Doenitz, who refused permission to sink the ship. The U-Boat then departed the area and the lifeboats returned to the ship. Three passengers were drowned during this incident.
During the Second World War Serpa Pinto made ten voyages between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, and ten between Lisbon and Philadelphia.
After the war Serpa Pinto remained on the Lisbon - Rio de Janeiro - Santos route until the company's new ocean liners Vera Cruz and Santa Maria entered service. Her last voyage to Brazil took place in July 1953. Afterwards she was placed on the Caribbean route (Lisbon - Havana) making 12 round trips to Havana, with stops at Vigo
, Funchal
, La Guaira
and Curacao
.
On 9 July 1954, Serpa Pinto sailed from Lisbon on her last voyage, São Vicente - Rio de Janeiro and Santos.
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
built in 1914 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by Scot James Macqueen. After good and bad times it became the largest shipping group in the world in 1927 when it took over the White Star Line....
. She was later owned and operated by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
Pacific Steam Navigation Company
The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was a commercial shipping company that operated in the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean.-History:...
, Jugoslavenska Lloyd and finally by Companhia Colonial de Navegaçãoi. In her last incarnation she made more crossings of the Atlantic during the Second World War than any other civilian vessel, leading to her being termed the Friendship vessel or Destiny ship. She was broken up in 1954.
Construction
The Ebro was ordered by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company from the BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
shipbuilders Workman Clark & Company. She was launched in September 1914, and was 468 ft long with a beam of 55.8 ft.
British service
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company initially planned for Ebro to operate on the West Indies service in the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, but due to the start of the First World War, she made only a single voyage on this service, in April 1915. She was then requisitioned, together with her sister ship , and four other liners of the company, by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
to serve as auxiliary cruisers armed with eight 6-inch guns, depth charges and mines
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
. The ships were integrated in the 10th Auxiliary cruiser squadron, were they served as convoy escorts throughout the war.
After the war Ebro was returned to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. The company decided to sell her to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
Pacific Steam Navigation Company
The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was a commercial shipping company that operated in the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean.-History:...
, which refitted her and then placed her on the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
service, sailing through the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
. She carried out this service until the 1929 Wall Street crash forced the company into bankruptcy in 1930. Ebro was then moored at the mouth of the Avon River until 1935.
Yugoslav service
In 1935 Ebro was sold to Yugoslavenska Lloyd and re-named Princess Olga. Under Yugoslav ownership, Princess Olga was used on the DubrovnikDubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
-Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
route, transporting passengers and general cargo. In 1940 Princess Olga was bought by the Portuguese company Companhia Colonial de Navegação.
Portuguese service
By 1940 the Second World War had greatly increased the numbers of people seeking to leave Europe for the Americas. Companhia Colonial de Navegação operated the small and underpowered ColonialSS Ypiranga
The S.S. Ypiranga was a German-registered cargo-steamer owned and operated by Hamburg-America Line shipping company. It was built in 1908 by Germania Werft and is 448.4’ x 55.3’, with a maximum gross burden of 8,142 tonnes. After launching, the Ypiranga was found to be notoriously unsteady at sea...
on the Lisbon-Rio de Janeiro route. During 1940 Colonial transported around 2000 people to Brazil. With the increased demand, and already overstretched with passenger routes from Lisbon to Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, to the Portuguese State of India, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
and East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, Companhia Colonial de Navegação decided to purchase Princess Olga to carry greater numbers of passengers between Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and its colonies. Prior to this the service had been carried out by pre-First World War liners, like Colonial, and her sister ship, Mousinho, the former . The Princess Olga was bought in April 1940, re-named Serpa Pinto and sailed to Lisbon. Her first voyage under the Portuguese flag was carried out soon after her arrival in Lisbon in May 1940, sailing to Lourenço Marques
Lourenço Marques
Lourenço Marques was a 16th century Portuguese trader and explorer.-Biography:He explored the area that is now Maputo Bay in 1544. He settled permanently in present-day Mozambique, where he spent most of his life with his black wife and mixed-race children.By order of King John III the bay was...
.
When Italy declared war on the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
in June 1940, all Italian shipping routes were closed. Only three companies from neutral countries maintained their transatlantic routes. These were the Portuguese Companhia Nacional de Navegação and Companhia Colonial de Navegação and the Spanish Ybarra, from Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. The Spanish company did not have enough ships however to best utilize the transatlantic routes.
From August 1940 Serpa Pinto began her service on the transatlantic routes between Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, and North America (Philadelphia and New York). She was repeatedly stopped in mid-Atlantic by German submarines and US Navy and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
ships for inspections. On the night of 26 May 1944, while en route to Philadelphia, the Serpa Pinto was stopped in the mid-Atlantic by a U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
. The U-boat's captain ordered the Serpa Pintos crew and passengers to abandon the ship in the lifeboats, and requested permission from Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
headquarters to torpedo the ship. The passengers and crew, with the exception of the captain who decided to remain on board whatever the German decision, duly left the ship in the lifeboats. There they were forced to wait all night while the German U-boat awaited a reply to its request. By dawn an answer had arrived from Admiral Karl Doenitz, who refused permission to sink the ship. The U-Boat then departed the area and the lifeboats returned to the ship. Three passengers were drowned during this incident.
During the Second World War Serpa Pinto made ten voyages between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, and ten between Lisbon and Philadelphia.
After the war Serpa Pinto remained on the Lisbon - Rio de Janeiro - Santos route until the company's new ocean liners Vera Cruz and Santa Maria entered service. Her last voyage to Brazil took place in July 1953. Afterwards she was placed on the Caribbean route (Lisbon - Havana) making 12 round trips to Havana, with stops at Vigo
Vigo
Vigo is a city and municipality in north-west Spain, in Galicia, situated on the ria of the same name on the Atlantic Ocean.-Population:...
, Funchal
Funchal
Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...
, La Guaira
La Guaira
La Guaira is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Vargas and the country's chief port. It was founded in 1577 as an outlet for Caracas, to the southeast. The town and the port were badly damaged during the December 1999 floods and mudslides that affected much of the region...
and Curacao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
.
On 9 July 1954, Serpa Pinto sailed from Lisbon on her last voyage, São Vicente - Rio de Janeiro and Santos.