The Silverplane, a sleek twin funnel vessel of 7,226 gross tons built in 1948, was sold to the Cunard Line in 1951 and renamed Alsatia II, and so was her sister ship Silverbriar, to become Andria I.Their forward funnels were false, containing the chart room and the captain's cabin, looked like miniature Queen Elizabeths, and carried just 12 passengers, the maximum allowed without a regulation onboard doctor.[5] An associated company, Joseph L. Thompson & Sons of Sunderland, was involved in the design of the first Liberty ships that saw service in World War II and beyond.[9] She was en route from New York - Sydney - Liverpool in Convoy SC 48 carrying 7,300 tons general cargo, including steel when she was torpedoed by German submarine U-553 SE of Cape Farewell.[16] On 30 October 1942, when en route from Lagos - Freetown – Liverpool, in Convoy SL-125, and carrying a general cargo of 9,000 tons, she was torpedoed by German submarine U-409 and sunk NNW of Madeira.The master, 49 crew members, 7 gunners and 4 passengers were picked up by the British auxiliary patrol vessel HMNZS Kelantan (F 166) (Lt A.E.It is also untrue that the Master (James Smith), 49 crew members and 3 gunners made landfall at San Antonio, Cape Verde Islands.
Model of
TSMV
Silverpalm
(1929, 6,373
GT
), sister ship to the
Silverwalnut
, on display at the
Los Angeles Maritime Museum
, California. Model, used for movie backgrounds, was donated by the estate of
Marantz Aviation
, model suppliers to the movie industry.
Silverpalm
was torpedoed and sunk by U-boat
U-371
[
3
]
in 1941 on a voyage from Calcutta to Glasgow with the loss of all hands.
[
4
]