The survivors of the Firethorn, Chickasaw City, Swiftsong, Examelin and Coloradan boarded the MV Zaandam on October 21, 1942 and departed Cape Town for the United states.
The MV Zaandam was built in Holland in 1938, weighed 10,000 tons and was a 502-foot passenger/cargo ship capable of 16 knots and converted to transport use in 1942. On November 2nd, it sailed into Brazillian waters where it encountered the German submarine U-174, which had just recently sunk two ships on October 31st and November 1st.
On November 2nd, the Zaandam was hit by two torpedoes, 400 miles north of Brazil and sank in two minutes.
Of the 299 aboard, 139 were killed. Farris H. Burton was one of the survivors.
Back in the Water Again. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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