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Santa Marija Convoy |
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During the first half of 1942 Malta was subjected to
1,655 Air Raids. Notwithstanding all that
strain and the effects of undernourishment,
the civilian population and the garrison put
up a resistance that won universal
admiration. However, the Axis were intent on
annihilating the island and through a
relentless and sustained aerial offensive,
they came close to effectively blockading
Malta.
In August 1942, Operation Pedestal was
mounted from the United Kingdom as a
determined attempt to relieve Malta.
Protected by fifty-three units of the Royal
Navy, the merchant ships Port Chalmers, Clan
Ferguson, Melbourne Star, Brisbane Star,
Ahneria Lykes, Santa Elisa, Rochester
Castle, Empire Hope, Glenorchy,
Dorset, Deucalion,
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Ohio entering the Grand Harbour |
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Warangi and Wainarama, together with the tanker
Ohio, entered the Mediterranean on August 10th,
bound for Malta.
The scene was set for one of the most daring and
dramatic actions enacted throughout the war, as the
Axis deployed 20 submarines, 19 motor torpedo boats
and over 850 aircraft to intercept the convoy. A
gruelling five-day ordeal saw nine merchant ships
succumbing to the relentless round-the-clock
attacks.
Then on the afternoon of August 13, the Port
Chalmers, Rochester Castle and Melbourne Star
reached Malta to be followed a day later by the
Brisbane Star. As the ships slid between the arms of
the breakwater, the band of the Royal Malta
Artillery, playing from the ramparts on St Elmo. was
drowned by cheering people cramming every advantage
point around the harbour area.
However, there was as yet no sign of the sturdy
Ohio, which was loaded with vital oil, fuel and
kerosene supplies and without which Malta could not
hope to survive. Throughout the journey, she had
been singled out for ferocious attacks and was lying
crippled and smouldering some kilometres off Malta.
Ship had been torpedoed and holed, a series of fires
were started and controlled, her boilers blew up and
her engines failed; twice abandoned and twice
rebounded - the tanker would simply not sink - as if
aware that Malta's survival depended on her!
A desperate effort was made to salvage the slowly
sinking ship. Two destroyers were lashed against the
hulk of the tanker, while another destroyer acted as
an emergency rudder. Four minesweepers were
dispatched to assist in towing and protecting the
Ohio.
Early on the morning of August 15, the Ohio, with
decks almost awash, was literally dragged into the
Grand Harbour. The tanker was slowly manoeuvred to
her berth at Parlatorio Wharf and no sooner were the
10,000 tons of precious fuel oil and kerosene
extracted from her mangled hull that the Ohio sank
and rested on the bottom.
Of the 85,000 tons of supplies loaded at Clyde, only
32,000 reached Malta, sufficient to stave off the
dreaded "Target Day" when all supplies would have
been exhausted. The margin of survival was indeed a
narrow one!
This epic convoy is recorded in Malta Is National
War Museum, where the following items are on
display: Photographs of thefourteen ships; a graphic
plan showing the route taken by the convoy and the
locations where the ships were sunk; the helm and
name-board of 'Ohio'- the ship 's bell of 'Port
Chalmers'- a ventilatorfrom 'Melbourne Star'. The
belts from 'HMS Eagle' and 'Rochester Castle'- a
life-buoy of HMS Eagle and a silver Gozo boat
presented on 9th September, 1942, to the captain of
'Port Chalmers' as a sign of appreciation. |
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