In September 1941 (World War II), the British Admiralty, Ministry of War Transport, requisitioned the Princess Marguerite for use as a troop transport. At midday on August 17, 1942, the Princess Marguerite was en route in a small convoy from Port Said, Egypt, to Famagusta on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus with 125 crewmen and 998 British soldiers on board. Despite air cover and an escort of three destroyers and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Antwerp, the Princess Marguerite, was hit by two torpedoes fired by the German submarine, U-83. The torpedoes exploded the ship's fuel tanks and she was quickly ablaze from stem to stern. When the fire reached the munitions stores, explosions turned her into a hellhole. The engineers stopped the vessel and Captain Richard A. Leicester gave the order to abandon ship, but oil burning on the surface of the water made evacuation difficult and hazardous. She sank within 45 minutes with a loss of 55 soldiers and five crewmembers. The survivors were rescued immediately by the British destroyers HMS Hero (H-99) and HMS Kelvin (F-37) and landed at Port Said. News that the Princess Marguerite had been sunk was withheld from the public until January 22, 1945.
