AH-WR-0697

Arundo

Freighter · Netherlands · Lost 1942 · The New Jersey Coast

A Dutch freighter loaded with jeeps, locomotives, and Canadian beer, torpedoed within sight of the New Jersey coast in 1942.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Arundo was a Dutch cargo steamer carrying war materiel from New York toward North Africa when a torpedo from U-136 tore open her hull just four hours into the voyage. She sank in about five minutes, taking six of her 43 crew with her. The wreck, in the deep, silty area known as the Mud Hole, was later wire-dragged and its true location was for years confused with nearby wreckage.

Vessel

Built: 1930
Builder: Northumberland Shipbuilding Company
Yard: Howden-on-Tyne, England
Material: Steel
Length: 412 ft
Beam: 55 ft
Tonnage: 5163
Propulsion: Coal-fired steam, single screw
Owners: N.V. Maatschappij Zeevaart (Hudig & Veder), Rotterdam

Loss

Date: April 28, 1942
Cause: Enemy action
Location: About 15 miles south of Ambrose Lightship, off New Jersey
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: New York → Alexandria, Egypt via Cape Town and Durban
Cargo: Nitrate, jeeps, trucks, two steam locomotives, 5,000 cases of Canadian beer
Aboard: 43
Lives lost: 6
Master: Adrianus Cornelis Troeleman

The Wreck Today

Depth: 110-140
Condition: Heavily broken up debris field after postwar wire-dragging; exact site re-identified after confusion with nearby wrecks
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established