SS Commissaire Ramel

The ship was built by the Société Provençale de Construction Navale in La Ciotat under the name General Duchesne,[3] but was renamed Commissaire Ramel before launching, in honour of Paul Ramel,[1] the purser of the ship SS Athos, who was lost when his ship was torpedoed on 11 February 1917,[3] and posthumously awarded the légion d'honneur.[4]

Displacing 16,620 tonnes,[1] and 8,814 gross register tonnage, the ship was 152.50 metres long, with a beam of 18.06 metres.[2] She was powered by a coal-fired triple expansion steam engine[2] which delivered 4,450 hp, driving a single propeller and giving her a top speed of 12 knots.[1]

Commissaire Ramel was launched on 20 March 1920, and entered service with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes on 24 April 1921, as a cargo ship, sailing between France and the Far East.[3]

In 1926 she was refitted in La Ciotat as a cargo-passenger ship, receiving a promenade deck, lifeboat deck, and an additional boiler.[3] This gave her the capacity to carry up to 552 passengers, and increased her displacement to 20,323 tonnes, with 10,092 gross register tonnage. The additional boiler increased her power to 5,000 hp, giving her a top speed to 14 knots.[1] On 19 January 1927 she returned to service, sailing between France and Australia.[3]

In 1933 she was refitted again, with her coal-fired steam engine being replaced with oil-fired steam turbines delivering 6,250 hp.[1]

In 1935 she was transferred to a new route, sailing between Marseille and New Caledonia in the South Pacific, via the Panama Canal.[3] On 19 May 1940 she sailed from Marseille under the command of Captain Sabouret, bound for Tahiti. She arrived at Papeete on 28 June 1940,[2] five days after the signing of armistice between France and Germany that ended the battle of France. On 18 July 1940 she arrived at Suva in British Fiji to refuel, but was requisitioned by the authorities there. She was taken to Sydney, Australia, where 26 members of the crew, including the captain, volunteered to serve aboard.[3]

Under the management of the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line she sailed from Sydney on 1 September 1940 bound for Britain via Cape Town,[3] under the command of Captain R. MacKenzie. Just after midnight on 19 September she was attacked by the commerce raider Atlantis. After the crew abandoned ship, they were picked up by Atlantis, who then finished off the ship,[2] sinking her at position 28°25′S 74°23′E.[3] Three of her crew were killed and 63 were taken prisoner. Two hundred prisoners taken by Atlantis from several ships were later transferred to the captured Yugoslavian ship Durmitor. Captain of Durmitor reported after the war that the cook from Commissaire Ramel was employed to cook for the German prize crew and that the captain of Commissaire Ramel managed to hide a bottle of poison with which he intended to neutralize the Germans, but after determining the ship's course and position, learning about the poor fuel situation from the captain of Durmitor and considering the possibility that Atlantis might re-appear once the ship was taken over by the prisoners and exact a brutal revenge, he gave up on the plan. The prisoners were thus landed at Warsheikh in Italian East Africa on 22 November 1940. They were held in a camp at Merca until liberated by British troops on 25 February 1941 during the East African Campaign.[3] Durmitor survived the war and was returned to Yugoslavia.