Juan Domingo Goeloe (Bonaire, 11-2-1888 - 16-2-1942) Juan Domingo Goeloe (Bonaire, 11-2-1888) was a sailor on the British oil tanker Oranjestad. He died on 16 February 1942 after having been torpedoed. Juan has a watery grave. Fifteen of the 25 crew died, among them eleven Antilleans. Juan Domingo was the oldest of them. In 1942 the German operation Neuland deployed six German and two Italian submarines to undermine the allied supplies of Venezuelan oil. The first attack was on 16 February 1942 at the brightly lit Sint Nicolaas harbour of Aruba, at that time the largest oil harbour in the world. At 01.31 and at 01.33 hrs the U-156 fired two torpedoes which hit the Pedernales and next the Oranjestad (remarkably uboat.net specifies 08.00 hrs). Loaded with crude oil they were moored at the Lago-refinery. The Oranjestad lifted its anchors and tried to get out, but was hit mid-ship, caught fire and sank within an hour in 70 meters deep water. During this attack fifteen crew lost their lives. Eleven of them were Antillean. Among them was Juan Domingo Goeloe from Bonaire. Five more Bonairians died. They were L.N. Emerenciana (quartermaster), R.C. Marchena (bosun), H.B. Martijn (quartermaster), A.J. de Palm (quartermaster) and A.G. Pieter (stoker). Also A.D. Granger (apprentice fireman), E.N. Linzey (steward), D.C. Lynch (sailor) and C.A. Wilson (stoker) from Saba and F. Pannelek (stoker) from Curaçao – see below. The captain and nine more crew of the Oranjestad could be saved by harbour personnel. On 8 March 1943 the U-156, in the ocean between Barbados and Suriname, was sunk by an American Catalina. All 53 crew died.
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 19:51:01 +0000
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