A note of interest about the shipbuilders, Harland & Wolff, this is the same company that built the Titanic.
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Members of the crew who were lost on the SS "Oranjestad", February 16, 1942
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| LAKE TANKER ORANJESTAD | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Lake Tanker Oranjestad lay at anchor off of Lago Colony. It was the early morning of February 16, 1942. She was awaiting daylight so she could enter San Nicholas harbor and discharge her 2,396 tons of crude oil she had carried over from Lake Maracaibo to feed the Lago refinery. This was something she had been doing since 1927, making two trips a week back and forth from Venezuela to Aruba with crude and then back to empty to pick up another load of crude. She was just one of about 24 little tankers that fend the refinery the crude it needed to keep operating. It was while at anchor that she was torpedoed by U-boat 156. As soon as she was struck by the torpedo she burst into flames. The watch raised the Captain who gave the order to raise the anchor but it was to late, within minutes she was engulfed in fire and the Captain and crew knew she was sinking. Some of the men managed to make it to the bow while others left the ship from aft and some, ten in total, were not so luck and went down with the ship. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Lake Tanker SS
Oranjestad was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd. Belfast, Ireland and
launched in 1927. This company is no longer in business but Dick
de Bruin was able to locate the photos below from the
National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI).
http://www.nmni.com/Home A note of interest about the shipbuilders, Harland & Wolff, this is the same company that built the Titanic. |
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| Here you see the ribs of the ship and the steel plate being riveted to the ribs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A closer view of the ship as construction begins. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This is one of the bulkheads which were installed in the ship. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A good view of the aft end of the ship before she was launched. The propeller that can be seen in the photograph is the one that was retrieved by The Dive Team in Aruba 82 years later. The small photo below shows Paulus Martinjn as he signals to lift the propeller off the bottom. This was a second lift from about 40 feet of water where the propeller was left after being lifted from the 225 foot depth. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A view of the Oranjestad bow before she was launched. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Here you see the aft end of Oranjestad as she slides into the water at launch. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Here you see the unfinished and newly launched Oranjestad being towed to a location where the work on her can be completed at dockside. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Oranjestad as she leaves for sea trials or her trip to Aruba, she is under her own steam as the smoke from her stack shows. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lake Tanker Oranjestad was under the command of Captain Herbert Morgan when she was torpedoed. Oranjestad was hit by the second torpedo fired by U-156, the first torpedo having hit the Pedernales. From the crew of 25 men, 15 survived but 10 were lost. Captain Morgan was one of the survivors. You can read more about the Oranjestad and the attack on the island of Aruba by U-158 in the February 16, 1962 edition of the Aruba Esso News. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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