SS City of Cairo was a British passenger steamship. She was sunk in the Second World War with heavy loss of life, most after the sinking, but before being rescued.
It was built by Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd, Hull in 1915 for Ellerman Lines Ltd of London. It was long, had two decks, two masts and . She was registered in Liverpool.
On 29 January 1929, City of Cairo′s propeller struck the British tug at Liverpool, then Speedy sank.
Final voyage
City of Cairo was requisitioned during the Second World War to bring supplies to the United Kingdom. Her last voyage, under the command of her master, William A. Rogerson, was to take her from Bombay, which she departed on 1 October 1942 for the United Kingdom, via Durban, Cape Town, and Pernambuco, Brazil.
The ship departed Cape Town at 0600 hours on the morning of 1 November, carrying 101 passengers, including 28 women and 19 children. Also on board were 10 DEMS Gunners from the Army and Royal Navy. Among the total complement were two spare Lascar crews recruited in India for service on British ships. She was carrying 7,422 tons of general cargo, including pig iron, timber, wool, cotton, manganese ore and 2,000 boxes of silver coins.
The ship sailed north for , zigzagging during the day and keeping about off the African coast, before turning westwards across the South Atlantic towards Brazil and her next port of call. She was unescorted and capable of only . Its problems were exacerbated by the excessive smokiness of her engines which increased her visibility.
Torpedoed
On 6 November, the smoke trail was sighted by the under the command of Karl-Friedrich Merten. At 2136 hours, U-68 fired a torpedo at the lone merchant ship. The torpedo struck City of Cairo abreast of the after-mast. The master gave the order to abandon ship. Only six people, two male crewmen and four male passengers, were lost in the evacuation. Several women and children were struggling in the water, but they were later rescued by other boats. The ship, still underway, had stabilised, but she was slowly settling by the stern. A distress call was sent, which was acknowledged by the U-68, which provided the callsign of the Walvis Bay station in South Africa.
Merten fired a second torpedo 20 minutes after the first, which smashed one of the lifeboats, overturned another, and caused the ship to sink by the stern about south of St Helena. One of the two crewmen lost in the sinking, Chief Radio Officer Harry Peever, was killed by this strike. He had remained in the wireless room to send distress signals. Once City of Cairo had sunk, U-68 surfaced alongside the six lifeboats that had been launched. Merten spoke to the occupants of No. 6 boat, asked the ship's name, cargo and whether it was carrying prisoners of war. He then gave a course for the nearest land, which by now was either the Brazilian coast, approximately away, Africa was and St Helena was distant. Merten then left them, with the words "Goodnight, and sorry for sinking you". He privately thought that they had little chance of survival.
Journey
There were 296 survivors: 54 in Lifeboat 1, 56 in Lifeboat 5, 57 in Lifeboat 6, 57 in Lifeboat 7, respectively, whilst the smaller Lifeboat 4 held 17 people. After assessing the situation, it was decided to attempt to reach the nearest land, St Helena, despite the danger of overshooting the small island and becoming lost. Each boat had a compass, but there was only one sextant which had been recovered from his belongings as the ship went down by second officer Les Boundy. These, along with Master William Rogerson's Rolex watch, would be needed for navigation, and this would require the boats to remain together. The survivors hoped to reach St Helena within two or three weeks, and water was rationed at 110 ml a day per person, despite the tropical heat.
Over the next three weeks, most of the boats lost contact with each other, and numerous occupants died. Rogerson had hoped to prevent the dispersal of the boats for as long as possible, but as the situation worsened, he was compelled to allow one of the faster boats, which was short of supplies and taking on water, to press on ahead. The boats also suffered damage, with rudders or masts being broken, causing some to lag behind. Eventually, most of the boats had lost sight of each other and proceeding alone.