Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Starboard broadside view of S.S. IOANNIS FAFALIOS at Cardiff Docks, c.1937.

IOANNIS FAFALIOS (5671gt). Built 1919 by Merchant Shipbuilding Corp., Chester Pa., USA with a triple-expansion engine by Hooven, Owens & Rentschler Co., Hamilton, Ohio. She was launched as the TERRE HAUT for the United States Shipping Board. Sold in 1930 to the Munson Steamship Line of New York, and renamed MUNTROPIC. 1937 - Sold to S. & D. Fafalios of Chios and renamed IOANNIS FAFALIOS. While on a voyage from Durban to Aden with a cargo of coal and 33 crew, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-861 on 5th September 1944, 300 miles northeast of Mombasa. At the time of her sinking, she had been requisitioned by the Admiralty and was being used as a collier. Seven of her crew and one gunner were lost.