page_title: Merilaid & Co.
section_title: SS Merisaar
hierarchical_section_title: Merilaid & Co. / Details of ships / SS Merisaar
caption_attribution_description: English: Painting of a German warplane's attack on SS Merisaar in July 1940.
context_page_description: A/S Merilaid & Co. was an Estonian shipping company. The firm was founded in Tallinn, Estonia on February 18, 1930. There were seven founding shareholders, most of whom were related by blood or marriage as descendants of Peeter All. Of the 7 founders, 6 were ship captains and 5 had worked in the Far East, in Vladivostok and/or Shanghai, for many years, and had avoided the turmoil of the Bolshevik or Communist Revolution, prior to returning home to a free Estonia. Estonia had been part of the Russian Empire since 1721 when Russia defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War. After World War I, and concurrent with the Russian Civil War, Estonia defeated Russia in the 1918–1920 War of Independence and became an autonomous nation after almost 200 years of Russian rule.
context_section_description: The Merisaar was a 2,348-ton merchant steamer built in Austria-Hungary in 1900. She was 290 ft. long with a breadth of 42 ft. and 18 ft. of draught. Originally named Anna Goich, she was sold to Estonian interests after WWI and after Merilaid acquired the ship in 1930 she was renamed Merisaar. Merisaar's home port of Tallinn is clearly seen in aft views of the ship.
  On June 23, 1940, Merisaar left New Orleans for Cork, Ireland with a cargo of timber. In the North Atlantic Ocean, late in the evening of July 12, 1940, German submarine U-99 attacked Merisaar with one torpedo, which missed. About an hour later another torpedo was fired but this also missed, as the seas were very rough. The U-boat then forced the ship to stop by using its 20mm gun, and the German commander ordered the ship to proceed to Bordeaux, France, that was under German control. A few days later, on the evening of July 14, Merisaar was strafed by a Luftwaffe Heinkel 111 bomber. The 26 crewmembers lowered the life rafts and abandoned ship, rowing away as fast as they could. On its next run the aircraft dropped a bomb on the engine room and the ship caught fire and sank off Queenstown, Ireland. The entire crew survived and was left with about 120 miles to row to shore. A French fishing trawler found them two days later and took them to Lorient, France. After three months' internment in a German camp the ship's captain, August Schmidt (1883–1974), and crew were released.
  In 1991 Capt. Schmidt's son, artist Erik Schmidt (15.8.1925-18.4.2014), created a painting showing the German bomber attacking Merisaar and donated it to the Estonian Maritime Museum. Erik Schmidt's painting "Merisaarele" is donated by Einar Sanden to korp! Sakala's convent house in Tartu.
caption: "Merisaar" E Schmidt's 1991 painting
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