MV Struma

MV Struma was a small ship with a long history that included a number of changes of use and many changes of name. She was built in 1867 as Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey's luxury steam yacht and ended up 75 years later as a Greek and Bulgarian diesel ship for carrying livestock. She was launched as Xantha, but subsequently carried the names Sölyst, Sea Maid, Kafireus, Esperos, Makedoniya and finally Struma. As Struma she tried to take nearly 800 Jewish refugees who were attempting to illegally immigrate from Romania to British-controlled Palestine in December 1941. Suffering engine problems, she was towed into Istanbul in December 1941. The Turkish government refused to allow her passengers to disembark unless Britain allowed them to immigrate to Palestine, which was not given due to the White Paper of 1939. Following weeks of diplomatic deadlock, in February 1942 Turkish authorities towed her out to sea and cast her adrift. A Soviet submarine quickly torpedoed and sank Struma in the Black Sea, killing all but one of her 792 passengers and crew.