What became Arandora Star's final voyage, was the transport of Italian and German internees as well as German prisoners of war to Canada. In Liverpool on 27–30 June, she embarked 734 interned Italian men, 479 interned German men, 86 German prisoners of war, 200 military guards, in addition to her crew of 174 officers and men.[ Her Master was Captain Edgar Wallace Moulton. The ship was bound for St John's, Newfoundland, and her internees for Canadian internment camps.
Sources disagree as to whether the ship left Liverpool on 30 June, or at 4 h on 2 July 1940. She sailed unescorted, and early on the morning of 2 July she was about 75 miles west of Bloody Foreland when she was torpedoed. U-47, commanded by Günther Prien, struck Arandora Star with a single torpedo. Prien believed the torpedo to be faulty,[11] but it detonated against Arandora Star's starboard side, flooding her aft engine room. All engine room personnel, including two engineer officers, were killed. Her turbines, main generators and emergency generators were all immediately put out of action and therefore knocked out all lights and communications aboard.[
Chief officer Frederick Brown gave the ship's position to the radio officer, who transmitted a distress signal.[At 7:5 hours Malin Head radio acknowledged the message and retransmitted to Land's End and to Portpatrick.
Lifeboats
Otto Burfeind
The cruise ship carried 14 lifeboats and 90 liferafts. The torpedo destroyed one starboard and disabled the davits and falls of another.[10] Two boats were damaged during their launch and thus useless.[citation needed] The crew successfully launched the remaining 10 boats and more than half the liferafts. Some boats were overloaded by prisoners descending the falls and side ladders, but many of the Italians were afraid to leave the ship.[At least four of the remaining lifeboats were launched with a very small number of survivors.[citation needed] One other lifeboat was swamped and sank shortly after being launched.[citation needed]
One of the internees was Captain Otto Burfeind, who had been interned after scuttling his ship, the Adolph Woermann. Burfeind stayed aboard Arandora Star organizing her evacuation until she sank and he was lost.
The ship listed further to starboard. At 7:15, Captain Moulton and his senior officers walked over the side into the rising water, leaving behind many Italians who were still afraid to leave the ship. At 7:20, the ship rolled over, raised her bow in the air and sank.[ 805 people were killed, including Captain Moulton, 12 of his officers, 42 of his crew and 37 of the military guards.[1
"I could see hundreds of men clinging to the ship. They were like ants and then the ship went up at one end and slid rapidly down, taking the men with her… Many men had broken their necks jumping or diving into the water. Others injured themselves by landing on drifting wreckage and floating debris near the sinking ship"
HMCS St. Laurent rescued 868 survivors from Arandora Star
At 9:30, an RAF Coastal Command Short Sunderland flying boat flew over and dropped watertight bags containing first aid kits, food, cigarettes, and a message that help was coming. The aircraft circled until 13:00,[ when the Canadian C-class destroyer HMCS St. Laurent arrived and rescued 868 survivors,[13] of whom 586 were detainees. The injured were taken to Mearnskirk Hospital in Newton Mearns, Glasgow. One of the survivors was the athletics coach Franz Stampfl.
On 3 July, the UK War Cabinet received a report on the disaster.[15] Its impact was overshadowed by the Royal Navy attack on Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, that sank elements of the French battle fleet. Throughout July and August, bodies were washed up on the Irish shore. On 30 July, the first body was found; 71-year-old Ernesto Moruzzi, who was found at Cloughglass, Burtonport. Four others were found on the same day. During August 1940, 213 bodies washed up on the Irish coast, of which 35 were from Arandora Star and a further 92 unidentified, potentially from the ship.[