ssMaritime.com & ssMaritime.net
With Reuben Goossens
Maritime Historian
MS Skaubryn
The
Day Skaubryn Burned & the Harold Weiss Story
On March 14, 1958, Skaubryn departed Bremerhaven heading for Australia under the command of Captain Alf Haakon
Feste. One of the passengers onboard was the
26 year old Harold Weiss. On her way to Australia
and crossing the Indian Ocean, tragically a
fire broke out in
the engine room in the evening of March 31. Thankfully, as the photographs below prove, the seas were
calm enabling passengers to abandon the ship without too many dramas.
This page will tell the story of that day and the story as related to me by
Harold Weiss.
Mr.
Weiss took this photo on the morning of April 1. A tragic sight indeed
Photograph © Harold Weiss
As the Ellerman Lines City of Sydney
approached the burning Skaubryn in the morning, passengers were efficiently
evacuated per lifeboat. One German gentleman suffered a heart attack whilst in
a lifeboat and sadly he later passed away. All of the 1288 passengers and 208 crew were
transferred to the City of Sydney and due to her being a cargo/passenger liner
with accommodations for just 38 passengers Skaubryn passengers needed to be
transferred to another ship, however, whilst onboard all passengers were well
looked after in every possible way! The following day (April 2) the Flotta Laura Liner SS Roma arrived
and all passengers were transferred to the Roma per lifeboat. The Roma
proceeded to take the Skaubryn passengers to Aden.
As the two photographs
prove, the fire on the Skaubryn caused great damage to her central
superstructure. Although an attempt was made to tow her to Aden by HMS Loch Fada,
the Dutch Tug Cycloop took over the task, but days
later the Skaubryn began to take on water and on April 6, 1958 MS Skaubryn
broke in two and sank into the deep.
Harold Weiss remembers this voyage well and said that she
was a delightful ship and he had a most enjoyable time on her, until the tragic
event on March 31.
Here we see the Skaubryn still ablaze
Photograph © Harold Weiss
The Harold Weis Story:
“I
and other passenger liked the ship very much as she was a delightful ship.
During the voyage I never heard any complaints from other passengers. The
service aboard and the food was excellent, I felt she was more like a fun
cruise ship and certainly not like an immigrant ship.
Although
accommodations onboard varied a great deal, from beautiful two bedded cabins to
large dormitories. I was berthed in one located on one of the lower decks, and
shared it with about 20 (30?) other men. But the room and beds were quite comfortable and
there where no problems at all with any of the other’s I shared with.
On
the night the ship caught fire I was in the aft tourist class lounge and bar with other young people. The band was playing and some of
us where happily dancing whilst others where chatting having drinks, or just
playing cards. I recall that it was a warm and a beautiful night just as they
are in the Indian Ocean.
This postcard was provided by Mr. Kjeld Andersen who sailed on the Skaubryn in
December 1957
Then suddenly
somebody was yelled out and told us to get out to the lifeboats as the ship was on fire. At the first I thought
somebody is joking, but as more and more people went
outside I followed and then I saw thick clouds of
smoke drifting along the side of the ship. So I went to the lifeboat station as we had learned earlier
during a *lifeboat drill. When I arrived there a crew
member asked me if I would take a girl of about 8 or 9 years old down
the rope ladder in order to get into the lifeboat. I said sure, so the little
girl had to hang onto my neck until reaching the lifeboat that was already in
the water. Her mother was directly behind us. After about 3 to 4 hours rowing the City of Sydney came to our rescue and took us all onboard. From her decks we looked
on as we saw the beautiful Skaubryn burn.”
*As fate would have it, on March 31, the very day of the
fire, an emergency lifeboat drill was
held out on deck by all passengers.
“The
next day we were transferred to the Italian ship SS Roma, where we were offered
some new clothes and there were passengers who even offered their cabin to
those who exhausted and needed a rest. We were well treated by passengers and
crew as we headed for Aden
arriving on Good Friday. Some 700 passengers including myself joined the Dutch liner MS Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, whilst others joined the Orient Lines SS Orsova, all of us heading for Australia. The
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was a very beautiful ship about 20.000-tons and was much bigger than the Skaubryn. It was a pleasant voyage, except between Fremantle and Melbourne
we had very rough weather and huge waves. I remember that some passengers
were running around with their lifejackets on. And yes, they where all passengers from
the Skaubryn.
That
is my story of my voyage on the Skaubryn and it turned out to be some
adventure. I never knew that it would take three ships to get me to Australia. But,
it was so sad to see the beautiful Skaubryn destroyed, for I will always
remember the wonderful time I had on her!”
A typical Skaubryn postcard
Author’s private collection
After Harold’s
arrival in Australia he
worked on the Warragamba Dam project near Sydney for one year. It
was a dangerous job as he was a “powder monkey” working with
explosives. Later he
moved north and worked in Queensland as far
north as Cairns.
For personal reasons Harold returned to Germany in 1961.
An
email received from an Aden resident at the time - Jane Nevezie.
“I have read with interest your entry
about this ship. I was 11 years old when this event occurred, living in Aden, to where all the
passengers and crew were taken. The majority of passengers were housed in a
newly constructed building which was the brand new hospital about to be opened.
I know all this because my mother who was fluent in a
number of languages, acted as an interpreter for many of the migrants who could
not speak English. She not only helped with translations but was able to enlist
the generosity of many of the traders and emporium owners, to replace many of
the basic necessities (clothing, cases, toiletries, spectacles, etc.) as
passengers had lost so much personal belongings in the fire. I met quite a few
of these very grateful passengers.
Later my parents and I also migrated to Australia, settling in Melbourne in 1959. We managed to locate
one of the couples from the Skaubryn and renewed contact for a short
time.
This event has been etched in my memory
and I am now in the process of gathering information for my family
history, which includes this event and my mother's involvement in it, thus
I was searching the Internet for official information, and I am so glad I found
your website.
Many thanks, Jane Nevezie.”
Postscript:
Received an interesting
email from Mr. Heinz Bachmann who read this page which clarified something he
knew a little about. A friend of his Aunt, M/S Eure A Reinhard boarded the Skaubryn in
1952 bound for Australia.
WHAT a surprise!
Imagine, a neighbour and a
friend of your aunt … sent a postcard from M/S Skaubryn (posted with
a 4½d special (1)stamp on March 25 in 1958 on the island of Malta) and you would
read for the first time in your life (via Mr. Harold Weiss' historic
photographs and report!) all about this fire and prior “emergency
lifeboat drill” on July 30, 2007.
I knew about this fire but
nothing else about the whole adventure that followed on March 31. Here's
what my aunt's friend, A. Reinhard (MS), who was
a passenger of M/S Skaubryn, wrote (on the card)
"Liebe
Fam. Deckinger. Bin gut auf dem
Schiff angekommen. Bis jetzt ging alles
gut. Meine Gedanken sind sehr
viel bei Ihnen. Heute sind wir in Malta
und kann Post abgeben. Das
Schiff ist sehr schön wunderbar
eingerichtet und die Verpflegung
sehr gut. Es ist
hier schon sehr warm. Habe schon viel gesehen und hoffe dass es eine
schöne Reise wird. Mit den herzl. Grüssen
Eure A. Reinhard."
Translation by www.FreeTranslation.com
"Beloved
family Deckinger. Arrived on the
ship and all has gone very well. My thoughts are very much with
you. Today we are in Malta
and can use the postal service. The ship so beautiful
wonderfully and well arranged and the provisions are very good. It
is quite warm already. From what we have seen so far we can see it is
going to be a beautiful trip. Greetings Eure A. Reinhard."
She also wanted to see Australia
and as far as I know finally arrived in Adelaide.
Please send my sincere greetings and thanks to Harold Weiss
if he is still "with us".
(1)The
special 4½d stamp "Postage & Revenue" was issued in memory
of the famous Roosevelt’s Scroll reads as follows: "In the Name of
the People of the United States of America
I salute the Island
of Malta.”
Bernd Heinz Bachmann & family
I thank Mr. Bachmann for his email as it gives us another
insight into this voyage experienced by M/S Reinhard. We are not aware what became
of her. If there are any relatives or friends that may read this, please do get
in touch that we may obtain a little more on her adventures in Australia.
We are very grateful to Mr. Weiss for providing the two historic
photographs of the Skaubryn
on fire!
Skaubryn Index
Page
1 … The Skaubryn story
Page 2
… The Woering family at sea
Page 3 … March 31, 1958
– Skaubryn on fire & the Harold Weiss story
Page 4
… Ingeburg Dammasch (she later
married in Australia
to become Mrs. Schwertner) is a survivor
from the last voyage and she is looking for fellow passengers of Skaubryn’s final voyage
– Also: the Jochen (Joe) Wagner story
Page 5
… The Lerche Family sails for Australia
in 1957
***************************************************
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Commenced
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Photographs on ssmaritime and associate pages are by the author
or from the author’s private collection. In addition there are some images that have been
provided by Shipping Companies and private photographers or collectors. Credit
is given to all contributors. However, there are some photographs provided to
me without details regarding the photographer/owner concerned. I hereby invite
if owners of these images would be so kind to make them-selves known to me (my
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only), in order that due credit may be given. I know what it is like, I have seen
a multitude of my own photographs on other sites, yet these individuals either
refuse to provide credit or remove them when asked, knowing full well that
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is due!
This
notice covers all pages, although, and I have done my best to ensure that all
photographs are duly credited and that this notice is displaced on each page,
that is, when a page is updated!
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