Rosaura

Rosaura
Rig Class.Motor Yacht
Year built:1905
Fate:Sunk by a mine in 1941
General characteristics
Class & Type:Motor Yacht
Ton:1,538 tons
Beam:

In September 1933, Moyne purchased the passenger ferry SS Dieppe from the Southern Railway.  She was converted to diesel power and renamed Rosaura.  He used this boat for social cruises, including a voyage in September 1934 from Marseilles on to Greece and Beirut with the Churchills as his guests.  From December 1934, he ventured further to the Pacific, with Clementine Churchill as a guest, and brought the first living Komodo dragon back to Britain.

He wrote two books about the cultures that he had encountered in thousands of miles of travel around the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. They are now quite rare: Walkabout; a Journey between the Pacific and Indian oceans (1936) and Atlantic Circle (1938).

She was requisitioned in November 1939 and was used as an escort vessel in Home Command.  She later sailed for the Mediterranean and became an armed boarding vessel. In February 1941 she was involved in the evacuation of the Cyprus garrison.  On 18 August 1941 she was sunk by a mine when leaving Mersa Tobruk.  Eleven of her crew were killed and thirteen were wounded.

Owners

Namefromto
The 1st Baron Moyne DSO 1934 1939

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