Photo. www.photoship.co.uk
Built: 1920
Tonnage: 6,445 / 7,600 tons
Cargo: 4,519 tons of refrigerated cargo and 200 tons of fertilizers
Route: Buenos Aires - Montevideo (9 Aug) - Freetown - UK
Sunk 25 AUG 42 by U-130 on pos 06º 00”N 14º 00”W
8 Dead
52 Survivors
Launched as War Peony, completed in November 1919 as Lusiada for The Blue Star Line, Rio de Janeiro. 1920 renamed Vikingstar for Blue Star Line, London. 1929 renamed Viking Star for the same owner.
At 19.44 hours on 25 Aug, 1942, the unescorted Viking Star (Master James Edward Mills) was hit by two torpedoes from U-130 about 160 miles south-southwest of Freetown and sank after being hit amidships by a coup de grâce at 20.35 hours. The master and six crew members were lost. 31 crew members and five gunners made landfall after six days near Bonthe, Sierra Leone. 18 other crew members on rafts reached the coasts of Sierra Leone and Liberia within 18 days, but one gunner drowned whilst attempting to reach the shore from a raft on 4 September.
By Viking Star (British Steam merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net