SS Simon Bolivar 1939
Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | SS Simon Bolivar | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1939 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | passenger-cargo ship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Sea / ocean | North Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | England | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 25 km from land |
| Position | 51.8216, 1.6122 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SS Simon Bolivar was a Dutch transatlantic passenger-cargo liner that was built in 1927. Her regular route was between Amsterdam and the Caribbean. Two German magnetic mines sank her in the North Sea in 1939, early in the Second World War, killing more than 80 of the people aboard her. The Netherlands were neutral at the time, but the ship was off the coast of Essex in England. More than 100 of the passengers aboard at the time were Jewish refugees from Nazism.
Simon Bolivar was one of several merchant ships sunk by the same German minefield within the space of a few days. These sinkings led to accusations that Germany had violated the Hague Conventions, by laying mines that failed to minimise the risk to civilian shipping.
Diving & visiting
Simon Bolivar's wreck, lying in shallow water and partly above the surface of the sea, was a hazard to navigation for two decades. In April 1940 the Admiralty charted it as a "non-dangerous wreck". In 1959 it was dispersed to a depth of 45 feet (14 m). In 1961 the wreck was surveyed, and parts of it were found to foul at a depth of 41 feet (12 m). By then, the wreck was broken up, and scattered over an area 600 feet (180 m) long. Since then, some surveys have failed to find the wreck, possibly due to drifting sands covering it. Other surveys have found the wreck in a broken condition.
Location
- Recorded position: 51.8216, 1.6122 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Sea
- Nearest coast: England
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SS Simon Bolivar (revision 1348119315), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- SM UC-9 1915 · 4 km
- HMS Coquette 11 km
- SM UC-11 1918 · 12 km
- HMS Prince Royal 25 km
- HMS Ganges 28 km
- HMS Dundalk 1940 · 28 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off England · North Sea · Second World War