The steel steamship Zitella was launched from the Burntisland Shipbuilding Co Ltd (Yard No 153) on 8th June 1929 for the Z Steamship Company of London. She measured 370.9′ x 51.4′ x 25.1′ and her tonnage was 4251 gross tons, 2627 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by David Rowan and Co Ltd delivering 351 nominal horse power.
Lloyd’s Register 1939
Builders GA drawing – Lloyd’s Register
Her uneventful commercial career was rudely interrupted by the outbreak of World War Two. Within weeks she was steaming in convoy OB11 leaving Liverpool on 27th September heading for Buenos Aires with a cargo of coal. The convoy dispersed off the west cost of Scotland and Zitella turned south west to head for South America. After offloading her cargo she steamed east to Freetown where she loaded a cargo of wheat departing on 10th December arriving safely in Liverpool on 26th December. Her next voyage took her across the North Sea to Narvik in Norway where she was loaded with a cargo of ore bound for Middlesbrough with a crew of thirty three men aboard.
Steamship Zitella under way
The details of her loss are vague due to wartime reporting restrictions but, as she approached the east coast of Scotland on 6th February 1940, the weather deteriorated and soon she was enveloped in a thick fog which severely reduced visibility. There was a heavy swell running and the wind was blowing from the south east. It appears the captain underestimated the easterly drift and came too close to the Aberdeenshire coast and, on the 6th February, she ran aground at Long Haven, Boddam Bay. The crew were safely taken off by the Peterhead lifeboat. The Zitella became a total wreck. In August 1940 she was reported ashore lying parallel to the shoreline.
The remaining wreckage of the Zitella lies in position 57° 27.189’N, 01° 47.871’W lying in 10 metres. As the wreck was subject to substantial salvage in subsequent years the wreckage remaining at the site is broken and scattered although there is one large box section remaining.
