The SS Bakio was a British-built steamship operated by the Spanish shipping company Naviera Sota y Aznar. The ship was built in 1904 and sunk on 30 April 1916 by German U-boat, the same U-boat that sank the RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915.[1] [2]
The SS Bakio was built by the Campbeltown Shipbuilding Company in 1904 and sold to the Spanish shipping company Naviera Sota y Aznar, based in Bilbao.[3] [4] The ship was last spotted on 29 April 1916 off the coast of Peniche, Portugal. The ship was traveling from Sagunto, Spain, to Montreal, Canada, carrying a cargo of iron ore. The ship was sunk on 30 April 1916 by German U-boat in the Atlantic Ocean after being struck by torpedoes. The site of the wreck has never been located.
The sinking of the SS Bakio by SM U-20 seems to contradict the U-boat's sinking of the French schooner the next day, 1 May 1916, south of Ireland.[5] The schooner was sunk away from the SS Bakios last known location at Peniche, and at the U-boat's top speed of 15.4kn, it would have taken just under 40 hours to travel from the SS Bakios last known location to the site the Bernadette was sunk.[6]