TWO TORPEDOES MISSED

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MS Motocarline

Manned by a Belgian crew and commanded Captain Robert F. Mycke, the Panama Transport Company tanker Motocarline

was on her forty-second wartime voyage, from Caripito to Montevideo, when she narrowly escaped being torpedoed.

With a cargo of 79,405 barrels of fuel oil the Motocarline left Caripito April 19, 1943. On May 8, at 3:40 a.m., she sighted a sub-

marine in Latitude 08°41 South, Longitude 34.36, West, about 40 sea miles south-southeast of Recife, Brazil. At 4:45 a.m.,

the wakes of two torpedoes were seen. These near misses were the vessel's closest approach to peril during the war.

The principal theaters of operation of the Motocarline during World War II were the Caribbean area, the United States east

coast, and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America.

When the European war began, the Motocarline was commanded by Captain Mycke and her engine-room was in charge

of Chief Engineer Jules Bloe-baum. The vessel was manned by Belgian crews and operated by the Standard American

Petroleum Company, the owners' Belgian affiliate. Early in 1940 the Motocarline was transferred to Western Hemisphere

trade; her owners continued to operate her mainly with Belgian crews.

The MS Motocarline was built in 1925 by the Fried. Krupp Germaniawerft A.G. at Kiel Gaarden, Germany. She is a sister-

ship of the Imperial Victoria, ex Ontariolite. The Netherlands tankers Den Haag (lost February 15, 1940) and Rotterdam

(lost August 28, 1942) and the Panama Transport Company tanker Persephone (lost May 25, 1942) were also sister-

ships.

A twin-screw vessel of 12,415 deadweight tons capacity on international summer draft of 27 feet, 1 inch, the Motocarline

has an overall length of 489 feet, 7 inches, a length between perpendiculars of 469 feet, 7 inches, a moulded breadth of

63 feet, and a depth moulded of 35 feet, 6 inches. With a cargo carrying capacity of 102,829 barrels, she has an assign-

ed pumping rate of 4,000 barrels an hour.

Her Diesel engines develop 3,200 brake horsepower and give her a classification certified speed of 10.7 knots.

The wartime transportation record of the Motocarline was in summary as follows:

On September 3, 1939, the Motocarline, which had discharged part of an Aruba cargo of Diesel oil at Rio de Janeiro and

part at Santos, was on her way to Recife, where she arrived September 5 to complete discharge of cargo. Between then

and the end of the year, the tanker made her only ocean crossings of the war, arriving at Nyborg, Denmark, on October

19 and at Antwerp, Belgium, on December 4, 1939.

Of the 58 voyages which constituted the rest of her wartime career, thirty-one were to or between South American east

and west coast ports and twenty-seven were between Caribbean ports or from the Caribbean to United States and Cana-

dian east coast discharge points.

The cargoes of the Motocarline were about equally divided between fuel and crude oils, with occasional loadings of Diesel

oil and three part cargoes of gasoline.

The Belgian masters of the Motocarline during the war years were Captains Robert F. Mycke, Emile Vanwelssenaers,

Christian Ulrich, Jens Westergaard, and Jacques V. A. De Paep.

During the same period the vessel's engine department was in charge of Chief Engineers Jules Bloebaum, Carl M.

Pedersen, and Charles Laureyssens.