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S.S. EL GRILLO, glass negative
3/4 Starboard stern view of the S.S. EL GRILLO with tug, c. 1936
Built 1922 by Armstrong & Whitworth Co. Ltd., Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and operated by The Bowring Steamship Co., Liverpool. On 10 February 1944, the ship was at anchor at Seyðisfjörður, Iceland, carrying a cargo of bunker oil. The ship was armed with air defence guns and depth charges. While at anchor, she was attacked by three German aircraft stationed in Norway, and heavily damaged. The captain of EL GRILLO decided to sink the ship in order to prevent it and other ships at Seyðisfjörður from becoming more of a target. The wreck remains (2011) at the bottom of the fjord laying at an angle of 45 degrees. It continued to leak oil up until the 2000s, when a Norwegian contractor was hired to dispose of the estimated 2,000 tonnes of oil remaining in the ship. This was carried out in 2002. At the same time, any unexploded ordnance was also removed from the ship.