SS Cantabria ( 1919 ) The SS Cantabria was a Spanish cargo ship which was sunk in a military action of the Spanish Civil War , off the coast of Norfolk 12 miles ENE of Cromer on 2 November 1938 . The ship was shelled by the Spanish Nationalist Auxiliary cruiser " Nadir " , which was part of General Franco ’ s navy . Incident . The SS " Cantabria " ( 5649 tons ) was built in 1919 as the " War Chief " at the shipyards of J . Coughlan & Sons , Vancouver , Canada . She was purchased by A . F . Pérez of Santander in 1919 and renamed " Alfonso Pérez " . She was used as prison ship during the Asturian miners ' strike of 1934 . In 1937 she was requisitioned by the " Departamento de Navegación " of Santander for the Republican government and renamed " Cantabria " . She was registered at the Bay of Biscay port of Santander in northern Spain , where the " Cantabria " was used again as prison ship by Republican authorities . At the time of the incident , the SS " Cantabria " was under charter to a British Company called the Mid - Atlantic Shipping Company based in London . " Cantabria " was not engaged in Spanish trade at the time of her sinking . She was on passage in ballast between the River Thames and Immingham bound for Leningrad under Captain Manuel Argüelles . On board were 45 people made up of crew and passengers , of which five were children and three women . One of the children was only three years old . The passengers included Argüelles ' wife Trinidad , their son Ramon , aged six and their daughter Begoña , aged eight . Raider " Nadir " . The " Nadir " was a 1 , 132 tn auxiliary cruiser of General Franco ' s Spanish Nationalist forces armed with a 120 mm main gun , two 105 mm and other two 47 mm AA . She was actually the " Ciudad de Valencia " , a warship very active during the blockade of Biscay in 1937 . The Nationalists had renamed her in order to deceive the Republican navy about the real number of commerce raiders at sea . Her targets were Republican freighters operating from ports in northern Europe . The Nationalist raider had been launched on 18 October 1930 at the shipyard " Unión Naval de Levante " as the " Infante D . Gonzalo " , owned by the Transmediterránea company . She was requisitioned by the Nationalist government on 30 October 1936 . Shadowed . At around 11 . 30 am on 2 November , Argüelles was concerned that his freighter was being shadowed by a smaller ship . He had good reason to have concerns as the Spanish Nationalist navy had been given the use of German North sea harbours by Hitler , to act as bases for them to raid Spanish shipping in the North Sea and the English Channel areas . With this situation in mind , the captain ordered his vessel to change course a degree or two to see if the following ship was following them . To Argüelles ' concern , the vessel followed " Cantabria " ' s new course . His officers studied the following vessel with binoculars , but the vessel appeared to be of no threat and looked like an ordinary passenger steamer of around 1500 tons . The vessel was in fact the " Nadir " . Captain Argüelles again changed course heading towards the Norfolk coast . The " Nadir " followed and speeded up . The crew of the " Cantabria " then saw that the flag of the Spanish insurgents had been raised on the mast of the " Nadir " . At the same time the raider ' s guns were unmasked and she ordered the " Cantabria " to ‘ Heave to or I fire ’ . It was now the afternoon of the 2 November when the " Nadir " began to riddle the Republican freighter with gunfire . The action occurred on the high seas , outside British territorial waters , but near enough to the coast to be witnessed from the shore . The " Cantabria " , according to the statement of Argüelles himself , had refused to stop after having a shot fired high across her bows . At this point , nearby fishing boats intervened by heading towards the " Nadir " sounding their siren s . This had an effect as the attacking ship , although under no threat from the commercial trawlers , changed course and broke off its attack . The fishing boats , satisfied that they had broken up the confrontation , continued on their way . The " Nadir " , however , as soon as she was back in range , began to target the ship itself . A shell struck the bridge , destroying it . The " Nadir " circled the " Cantabria " firing round after round and raking the ship with machine - gun fire . Another shell penetrated the engine room rendering the " Cantabria " powerless . During this time the radio operator had been sending messages that the ship was ‘ being shelled by unknown vessel ’ . After the bridge had been destroyed and the engine room had been disabled he sent out the SOS . The " Cantabria " ' s position was given as 8½ miles south - east of Haisbro Light ship . Rescue . It was now nearly dark and at 5pm the Cromer Lifeboat " H . F . Bailey " with coxswain Henry Blogg at the helm was launched to rescue the " Cantabria " ' s crew and passengers . Before the lifeboat arrived fire had spread through the ship . Two boats were lowered and some of the crew and passengers abandoned the ship . Captain Argüelles , his wife and children and the second steward , Joaquin Vallego , remained aboard the " Cantabria " fearing what their fate would be if they surrendering to the insurgents aboard the " Nadir " . With the boats now lowered , the " Nadir " ceased fire . The attack was witnessed by two freighters , the British " Monkwood " and a Norwegian merchant , which gave up any rescue attempt , fearing the reaction of the " Nadir " , which was still in international waters . The " Monkwood " later sent a report to the naval authorities , who dispatched some naval units to the spot to assure that no hostile action would be taken inside British territorial waters . Another British Merchant Vessel , the " Pattersonian " appeared on the horizon , responding to the SOS sent from the " Cantabria " . Captain Blackmore of the " Pattersonian " had seen the " Nadir " heading towards the lifeboat and had steered his ship across the attacking ship , getting his vessel between the " Nadir " and the lifeboat . Eleven of the crew were taken off the " Cantabria ’ s " lifeboats by the " Pattersonian " . A further 20 of the crew in the second lifeboat were captured by the " Nadir " . This act was judged an unlawful interference with British shipping in the House of Lords , since the " Nadir " obstructed the legal duty of rescuing seamen . It was now dark and no more shots were being fired . The Cromer lifeboat arrived at the scene of the incident at 6 . 30 pm . A relieved Argüelles signaled the lifeboat with a torch and it pulled along the starboard side of the " Cantabria " , which was heavily listing . A line was thrown and the children and the captain ' s wife were handed down to the lifeboat and were soon followed by the steward and the Captain . When the rescue was completed , " Cantabria " suddenly heeled over damaging the lifeboat ’ s stanchions . With great haste the lifeboat moved away from the sinking " Cantabria " . Soon after the Republican steamer sank . At least one sailor , Juan Gil , was lost with the vessel . Aftermath . " H . F . Bailey " returned to Cromer arriving at 8 . 15pm . Captain Argüelles , his family and the steward were taken to the Red Lion Hotel . Meanwhile the other 11 rescued crewmen were taken to Great Yarmouth by the " Pattersonian " . An account of the incident was reported on the BBC along with a warning to shipping , giving the sunken " Cantabria " ' s position . The national press carried the story as their headlines but many of the crew at Yarmouth refused to be photographed fearing reprisals from Franco . Questions were also asked in the Houses of Parliament about the incident . Gestapo involvement . Two weeks after the sinking of the SS " Cantabria " , Danish police released information that shed new light on the recent confrontation that proved that it had been no coincidence that the " Nadir " had intercepted the " Cantabria " . For some time , the Danish police had been quietly interested in the Copenhagen correspondents for a German newspaper . One of these correspondents was Horst von Pflug - Hartnung . He worked for the paper , " Berliner Börsen Zeitung " , which was an organ of the Reich War Ministry . The police arrested Hartnung along with eight other Germans living in Denmark , along with three Danes and charged them of operating as spies in Copenhagen . During their investigations the Danish police proved that the accused had all been trained at Gestapo spy schools and had operated secret broadcasting stations , as well as engaging in nautical and hydrographical research . Between them they had drawn up maps and charts , graphs and complex mathematical tables of data . They communicated by complex code systems , which they changed frequently . The outlay for so extensive an apparatus as theirs could be justified only as part of Third Reich preparation for war against major countries . The spy ring just so happened to use the shadowing and sinking of Loyalist Spanish freighter SS " Cantabria " as a practical demonstration of their complicated subversion mechanism that the Gestapo was honing . The sinking had been formulated on behalf of Franco , backed by his allies , as a warning to Britain . Franco was serving notice on British government that , unless she proved reasonable in the current flux of world events , this was a warning of threats to come . Thanks to the investigations of the Danish police , it had been established that the attack had been planned by a more sinister power than General Francisco Franco , and one that was in a better position to threaten , namely Nazi Germany . In effect , " Nadir " and her sister ship " Ciudad de Alicante " used the German town of Lunden on the Eider river in Schleswig - Holstein , as a resupply base . Horst von Pflugk - Hartnung . Horst von Pflugk - Hartung was a German spy , who along with his brother Georg , had previously been charged in Berlin for the assassination of the Socialist leaders , Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg . Both men were acquitted but evidently many thought them guilty , for the brother was assassinated himself sometime later . After Horst von Pflugk - Hartung ' s trial in Denmark , he was only sentenced to a year and a half in prison and was released after a few months owing to German government pressure . He became one of the leading German Intelligence chiefs in Denmark . 2006 . Captain Manuel Argüelles and his wife Trinidad eventually emigrated with their children to Mexico to make a new life for themselves and their family . In 2006 , when the new Henry Blogg lifeboat museum was opened , Ramón Argüelles along with his sister Begoña made a visit to pay tribute to Henry Blogg and his crew .