Photo. www.armed-guard.com
Built: 1919
Tonnage: 2,609 / 4,145 tons
Cargo: Ballast
Route: Bombay - Capetown - Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana
Sunk 27 JUL 42 by U-582 on pos 06º 46"N 25º 05"W
1 Dead
2 POW
50 Survivors
At 08.47 hours on 27 Jul, 1942, the unescorted Stella Lykes (Master S. Charles Wallace) was hit by one torpedo from U-582 while steaming a zigzag course at 15.4 knots about
At 09.58 hours, a coup de grâce hit on the port side amidships and about two hours later the U-boat surfaced and fired 161 rounds into the vessel but she remained afloat. The master and the chief engineer were taken prisoner by the Germans and cigarettes, first aid supplies and the course to the nearest land were given to the remaining survivors. Some men from the U-boat boarded the wreck to place seven demolition charges, which caused the ship to sink by the stern at 15.15 hours. The survivors boarded the single lifeboat and made landfall on 8 August at Cacheu, Portuguese Guinea.
By Stella Lykes (American Steam merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net