Le Saumur wreck

The Saumur was a French freighter built in 1920 by Forth Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Alloa, Scotland, on behalf of the Auxiliary Shipping Company of Nantes. Weighing 2955 tons, it was 98 meters long, 13 meters wide and 7 meters deep. It was maneuvered by a crew of 30 sailors.

Requested by the French State in 1939 to participate in the war effort, it was placed at the disposal of the National Maritime Society and armed with a cannon. She took part in the Norwegian campaign.
On 21st December 1942, following the agreement between the Vichy regime minister Pierre Laval and the Reich Commissioner Karl Kaufmann on the secondment of part of the French merchant fleet to the German forces, the Saumur was part of ships requisitioned by the Germans. Transferred to the Italians, it was renamed Tolentino.

On May 21st , 1944, while the Saumur sailed off the coast of the Pyrenees Orientales, carrying a cargo of iron ore, she unfortunately crossed the road of the English submarine HMS Upstart. Around 18h00 ​​on May 21st, the freighter was hit by two torpedoes at the rear and in the middle, which sunk it, now in front of Port-Vendres.

Today, the wreck is resting right on its keel on a background of 45 meters, situated: latitude 42 ° 31 '509 N and longitude 3 ° 08' 018 E. Despite the impacts of the two torpedoes at the stern and at the bow, the ship sank in one piece.


(Fortunes de Mer et Epaves dans le Parc Naturel du Golfe du Lion 1850-2018 par  Laurent Urios, Hervé Levano, Patrick Strazzera)