The Sinking of the S.S. Tubantia

It was March 16^th 1916 and a thick fog had settled over the southern North Sea. The S.S. Tubantia was on her way from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires but her Captain, K.H. Wytsma ordered the crew to drop anchor a few kilometers from the lightship Noord Hinder.

 

Built in 1911 by A. Stephens & Sons for the Koninklijke Hollandse Lloyd, she measured 180 meters in length and weighed in at 13,911 tons. Capable of carrying 1,520 passengers by engines delivering 11,500 horsepower, at a speed of 17 knots, the Tubantia, along with her sister ship Gelria was the largest passenger vessel calling Amsterdam her home port.

Unknown to her Captain and crew, the U-Boat UB-13, was cruising under the water not far from the Tubantia. Spotting the ship at anchor, the commander of the submarine  fired a torpedo at her. The torpedo scored a direct hit near the engine room and four hours later the Tubantia was at the bottom of the sea but not before all her passenger and crew were rescued, among them, my grandfather, Reindert Jansen, who was an engineering crewmember.

 

Years later, my grandfather and grandmother were having some refreshments at a restaurant in a small village along the coast of Holland. On the wall was a plaque made from what appeared to be old wood from a ship. My grandfather remarked that the wood resembled the planking that was on the deck of his old ship. Someone in the restaurant overheard what he said and asked what ship. My grandfather replied, “The Tubantia.” That was the ship from which the wood had come. It had floated ashore some time ago.

 

Several stories of the sinking can be found on the Internet. There is some speculation that the ship was supposedly carrying a large amount of gold on board. As Holland was neutral at the time of the sinking, the German government, in 1922, paid a substantial amount of money to her owners in compensation. Several attempts at salvaging her holds have been attempted over the years. The first by an Anglo-French salvage team blasted their way into hold No. 4. But all they found was cheese.

 

Next came an Italian team and they also investigated hold No. 4 but had no better luck. Finally, a British team tried in 1931 and they too searched hold No. 4. No gold was ever found although some maintain that the cheeses were stuffed with gold. The mystery behind the sinking of the Tubantia has never been adequately solved.