Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Patent fuel block with worn inscription.

S.S. SKAALA was a schhoner-rigged 1116 gross ton steamer built in 1906 in Bergen. The SKAALA left Port Talbot heading for Rouen with a cargo of approximately 1500 tons of patent fuel blocks. At 2.45pm on Boxing Day 1917, a large explosion occured on her starboard side. She had been hit by a torpedo from one of the bow tubes of the German submarine UB-35. One man, the second engineer, was killed in the explosion and a fire immediately broke out in the engine room. The rest of the crew got into the port boat in time to see their ship roll over and sink. The survivors were picked up by a patrol vessel and landed at Dartmouth.