Louis Bernstein

Steward, S.S. Oropesa
Died 16 Jan 1941
Commemorated at Tower Hill Memorial
Age 19


Louis was born in 1921 in West Derby, Lancashire to Samuel and Annie nee Buckman. Little is known about his family so please contact us if you can help.

Louis was a steward onboard S.S. Oropesa a general cargo ship. The ship left Suez on 30 November with Convoy BS 9A, which dispersed off Aden on 5 December 1940. On 12 December 1940 the Oropesa left Mombasa in Kenya, calling at Mozambique on 19 December and Cape Town on Christmas Day.

On 16 January 1941 at 03:56 hrs Oropesa was southeast of Rockall in the Western Approaches when the German U-boat U-96 hit her in the stern with one G7a Torpedo. The ship did not sink immediately, so U-96 waited and at 04:40 hrs fired another torpedo, but that malfunctioned and went in circles. U-96 fired again at 05:03 and 05:59 hrs, this time hitting Oropesa beneath her bridge and amidships. The liner capsized and sank at 06:16 hours.

The Master Harry Croft, 98 crew, a DEMS gunner and six passengers were killed. The Royal Navy tugs HMS Superman and HMS Tenacity and anti-submarine destroyer HMS Westcott rescued 109 crew, one DEMS gunner and 33 passengers and landed them at Liverpool.

Wikipedia