PRINCIPE DI PIEMONTE
Built - in 1907 at Sunderland by James Laing & Co.
Hull - Steel, 2 deck, Length 430ft, Breadth 52.7ft, Depth 25ft
Tonnage - 6704 gross, 4211 net, 10980 tons displacement
Shelter - deck schooner - rigged vessel.
Engine - Triple expansion 6 cylinder NHP 869, 14 knots. Twin Screw 4 x single ended boilers (originally 5). 180 PSI Steam Pressure.
History
1907 Built as
PRINCIPE DI PIEMONTE for Lloyd Sabaudo Line of Italy.
1913 Purchased by Uranium S.S. Co. and renamed
PRINCIPELLO. Rotterdam - New York run.
1914 Sold to Canadian Northern's Royal Line
1916 Acquired by Cunard Co. and renamed
FOLIA used for cargo only Liverpool - New York.
1917 Torpedoed and sunk off Ram Head with loss of 7 lives.
Many shipping lines included the name Lloyd in their title and as a result the term came to mean a shipping corporation. It was felt to be a prestigious element in the name owing to the dominance of Lloyds of London in ship registration and insurance.
The Italian line Lloyd Sabaudo was founded in 1906. The Italian Royal family seems to have taken a considerable interest in the new company and the passenger ships were named after members of the Royal House and Italian nobility.
The company ordered three ships from Laing's of Sunderland for the North Atlantic New York service.
These were named Re d'Italia, Regina d'Italia and Principa di Piemonte. The three sister ships were identical in every way with their two masts and two funnels except the
PRINCIPE had a slightly larger tonnage.
In 1913, due to increased competition, Lloyd Sabaudo decided two ships were enough on this route and sold the Principe to Canadian Northern Railways. Twenty years later, during the l930s slump Lloyd Sabaudo merged with several other companies to form the "ltalia' Line.
Canadian Northern renamed the ship
Principello and she was used by Uranium S.S. Co. on the Rotterdam-New York run until the war broke out. In 1914 the bigger ships of Canadian Northern's Royal Line (C.N.S.) were taken over as transports and the Rotterdam service ceased. The
Principello was taken over by C.N.S. and for the next 18 months operated on the Bristol Channel service, Canada - Avonmouth, before being taken over by Cunard in 1916.
The following account of the sinking of the
Folia is taken from Sir Edgar T. Britten's autobiography.
On Sunday, March 11th 1917, the
Folia, commanded by Captain F. Inch, was sunk off the Irish coast, while on a voyage from New York to Bristol. It was a quarter-past seven in the morning that the Third Officer observed the periscope of a submarine some 500 feet from the ship and nearly abeam. Immediately afterwards he saw the feathery wake of a torpedo approaching, and a second later the Folia was hit amidships, the explosion smashing two of her lifeboats. Seven of the crew, including the Second Engineer, were also killed by the explosion, and the
Folia herself began rapidly to settle. Four boats were at once lowered, and the rest of the officers and crew were safely embarked. While the lifeboats were still in the neighbourhood the submarine came to the surface, motored rapidly round the ship and fired four shots into her. She next backed away and fired a second torpedo into the sinking vessel. The U-boat then cleared off, but Captain Inch got his boats together, and instructed the officers in charge to steer on a Nor'west compass bearing. Three of them made fast by painters so as not to get adrift from each other, and in this manner the frail boats stood on their course. About 11 am the Captain, under the fog that had crept up, sighted breakers ahead. Creeping along the line of breakers they at last sighted smooth water at the base of towering cliffs. Pulling for these they saw the outline of a house high above, with people standing in front of it. Shouting in unison the crew succeeded in attracting attention and learned that the place was Ardmore, Youghal, Co. Cork, and from there they proceeded to Dungarvan, where they arrived in time to hear the church bells that evening. In all the cases I have dealt with in this chapter of shipwreck every one of the vessels mentioned was unarmed and no resistance was possible.
The ship is known locally in Ardmore as the
Folio. The correct name however is
FOLIA. The Cunard Co. used the - IA ending for many of their ships starting with the BRITANNIA and including such familiar names as the LUSITANIA already mentioned and her sister ship the MAURETANIA, which for over 20 years held the 'Blue Riband' for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic at speeds averaging over 25 knots.
Early on Sunday morning in Ardmore, two explosions were heard quite clearly and then there was silence. Although there was no wind it was cold and there was a very thick fog. When the lifeboats came around the Head and broke the fog they were guided in by people waving on the cliffs. By the time they came ashore it was mid-day. There was a large crowd around as last mass had just finished. The RIC assembled the survivors and took a roll call outside the Hotel on Main Street. Lots of people provided food and clothing. Arrangements were made to transport them to Dungarvan, where they were taken that evening in a fleet of cars. An account of the event is provided by the letter overleaf.
The lifeboats were left in the Boatcove for quite a while before being towed away. Also left were the lifejackets and a number of children learned to swim using them. Some months passed before the 'salvage' began to float in. Wooden barrels of oil were picked up by the Receiver of Wreck and later sold. Sides of ham, loose or in boxes about 1 cu. yard in size came into Ardmore and elsewhere along the coast. Large slabs of tallow about 3 sq.ft x 2 inches thick floated ashore in boxes or single slabs where boxes broke up. These were seized by the locals and used for making candles, as paraffin oil for the lamps was very scarce.
As the
Folia is such a large vessel, 430 ft in length and is located only 4 miles off Ram Head, it has been dived on many times although it lies in about 120 ft of water. According to Lloyd's the ship was carrying a general cargo, but a large number of brass items have been recovered.
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