SS City of Rayville

The SS City of Rayville, also referred to as the MV and/or MS City of Rayville was a 5883-ton American Steamship. She was built in 1920 by Oscar Daniels & Co. of Tampa Bay, Florida. [ [http://www.lighthousedepot.com/digest/Storypage.cfm?storykey=870 www.lighthousedepot.com] ]

Sinking

The SS City of Rayville was the first American vessel sunk during World War II, and was sunk by a German mine just off Cape Otway, Australia. This field of approximately 100 mines had already claimed the British steamer SS Cambridge, less than 24 hours before off Wilsons Promontory.

On November 8, 1940, she sailed into the Bass Strait and at 7.47pm, she hit a mine. The explosion was powerful enough to rip out the foremast, as shrapnel (including ingots of lead, the vessel's cargo being 1500 tons, 37,520 bars of Port Pirie lead [ [http://www.lightstation.com/index.php?page=history&subpage=rayville_found www.lightstation.com, article 2] ] ) rained down on the ship's decks. The 38 crew members were able to safely abandon the vessel in lifeboats, although one mariner (James Bryan of Norfolk, Virginia [ [http://www.lighthousedepot.com/digest/Storypage.cfm?storykey=870 www.lighthousedepot.com] ] ) re-entered the vessel to find his personal items and was subsequently drowned. The vessel sank, bow first, in 35 minutes. [ [http://www.lightstation.com/index.php?page=history&subpage=rayville www.lightstation.com, article 1] ]

The lightkeeper stationed at Cape Otway Lightstation witnessed the sinking, and three boats from Apollo Bay went in search of survivors. The ship's lifeboats were found, and successfully towed back to Apollo Bay, arriving at dawn, November 9, 1940.

This preceded the attack on Pearl Harbor, in December 1941, by more than a year, and resulted in the death of the first US seaman in World War II.

Wreck

The site of the wreck is approximately 15km outside of Apollo Bay, with the vessel at a depth of 82 meters.

References