S.S. Ceramic was
built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast in 1913 for
the White Star Line and transferred to Shaw Saville
and Albion line in 1934. She was torpedoed off the
Azores in 1942 by the German submarine U515 and sank
with 656 lives lost, with only one survivor; Sapper
Eric Munday of the Royal Engineers who was picked
up by the U515 and spent the rest of the war as a
POW. Ceramic sank quickly before any distress message
could be sent, and consequently it was months before
the admiralty knew what had happened to Ceramic.
U515 was sunk in 1944 by aircraft from USS Guadalcanal
and depth charges from escorting vessels. 43 members
of U515 survived the attack and 16 were killed.
The u-boat commander; Capt Werner Henke was later
to commit suicide whilst in American custody – Another
report says he was shot whilst trying to escape.
