Saylor on Greek Ship Granicos
Birth place – Válega, Ovar
Birth date –
Death date –
Father – Francisco Rodrigues
Mother – Maria Rodrigues
In July 1943, the Portuguese authorities received information from the consular services in Italy that Joaquim Rodrigues de Sá was being held in a transalpine concentration camp. He had been captured after the Greek ship on which he worked — the Granicos — had been sunk.
Joaquim de Sá was one of four Portuguese nationals aboard the Granicos, when the ship was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Giuseppe Finzi, on 28 March 1943. The cargo vessel was carrying iron ore and was off the coast of Liberia, in Africa, when he was attacked.
Everything happened very quickly, and the weight of the cargo caused the vessel to sink rapidly.
There were only two survivors, and it is possible that both were Portuguese. One was picked up by the submarine itself and taken to Italy, and the other was found by the British tanker Leighton on 4 April. It was not, however, possible to ascertain the names of the other Portuguese nationals.
Joaquim Rodrigues de Sá is believed to have disembarked in Bordeaux on 21 or 22 April 1943. He was sent to Rome, where he was interrogated, and was eventually interned in a prisoner-of-war camp near Genoa. It was at this point that the Portuguese consulate in Rome attempted to arrange his release.
The case was still unresolved when Italy switched sides to the Allied camp. Rodrigues de Sá then came under German custody and was transferred first to Stalag VII-A and later to Stalag VIII-B. He was released on 13 July 1944 and returned to Lisbon by air.
Carlos Guerreiro
Sources:
Biblioteca Central de Marinha - Arquivo Histórico § https://www.sixtant.net/ §
