Motor tanker · lost 1956 · Shetland, United Kingdom
Samba
Captain Carl Blomberg and a crew of eight were bound from Rotterdam for Odda in Norway when a gale caught the tanker Samba in the North Sea. Seas flooded her engine room, her engines stopped, and she was driven north for three days while the salvage tug Noord Holland stood by; three tow lines were made fast and each one parted. Off Shetland six men got away on a life raft and were taken aboard the tug.
The other three stayed at the stern as she drifted under the cliffs at the Ord of Bressay; guided there by the fishing boat Harvest Hope, the Lerwick lifeboat took them off at the sixth attempt. Abandoned, the Samba crossed Bressay Sound and went ashore at Ness of Sound, where surf broke up her hull over the following months.
She lies well broken down a steep slope to 35 metres, her engine and propeller among the rocks.
- Type
- Motor tanker
- Lost
- 1956
- Location
- Shetland, United KingdomNorth Sea
History and LossLost 1956 · Shetland, United Kingdom.
Launched by Hall Russell in 1940 as HMS Olive for the Admiralty, she was lengthened, rebuilt and fitted with a second-hand diesel engine in 1949 and renamed Samba. In December 1956, bound from Rotterdam to Odda, she lost her engines when waves broke into her engine room. Coxswain Ned Sales brought the Lerwick lifeboat alongside yards from the 500-foot cliffs, in a gale gusting over seventy miles an hour.
She came ashore on 28 December 1956.
Lost 1956.
Condition of the WreckBroken.
Intactness
The wreck is well broken and spread over a wide area of steeply sloping seabed, from about 20 metres down to 35 metres. Her hull stood above the surface for months after the grounding before the surf broke her up.
Notable Features
- Propeller
Sea-Surface Temperature by Month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface temp | 8.1° | 7.3° | 7.1° | 7.4° | 8.8° | 10.6° | 12.3° | 12.8° | 12.2° | 11.3° | 10.3° | 9° |
Additional Details9 further fields held for this wreck and not shown above.
- Propulsion
- Steam
- Loss date
- 1956
- Latitude
- 60.1280° N
- Longitude
- 1.1562° W
- Water body
- North Sea
- War grave
- Not recorded
- Protected
- No
- Permit required
- No
- Condition
- Broken
Sources and VerificationEvery fact on this page traces to a published source.
- Historic Environment Scotland (Canmore, NRHE)inspire.hes.scot · Official record6 facts
- UK Hydrographic Officedatahub.admiralty.co.uk · Official record3 facts
- NOAA / NASA JPL MUR SST v4.1coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov · Institution or archive1 fact
- Scottish Shipwrecksscottishshipwrecks.com · Secondary source7 facts
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Historic Environment Scotland.
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right.
- JPL MUR MEaSUREs Project. GHRSST Level 4 MUR Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (v4.1). PO.DAAC. https://doi.org/10.5067/GHGMR-4FJ04
A further 5 fields were derived from the wreck’s recorded position rather than taken from a source.
Licences and credits for the open data used on this site are on the Attribution page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Samba?
Samba is the wreck of a motor tanker, off Shetland, United Kingdom. Samba was lost in 1956.
How did the Samba sink?
The cause of the loss of Samba is not recorded in the sources held; the loss is dated 1956.