USS Buena Ventura ( ID - 1335 ) USS " Buena Ventura " ( ID - 1329 ) , also spelled USS " Buenaventura " , was a United States Navy cargo ship in commission in 1918 that was sunk during World War I . Construction and early career , 1913 - 1918 . " Buena Ventura " was built as a commercial cargo ship in 1913 at Howden - on - Tyne , England , by Northumberland Shipbuilding Company , Ltd . . The United States Steel Products Company of New York City owned her when the United States Shipping Board requisitioned her for World War I service in 1917 . The Shipping Board assigned her to the United States Army , for which she began operations in 1917 with a United States Navy Naval Armed Guard detachment aboard to man her guns . United States Navy service , 1918 . " Buena Ventura " was transferred to the U . S . Navy on 25 July 1918 . Assigned the naval registry Identification Number ( Id . No . ) 1335 , she was commissioned as USS " Buena Ventura " ( or USS " Buenaventura " ) at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on 26 July 1918 with Lieutenant Commander Howard Fitzsimons , USNRF , in command . " Buena Ventura " was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service on a U . S . Army account . After loading cargo at Philadelphia , she departed for New York City on 9 August 1918 , then left New York in a convoy on 13 August 1918 bound for France . Steaming first to La Pallice and from there to Royan and Bordeaux , she proceeded to Le Verdon - sur - Mer to take on fuel for the return voyage to Philadelphia . " Buena Ventura " cleared Le Verdon - Sur - mer in ballast on 14 September 1918 as part of a 25 - ship convoy bound for the United States . Seven escorts protected the convoy until that evening , after which the convoy continued across the Atlantic Ocean unescorted . Loss . At about 20 : 45 on 16 September 1918 , the German submarine " U - 46 " came across the unescorted convoy and fired two torpedo es into " Buena Ventura " . The first struck amidships , directly beneath the flying bridge about below the waterline and tore a hole that measured long by wide . The blast from the explosion coursed upward , splintering the lifeboat suspended in its davits just above and knocking the wireless out of commission . The second torpedo hit in the after end of the empty hold number four . " Buena Ventura " , mortally stricken , soon slowed in the rising swells , listing to port . Her siren blasted out the submarine warning signal while her after gun fired one shot . After throwing the confidential publications and code s overboard in weighted bags , the crew abandoned their rapidly sinking ship in the four undamaged lifeboats . Her commanding officer — Lt . Cdr . Fitzsimons — remained on board to be sure that everyone who could abandon ship had done so and , when thus assured , stepped into the last boat and ordered it lowered away . That boat , damaged in bumping against the side of the ship due to the " Buena Ventura " s port list , required unceasing efforts to bale out the water that had gained entry through several leaks . Fitzsimons , his executive officer , and the 27 enlisted men in the boat , separated from the other three boats in the darkness and rising seas , steered in the direction of the Spanish coast . On 18 September , the French destroyer rescued 45 of " Buena Ventura " s crew , while on the morning of 20 September , the Spanish coaster " Lola " took Fitzsimons and his remaining sailor s on board and landed them at Corunna , Spain on 22 September . Casualties . Three officers and 15 or 16 enlisted men died in the loss of " Buena Ventura " . The United States Navy and United States Naval Reserve Force ( USNRF ) personnel who perished were : Men . Louis Siegel ' s name appears in the U . S . Government publication , " Officers and enlisted men of the United States Navy who lost their lives during the world war , from April 6 , 1917 to November 11 , 1918 " , with a death date of 27 September 1918 , eleven days after the ship was torpedoed . His name is not listed on other records .