This wreck, believed to be DAMAO, lies with its keel orientated 000/180 degrees, has estimated length of 130-140m and a height of 14.6m above the general level of the seabed. The bow remains substantially intact, but moving backwards towards the stern the decks surrounding the forward holds are more collapsed. Damage to the bulwarks on the portside just forward of the central bridge and accommodation block may have been caused by depth charge. There are four evenly spaced craters in the seabed to the starboard of the ship. The fifth of the standard deployment of depth charge in this pattern corresponds with the damage to the ship's side. The top of the engine block is visible amongst the remains of central bridge/accommodation block. The deck around the aft hold has collapsed or been removed due to salvage operations. The stern of the vessel lies slightly out of alignment and may represent the major structural damage caused by torpedo.

Event and Historical Information:
The DAMAO was built as the BRISBANE in 1911 by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 5668 tons; 442.9ft length x 57.4ft breadth x 26.7ft depth; powered by triple expansion engines producing 701 nhp. The vessel's first owner was Deutsche Australische Dampfschiffs Gesellschaft (The German-Australia Steamship Company). The company was founded in 1888 and operated until 1926. Between 1889 and 1914 it maintained a regular service between Hamburg and Australia. At its height in 1914, it was the fifth largest German shipping operator. The outbreak of the war saw the BRISBANE caught in the port of Mormugao in Portguese Goa. The ship relinquished there because assurances could not be given be give for the safety of the vessels. The BRISBANE was one of seventy-two German ships and two Austro-Hungarian vessels moored in ports under Portuguese administration. After two years of negotiations and hesitation, the British government requested that the Portuguese Government seize the vessels and put them back into trade on behalf of the Allies. This British Government provided staff to help create the state-owned company Transportes Maritimos Do Estado in Lisbon and a large loan to help repair and put the ships back into service. From February 1916 onwards, when Portugal ceded to the British request and Germany declared war on Portugal as a result, the BRISBANE was renamed the DAMAO and placed under the management of the British shipping company Furness Withy & Co.

At time of loss on 28 April 1918, the vessel was on passage from New York to London as apart of convoy HN62. The 7000 tons of general cargo the ship was carrying included 472 tons of lead and 67 tons of zinc spelter. The intelligence reports collated by the Admiralty noted the master's name as C Rocha and that the ship had left New York on the 13 April. The ship was torpedoed 12 miles west of Bardsey at 1.35am on 28 April by U 91 under the command of Kapitanleutnant Alfred von Glasenapp. The ship was doing 9 1/2 knots when the torpedo hit hold number 5 and the engine room. The crew abandoned ship, but as the vessel did not sink immediately they returned at 2.45am. The vessel was eventually abandoned at 7am when it was clear that the damage was too great for the DAMAO to be salvaged. The vessel sank 30 minutes later. The crew comprised 63 members - 8 British and 55 Portuguese. The 3rd Engineer and 3 firemen were killed in the explosion. The survivors were taken onboard HMS VANESSA (V-class destroyer). The submarine U 91 also sank the steamships ROBERT EGGLETON (NPRN: 271658), RENFREW (NPRN: 240293), LANDONIA (NPRN: 516159) and, on the same day as the DAMAO, the ORONSA (NPRN: 271667). The DAMAO was included in the multi-beam surveys undertaken by Bangor University in 2018, as part of the Royal Commission's HLF funded Partnership Project - 'Commemorating the Forgotten U-Boat War around the Welsh Coast 1914-18'.

Sources include:

ADM 137/4015 Home Waters Vessels Attacked April 16-30 1918, The National Archives, Kew
Damao, uboat.net
Damao, U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea
Hocking, C, 1989, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea in the Age of Steam, pg178
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 April - 30 June 1918, p.11 (i)
SS Damao, Wreck Site, EU
U 91, uboat.net
UK Hydrographic Office Wrecks and Obstructions Database. ? Crown Copyright and database rights. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk)
 

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, March 2019.

This record was enhanced in 2020 with funding from Lloyd's Register Foundation as part of the project ‘Making the Link: Lloyd's Register and the National Monuments Record of Wales’. Visit Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre for more resources.