Sinking
On 14 March 1942 San Demetrio sailed unescorted from Baltimore, Maryland bound for the UK via Halifax, Nova Scotia with a cargo of 4,000 tons of alcohol and 7,000 tons of aviation spirit. On 17 March she was northwest of Cape Charles, Virginia when the German U-boat U-404 torpedoed and sank her. 16 crew and three DEMS gunners were lost and six crew wounded but survivors managed to launch two lifeboats. Two days later the US tanker SS Beta rescued the Master, 26 crew and five DEMS gunners and took them to Norfolk, Virginia. The Master, Conrad Vidot, was awarded the Lloyd's War Medal.
Read more about this topic: MV San Demetrio
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—James Thurber (1894–1961)
“Eternal Venice sinking by degrees
Into the very water that she lights;”
—Edgar Bowers (b. 1924)
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—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)