View source for MV Sebastiano Veniero

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
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|Ship caption=fmno
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country= The Netherlands, Italy
|Ship flag= 
|Ship name=*''Sebastiano Veniero'' (1939 laid down as)
*''Jason'' (1940 launched as)
*''Sebastiano Veniero'' (1940–41 completed as)
|Ship namesake=
|Ship owner=*[[Blue Funnel Line|Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan]] (1940),
*Società Italiana di Armamento (1940–41)
|Ship operator= 
|Ship route= 
|Ship ordered= 1939
|Ship builder= [[Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico]] (CRDA)
|Ship original cost= 
|Ship yard number= 1,233
|Ship laid down= 
|Ship launched= 7 March 1940
|Ship completed= May 1940
|Ship acquired= 
|Ship in service= 
|Ship out of service= 
|Ship registry=*{{flagicon|Netherlands}} [[Port of Amsterdam|Amsterdam]]
*{{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Port of Rijeka|Fiume]]
|Ship identification=*{{IMO Number|5614119}}
*[[Maritime call sign|Call sign]] PFCC
*{{ICS|Papa}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}{{ICS|Charlie}}{{ICS|Charlie}}
|Ship fate=*Torpedoed and beached,
*9 December 1941
|Ship notes= 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship type= 
|Ship tonnage=*{{GRT|6338}}
*{{DWT|6116}}
|Ship displacement= 
|Ship length= {{convert|449|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} [[Length between perpendiculars|p/p]]
{{convert|143.5|m|disp=flip|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|o/a]]
|Ship beam= {{convert|60|ft|11|in|abbr=on|1}}
|Ship draught= 
|Ship depth= {{convert|8|m|disp=flip|abbr=on}}
|Ship decks= 
|Ship power= 1,320 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]], 5,500 [[Horsepower#Brake horsepower|bhp]]
|Ship propulsion= [[Fiat S.p.A.|FIAT]] [[Marine propulsion#Reciprocating|diesel engine]]
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'''MV ''Sebastiano Veniero''''', formerly '''MV ''Jason''''',  was a {{GRT|6310}} cargo and passenger [[motor ship]] that was built in [[Monfalcone]], [[Italy]] in 1940. In 1941 she was requisitioned by Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?273826 |title=Parthian (+1941) |publisher=Wrecksite |access-date=7 May 2023}}</ref> On 9 December, 1941 she was damaged by a [[Royal Navy]] submarine in the [[Mediterranean Sea]], killing at least 300 [[United Kingdom|UK]] and [[Dominion]] [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]], and possibly many more. She did not sink but was beached on the coast of the [[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]], where she was torpedoed again a week later and became a total loss.

==Building and seizure==
[[Italia Marittima|Lloyd Triestino]] ordered the ship in 1939 from [[Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico]] (CRDA) of Fiume.

She had a six cylinder [[Fiat S.p.A.|FIAT]] [[Marine propulsion#Reciprocating|diesel engine]] and a speed of {{convert|14|kn|km/h|0}}.<ref name=WrecksiteJ>{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?188621 |title=Jason MV (1940~1940) Sebastiano Veniero MV [+1941] |last=Lettens |first=Jan |date=2 June 2013 |work=WreckSite |publisher=wrecksite.eu |accessdate=28 September 2014}}</ref>

Lloyd Triestino could not afford to pay for the ship, so CRDA sold her to Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan (NSMO), the Dutch subsidiary of the UK shipping company [[Blue Funnel Line]].<ref name=Duster>{{cite web |url=http://www.red-duster.co.uk/BLUEFUN16.htm |title=Alfred Holt & Co the Blue Funnel Line (page 15) |publisher=Merchant Navy Association |accessdate=28 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108163249/http://www.red-duster.co.uk/BLUEFUN16.htm |archivedate=8 November 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> NSMO followed Blue Funnel's policy of naming its ships after figures from [[Ancient Greece|Greek antiquity]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]]. ''Sebastiano Veniero'' was renamed ''Jason'' after the [[Jason|mythological character of the same name]].

''Jason'' began her [[sea trial]]s on 9 May 1940, before Italy entered the Second World War. But the next day [[Battle of the Netherlands|Germany invaded the Netherlands]], and Italian authorities seized her and assigned her to the Italian shipping company Società Italiana di Armamento (Sidarma). She was renamed ''Sebastiano Veniero'' after a 16th-century [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] admiral and [[Doge of Venice|Doge]], [[Sebastiano Venier]] (1496–1578). Her NSMO crew travelled to [[Marseille]], whence the Blue Funnel ship {{SS|Perseus|1923|2}} repatriated them to the UK.<ref name=Duster/>

==Loss==
{{location map |Greece Peloponnese |width=304 |lat_deg=36 |lat_min=49 |lon_deg=21 |lon_min=42 |caption=Approximate position where ''Sebastiano Veniero'' was wrecked |relief= yes}}

On 9 December 1941 the ship was carrying about 2,000 UK and Dominion PoWs from North Africa to [[German-occupied Europe|occupied Europe]] when the Royal Navy {{sclass|Grampus|submarine}} {{HMS|Porpoise|N14|6}} torpedoed her off the south coast of the [[Peloponnese]] about {{convert|5|nmi|km|0}} south of [[Pylos]]. Many of the PoWs were in her cargo holds, two of which were quickly flooded by the torpedo explosion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.armymuseum.co.nz/kiwis-at-war/voices-from-the-past/pow-private-spence-edge-25th-battalion-2nzef/ |title=POW Private Spence Edge, 25th Battalion 2NZEF |website=www.armymuseum.co.nz |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207133604/http://www.armymuseum.co.nz/kiwis-at-war/voices-from-the-past/pow-private-spence-edge-25th-battalion-2nzef/ |archive-date=2013-02-07}}</ref> One source gives different figures for the total number of prisoners killed: either 300 or 450–500.<ref name=WrecksiteSV>{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?98746 |title=MV Sebastiano Veniero [+1941] |last1=Lettens |first1=Jan |last2=de Neumann |first2=Bernard |date=2 June 2013 |work=WreckSite |publisher=wrecksite.eu |accessdate=28 September 2014}}</ref>

The holds were opened to release trapped PoWs and the damaged ship was beached close to [[Methoni Castle]] on Cape [[Methoni, Messenia|Methoni]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/inadvertent-victims|title=Inadvertent victims|date=17 December 2011}}</ref> Many PoWs jumped into the sea and took their chance to swim to the rocky shore. A [[Union of South Africa|South African]] [[lance corporal]], Bernard Friedlander of the 3rd Battalion, [[Transvaal Scottish Regiment]], swam ashore with a rope, which took him 90 minutes. The rope was then used to haul a cable ashore, which was made fast on land. Nearly 1,600 survivors then used the cable to reach safety.<ref name=WrecksiteSV/>

''Sebastiano Veniero'' remained stranded at Methoni, and on 15 December the {{sclass2|British T|submarine}} {{HMS|Torbay|N79|6}} hit her with another torpedo.<ref name=WrecksiteSV/>

A German officer saw Friedlander's heroism on 9 December and recommended the lance corporal for a UK bravery award.<ref name=WrecksiteSV/> In July 1945 Friedlander was awarded the [[George Medal]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37185 |page=3765 |supp=2 |date=20 July 1945 }}</ref> In 1947 [[George VI#Empire to Commonwealth|King George VI toured South Africa]], and at a ceremony in [[Johannesburg]] on 31 March personally decorated Friedlander with the medal.<ref name=WrecksiteSV/>

==Records==
Accounts of the sinking of the ''Sebastiano Veniero'' were recorded by several POWs on board. A book on the topic was published in 1983 entitled ''No Honour No Glory'' by Spence Edge and Jim Henderson.

==See also==
{{SS|Loreto|1912|2}}, {{MV|Nino Bixio||2}} and {{SS|Scillin||2}}, Italian merchant ships sunk in similar circumstances, also killing many British and Empire PoWs.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebastiano Veniero (1940)}}
[[Category:1940 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1941]]
[[Category:Ships built by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by British submarines]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Greece]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of Italy]]
[[Category:World War II merchant ships of the Netherlands]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea]]

My Interesting Four years 1940 -1944 L.J. Read, Auckland Museum, NZ Army Museum

No Honour No Glory, The tragic Deaths of 162 Kiwi prisoners of War by Spence Edge & Jim Henderson ISBN 0 00 217208 9 Collins Publication

Fighting with the Enemy New Zealand POWs and the Italian Resistance by Susan Jacobs . ISBN O 14 301862 0 Penguin Publication

Prisoners Of War New Zealand In The Second World War, Official History by W. Wynne Mason Published by R.E. Owen Government Printer