Anecdote

My late Father-in-law was the 2nd Radio Officer on Horshell when she was torpedoed. Would be very interested in any information on the voyage and subsequent rescue.

Diala was built 1938 by Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack: she was 8106grt, 465ft x 59ft.
Whist I can find no actual sister ship link there were quite a few similar vessels built during the same period: all 465ft in length x 59ft beam, in fact 17 others.
They were Daphnella, Darina, Daronia, Davila, Delphinula, Desmoulea, Diloma, Diplodon, Dolabella, Donacilla, Donax, Donovania, Dorcasia, Doryssa, Dosina, Dromus, Drupa.
Of those 17, 12 saw out the end of the war i.e. survived and the remaining 5 lost and these were Darina, Donax, Donovania, Doryssa, Dosina,
Doryssa was sunk 25/4/1943 by the Italian submarine Da Vinci, presumably on the Europe side.
Dosina was sunk 26/10/1940 by mine in Queens Channel Mersey.
That leaves :-
Darina 8113grt 465ft x 59ft; built 1939 by Blythswood S.B. Co Ltd of Glasgow and lost 20/5/1942 on passage from Stanlow to Texas City.
Donax 8036grt 465ft x 59ft; built 1938 by Harland & Wolff Glasgow and lost 22/10/42 on passage from Belfast to New York.
Donovania 8149grt 465ft x 59ft; built 1941 by Hawthorn Leslie Hebburn and lost on passage from Lagos to Trinidad.
All possible sister ships are very much alike in specification but as far as routing goes I might discount the Donovania and maybe even Darina i.e. leaving a possible as Donax?
Reference the Flemish Pass wreck article I note the beam as 20mtr therefore agree that 59ft does tie in but wonder why you might consider it as a Diala sister vessel.
I hope this helps.

My dad Bill Young was on this ship in the early 1950’s

Mijn opa Th. J Brouwer heeft gevaren op de Olivia die voer onder La Corona/Shell tijdens de oorlog.
Deze tanker werd in 1942 in de Indische oceaan door japanse schepen onder vuur genomen en tot zinken gebracht.
Op wonderbaarlijke wijze wist mijn opa midden in de nacht onder de ontstane vlammenzee door te zwemmen en ternauwernood aan boord te komen van een reddingssloep samen met slechts 4 scheepsofficieren en een onbekend aantal Chinese bemaningsleden, waarna een dramatische open boot tocht van 29 dagen volgden op de stille oceaan. Er was nauwelijks eten en drinken aan boord, bovendien was de sloep lek en de mast brak af. De ene na de andere opvarende bezweek aan de ontberingen. Uiteindelijk kwam slechts een deel van deze opvarende, inclusief mijn opa, terecht op Madagascar waar zij krijsgevangenen werden.
Ik heb van deze barre reis een zeer uitgebreid artikel dat destijds in 'de blauwe wimpel' is verschenen in 1973. Een wellicht bekend maandblad voor scheepvaart.
Ik zou u de foto's van dit artikel kunnen doorsturen. Mail mij gerust op: tijlvanhooff@yahoo.com

Sailed on the SS Opalia in August 1975 as a navigation cadet for Shell, joining the ship in Hamburg before sailing to Gabon and then over to the Caribbean (Curacao), Venezuela, Baton Rouge and Chesapeake Bay - not at all what I was expecting and spent most of the trip chipping the rust and painting - not much navigational training involved in that! :-(

A vessel has recently found off Newfoundland in an area of the Flemish Pass. It seems to have a similar superstructure configuration to the MV Diala. Did the Diala have any sisterships last in the western Atlantic. Do any deck layouts/plans exist. This wreck has apparent bow damage and the superstructure is cut off at the aft end, IE no stern. Local media have covered the story this week with images. The wreck on sidescan sonar has a striking curved, layer cake front to the superstructure with no hard corners on front, only curves.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/flemish-pass-basin-...

My Uncle, Chief Engineer John Noel Le Neve Arnold, was awarded a Gold Watch and a Lloyd's Medal and Certificate for extinguishing a fire that broke out aboard the SS Esturia (1910) on October 5, 1925, near Marseilles, while cleaning the tanks after having just unloaded a cargo of benzine .

He had been aboard since WWI, when the ship was chartered for service by the Royal Australian Navy as an oiler and supply vessel (operating in Australian and Malayan waters).

I have prepared a PDF document that enrichens the history of this vessel but I know no way of making it directly available.

I would be happy to send it to any one who requests.

Mi papa fue Jefe de Maquinas durante el año 1986 hasta 1987, Raul Máximo Anselmino.

Mi papa fue Jefe de Maquinas desde 1985 hasta 1986. Raúl Maximo Anselmino

Hi, just stumbled across your page this morning on a search for my husbands grandfather and in the search his name appears to have been linked to the sans cipriano. Wondering if there was any way to check if he was on the ship and possibly killed when it was bombed in jan 1943
His name was John dodds born 1910 in South Shields. He was absent in the 1939 census, but his wife was still showing as married. Next record we have for my husbands nana is she remarried in the December of 1943. No one ever spoke of John dodds and unfortunately that side of the family is now long gone.
Ancestry records show nothing of merchant seaman to check if this was possibly him. Hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction please. Thank u

Sailed on her as assistant steward '67-'68

We did two runs to Vietnam lasting about two weeks each so must have been the first two she did.