The SS Dumaru was a wooden steamship of the Design 1003, Hough-type constructed for the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation. Launched on April 17, 1918, in Portland, Oregon, she was part of the wartime effort to bolster maritime logistics during World War I. As a typical Hough-type vessel, Dumaru was built primarily of wood, reflecting the shipbuilding practices of the period aimed at rapid production and resource efficiency. Her service history was tragically brief. During her maiden voyage on October 16, 1918, just six months after her launch, Dumaru was struck by lightning off the coast of Guam. The lightning ignited her munitions cargo, leading to an explosion that destroyed the vessel. The disaster resulted in the loss of the ship, but all crew members managed to evacuate in two lifeboats and a raft. Notably, the lifeboats' journeys were harrowing. One boat, severely overcrowded with 32 crew members, drifted for approximately three weeks across the Pacific to the Philippine Islands, soon exhausting its fresh water supply. The crew of this boat was forced to improvise a crude desalination device and, in the desperate circumstances, resorted to cannibalism, consuming the bodies of crew members who succumbed to exposure and dehydration. The second lifeboat, with only nine of its 20 seats filled, also drifted for about three weeks but managed to reach safety, rescuing five passengers, including Captain Ole Berrensen, near the site of the sinking nine days after the explosion. The SS Dumaru’s brief existence and the tragic story of her crew underscore the perils faced by early 20th-century merchant ships, especially those constructed of wood and serving during wartime conditions. Her sinking marked a significant, if tragic, chapter in maritime history related to wartime logistics and the dangers of early 20th-century naval and merchant vessel operations.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.