”
The 8999 ton Italian steamship Stampalia was wrought from steel at the Navali Reuniti shipyards in La Spezia in 1909. Previously known as SS Oceania, the ocean liner transported passengers (100 first-class and 2400 third-class) intercontinentally until 1912, sailing the route from Genova to Naples to Palermo to New York. After being rebuilt to instead accommodate 30 first-class passengers and 220 in second-class, she was renamed the Stampalia.
She was hired by the Italian Government for troop transport in 1915. On 17 August 1916 she was sunk by German submarine UB-47 30 miles south of Cape Matapan, Greece on a voyage from Genoa. According to reports of the event from New York and London, the ship had two guns mounted on her forward and aft decks, and went down 15 minutes after being hit by two torpedoes. The reports claim that several hundred victims drowned, unable to get to lifeboats in time before the ship went down. The ship’s commander, Eugenio Lavarello, did survive.
”
References
-
Passenger steamer Stampalia – Ships hit by U-boats – German and Austrian U-boats of World War One – Kaiserliche Marine – uboat.net [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/5745.html (accessed 7.5.20).
-
WRECKSITE – STAMPALIA OCEAN LINER 1909-1916 [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?58303 (accessed 7.5.20).
