The steamer SS Ombilin was built to transport coal, but it was also suited to carry other bulk goods and even general cargo. The ship was added to the fleet of the Koninklijke Pakket Maatschappij (KPM) in 1916. The Ombilin had a limited capacity to carry passengers.

Marhistdata

On December 7th, 1941, the Ombilin was in Singapore with a cargo of rice from Tegal (on Java). That night, Singapore was bombed by Japanese aircraft, but the Ombilin remained unharmed and could depart from Singapore.

After many travels, the ship arrived in good shape in Portland, Maine on April 10th, 1942. After this, the ship left for Canada where it was chartered by the Dominium Coal Company. The Ombilin transported coal from Sydney in Nova Scotia to Montreal and other Canadian cities.

On November 8th, the Ombilin left as part of a convoy to Trinidad to take in extra cargo. After this, on December 5th, the ship left in a convoy with 128 ships from Trinidad with destination Cape Town. Yet the convoy was disbanded two days later because the ships had too many different destinations.

Final voyage

On December 7th, 1942, the Ombilin was on the Atlantic Ocean, about 350 miles from the South American coast. On December 12th, northwest of the Brazilian province of Ceará, the ship was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli. It soon became clear to captain Ellens that his ship could not be saved.

All crew members had safely gotten off board and were divided over three lifeboats and a raft. At that moment, only twelve minutes after the torpedo had struck, the Ombilin disappeared under the waves. The lifeboats separately reached land safely and in freedom (in Brazil and French Guyana), though the captain and the chief engineer had been taken prisoner by the crew of the submarine.

Captivity

The fate of captain Ellens and chief engineer Geenenmans was only discovered by the KPM after the war. As prisoners on board of the Enrico Tazzoli they were treated well.

In 1943 they ended up in an internment camp in the port city of La Spezia, near Genua in northern Italy. After Italy had signed the truce, the two prisoners were taken by the Germans (along with hundreds of other captured allied merchant shipping personnel) to a camp near Hamburg. It took until 28 April 1945 before they were liberated from it by British troops.

Yard: Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (NDSM), Amsterdam

Propulsion: triple-expansion steam engine, 3 cylinders, 1 screw

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