S.S. Quanza
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | Portugal |
| Owner: | Companhia Nacional de Navegação, Lisbon |
| Port of registry: | Lisbon |
| Route: | Lisbon to Southern Africa |
| Builder: | Blohm & Voss, Hamburg |
| Yard number: | 480 |
| Launched: | 1 June 1929 |
| Completed: | 5 September 1929 |
| Renamed: | Quanza (1929) |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1968 in Spain |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Passenger-cargo |
| Tonnage: |
|
| Length: | 418.2 ft (127.5 m) |
| Beam: | 52.6 ft (16.0 m) |
| Depth: | 28.6 ft (8.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | Twin screw |
| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
SS Quanza was a World War II-era Portuguese passenger-cargo ship, best known for carrying 317 people, many of them refugees, from Nazi-occupied Europe to North America in 1940. At least 100 of its passengers were Jewish.
Launched as Portugal, the vessel went into service in 1929 as Quanza. Her normal route was from Lisbon, Portugal, to Angola, South Africa and Mozambique, though some voyages were made to South America.
In August 1940, Quanza was chartered by a group of passengers seeking to flee Europe, including French actors Marcel Dalio and Madeleine LeBeau. The passengers traveled with a variety of visas, some of which were forged. Because the captain doubted the validity of the visas, he required that many passengers also buy return tickets on the likelihood that no country would admit them.
The ship left Lisbon on 9 August, beginning its first trans-Atlantic voyage. After a difficult crossing that included a hurricane, the ship arrived in New York City on 19 August. 196 passengers disembarked, 66 of whom were American citizens. The remaining 121 passengers were denied entry, including nearly all of the Jewish passengers.Quanza proceeded to Veracruz, Mexico, where it arrived on 30 August. Only 35 passengers were allowed to disembark, leaving 86 on board, mostly Belgian Jews. The ship was then ordered to return to Europe, causing despair among the remaining passengers.
The ship made a brief stop for coal in Norfolk, Virginia, in the US. During the stop, Jacob Morewitz, a Jewish maritime lawyer from Newport News, filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of four of the refugees, suing the Portuguese National Line for $100,000 for breach of contract. The suit held Quanza in port for six days, during which time Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Stephen Wise of the World Jewish Congress and Cecilia Razovsky of the National Council of Jewish Women, lobbied for the remaining passengers' admittance. Meanwhile, Quanza's passengers became so desperate that one leapt from the ship to swim for land; though he reached shore successfully, he was quickly apprehended and returned to the boat. Following the incident, the ship's captain posted armed guards on the decks.
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Wikipedia