6/10/1942 when torpedoed by German Submarine U-107 about  west of Cape Palmas, Liberia in position 06.380N, 15.46W [19] . She was on a voyage from Buenos Aires, Argentina to the River Mersey, with a cargo of 5374 tons of meat and 32 tons of eggs. Three crew and one passenger were lost.

The Andalucia Star was one of five splendid ships ordered by Blue Star Line in 1925, to be named Almeda, Avila, Andalucia, Arandora, and Avelona. Cammell Laird of Birkenhead built the Almeda, Arandora and Andalucia, whereas John Brown of Clydebank built the Avila and Avelona. As built the ships were virtually identical, with a slightly raked cruiser stern and two splendid funnels with Admiralty tops. Similar to her sisters, she was refitted in 1935, with the addition of a Maierform bow at Cammell Lairds.

Powered by two sets of Parsons combined impulse and reaction turbines developing together some 13,880 SHP, driving twin screws at some 120 rpm, giving a full sea speed of 16 kts. Steam was raised by three double-ended cylindrical boilers operating at 200 lbs/sq", these were oil fired although coal bunkers could also be carried.

ANDALUCIA STAR   October 6^th 1942

On September 26^th 1942, the 15,000 tons Blue Star liner Andalucia Star, commanded by Captain James Bennett Hall, sailed from Buenos Aires for the United Kingdom by way of Freetown. She carried the usual large cargo of refrigerated meat and other foodstuffs, and had on board a crew of 170 and 83 passengers, mainly British volunteers coming home to take part in the war, and including 22 women and three children. All went well until about 10:0 p.m. on the night of October 6^th when, steaming at her full speed of 16 knots without lights, in a position about 180 miles south-west of Freetown and within a few hundred miles of where the Viking Star and Tuscan Star had been sent to the bottom on August 2^nd and September 6^th, the Andalucia Star was torpedoed twice almost simultaneously abreast of Numbers 5 and 6 holds. Passengers and crew at once mustered at their boat stations, and on discovering that the main engine-room was flooding fast and there was no hope of saving the ship, Captain Hall gave the order for her to be abandoned.

Without the least signs of panic, all the boats were manned by their crews and passengers, lowered, and with one exception got safely away. The exception was lifeboat Number 2, the forward fall of which took charge during lowering, left her suspended by the after fall, and precipitated most of the occupants and her gear into the sea. All but two of her people, Mrs. L. A. Green, a stewardess, and a steward, were rescued.

About 20 minutes after the first attack the Andalucia Star was torpedoed a third time. The torpedo struck on the port side abreast Number 1 hold, the detonation being so violent that it blew out the starboard side of the ship also. Two boats filled with people that were alongside the starboard side had providential escapes from being destroyed; but were able to cast off and get clear.

Andalucia Star torpedoed for the third time ~ Painting © Wallace Trickett

Captain Hall was now left on board with four men. As the sea round the bows was covered with oil fuel, the captain took these four aft, where he hoped the water would be clearer. There he met a passenger, who, for one reason or another, had not gone to his boat station and seemed to be dazed. They managed to launch a raft and jumped overboard after it. One member of the crew, who with great difficulty had to be helped by the others, died of heart failure. The unfortunate passenger, though they searched for him, was never seen again.

At about 10.25 p.m. the Andalucia Star plunged to the bottom. No signs of the U-boat ( U-107 ) had been seen.

The people in the boats and raft were sorted out, and Captain Hall decided they should remain together during the night. Luckily the weather was good, with no more than a slight swell. No ships or aircraft being in sight next morning, October 7^th, the boats hoisted their sails and proceeded for Freetown, about 18o miles to the north-east. Keeping together, they sailed throughout that day with a fair wind and an overcast sky with rain, until, in the early hours next morning, they sighted, and were sighted by, the corvette H.M.S. Petunia. By about 4:0 a.m. the occupants of all the boats had been safely picked up and were landed at Freetown the same evening.

Captain Hall was a man of few words. His report was terse and restrained, and mentioned little beyond the bare facts. But at the end of his narrative he wrote:

“I would like to mention here that W. S. wheeler, Lamptrimmer, dived into the water from his boat and rescued a little girl passenger bringing her safely to the boat. Also N. Bennett, who volunteered to take over the wheel in place of Williams who was a married man. This request was granted and he was one of the last to leave the ship with me.”

Captain Hall and Able Seaman Norman Bennett were both officially “commended for their services when the Andalucia Star was sunk, as was the Fourth Engineer, Mr. John Williams Hubbard, for his promptitude and devotion to duty in stopping the engines and remaining in the engine-room until ordered to leave. Mrs. L. A. Green, Stewardess, also received a posthumous commendation, the Merchant Navy equivalent of a “mention in despatches”. As already mentioned, Mrs. Green lost her life during the lowering of one of the boats. She had previously shown coolness, for and devotion to duty in caring for the women and children passengers. One of her last acts was to switch on the red waistcoat light of a little girl aged four-and-a-half, and it was this light burning that enabled the child to be found and saved after she had been thrown into the water. When the child was the water she was seen for a moment by a fellow passenger, but then drifted away.

For saving the life of this little girl William Stewart Wheeler, the Lamptrimmer, was awarded the Bronze Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea. I will quote the official citation from the London Gazette:

“The ship, carrying a number of passengers was torpedoed in the darkness. As the vessel was sinking rapid abandonment was ordered. During the abandonment one of the boats was up-ended and in occupants thrown into the sea. Other hosts which had got clear were picking up survivors when the cry of a small child was heard some distance away. Wheeler immediately dived into the water, swam through wreckage for a distance of 600 yards to the child and supported it for over 30 minutes until they were found by another hoar and picked up. Lamptrimmer Wheeler displayed great courage in plunging overboard into a choppy sea covered with wreckage. But for his gallant action the life of the child s would undoubtedly have been lost.”

In 1975 the name, Andalucia Star was resurrected with the launching of a new Andalucia Star , this time a fully refrigerated cargo liner to carry on the famous name.