Princess Marguerite:
The Princess Marguerite was a 5,875 GRT coastal intercity passenger liner built at John Brown & Co., Ltd., Clydebank, Glasgow for the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. (Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd., Montreal). She, and her sister ship, the Princess Kathleen were known a "mini luxery liners" and were designed for service on the "Triangle Route" sailing between Seattle, WA; Victoria, BC; and Vancouver, BC. She was launched on 29 November 1924 by Marguerite Shaughnessy, daughter of the former CPR Chairman Baron Thomas George Shaughnessy (1853-1923), and was completed the following year with a length of 368.75 feet, beam of 60.2 feet, 6 main tube-type boilers, 2 auxiliary boilers, 2 HP/IP turbine sets geared to a single-reduction engines providing the 2 propeller shafts with 16,576 SHP for a speed of 22 knots. (View the ship's Deck Plan Here.)
On 17 August 1942, the Princess Marguerite was enroute to Famagusta, Cyprus, from Port Said as part of a small convoy consisting of the destroyers HMS Hero, HMS Kelvin and one other, the armed merchant cruiser HMS Antwerp, plus air cover. Onboard the ship were 125 crewman and 998 to 1000 British soldiers of the British 8th Army.

At 1408 on that day, the Princess Marguerite was struck by two of four torpedoes fired from the German submarine U-83 (Hans-Werner Kraus). The torpedoes hit the ship's fuel tanks and the resulting fire soon had the ship ablaze from stem to stern. The fire eventually reached the ship's magazine and the resulting explosion was the death knell of the ship. The ship's Master, Captain Richard A. Leicester, gave the order to abandon ship. Burning oil in the water made evacuation of the ship all the more dangerous.
By standards of the day, she was considered a luxurious steamer with indian carvings in her smoking rooms, seating for 170 diners, 147 First Class staterooms, and could carry 1,500 day passengers. Homeported in Victoria, BC, she provided continuous service on the Triangle Route until being requisitioned by the British Admiralty,Ministry of War Transport (MOWT), on 01 Spetember 1941 for use as a troop transport in the Mediterranean during WWII.
The Princess Marguerite took between 45 minutes to an hour to sink at position 32.03N/32.47E.

The survivors were immediately rescued by the HMS Hero H-99 (Lt M.W. Antrobus) and the HMS Kelvin F-37 (CDR. M.S. Townsend OBE DSC) and returned to Port Said. 119 crew members and 954 troops were rescued with between 49 and 55 lives lost. OF NOTE: Due to wartime secrecy, the sinking of the Princess Marguerite was not made public until 1945....almost 2 and a half years later!
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