SS Allara Part 2

 

Time for part two of the torpedoing of the SS Allara.

Straight after the attack the wireless operator sent out 40 distress calls, but the ships aerials had been blown away. After the crew reboarded the ship, the wireless operator rigged a replacement and sent an SOS.

                    Surviving crew of SS Allara

The crew worked the pumps full-time to keep the vessel afloat while two navy tugs made their way to rescue the crew, they arrived alongside at 9.45am.

Later that day the tug Heroic from Newcastle took over the tow, when they arrived at the port people were shocked at how badly damaged the stern was and that it was still afloat.

The seaman lined the rails while the dead were carried ashore, then the walking wounded including a seaman named Paddy who hobbled down the gangway with an injured foot and permanent grin to his crewmates yelling “we’ll be seeing you” with Paddy replying that he would be back.

In the waterfront hotel the men were drinking rum and milk, 16yr old Frank Grant a deckhand was blushing not because he was drinking lemonade but because his shipmates were making a big deal of how he had been blown right out of his bunk then jumped to his feet and dragged a wounded mate up on deck.

The Allara was towed to Sydney for repairs and was back in service by April 1943. The ship remained in service till the 1950’s.

                    The Japanese Submarine I-75

The Japanese vessel I-75 continued on its destructive path sinking two merchant ships and damaging two more before leaving Australian waters. In 1943 it was sunk by an American aircraft carrier the USS Liscome Bay which later that same year was itself lost with all hands.