Sinking
Tubantia began her regularly scheduled voyage from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires on 15 March 1916 nearly empty of passengers, despite Royal Holland Lloyd advertisements that boasted of "submarine signalling apparatus" on their passenger ships. After sailing to a position about 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) from the North Hinder Lightship, about 50 nautical miles (93 km) off the Dutch coast, Tubantia anchored at about 02:00 on 16 March to wait for daylight and avoid any chance of misidentification or attack. To that end, the ship was completely illuminated.
At about 02:30, crewmen aboard Tubantia spotted a stream of bubbles rapidly approaching the ship's starboard side, followed by an explosion. The ship quickly began sinking. Distress calls sent out by Tubantia were answered by three ships, Breda, Krakstau, and La Campine, which between them rescued all 80 passengers and all 294 members of the crew. The ship and her cargo were a total loss. Tubantia was the largest neutral vessel sunk during the entire war.
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Famous quotes containing the word sinking:
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