On May 4, 1943, at 11 pm, the crew of the Portuguese fishing steamer Albufeira picked up ten survivors from the American freighter James W. Denver, sunk on April 11 by U-195. After almost a month on the sea the survivors were very tired, and Portuguese sailors had to hoist them aboard.

The Albufeira, which became aware of the presence of the castaways after they fired very-lights, docked in Lisbon at 6 am on the 10th of May. Along the way, the Portuguese gave the Americans part of their clothes, gave up beds and rationed food that was little, as they were returning from a long fishing campaign in the White Cape area, near Mauritania.

The James W. Denver was torpedoed by U-195 at 20.41 hours on April 11, 1943. It was a Liberty Ship that was making its maiden voyage and suffered engine overheating problems that forced it to abandon UG.7 convoy. The 69 crew managed to abandon the ship in five lifeboats before it was hit by a second torpedo.

In addition to the men found by the Albufeira, the rest were found by Spanish ships or washed up on the African coast. Two deaths were recorded, one on board the lifeboat found by the Portuguese and the other in a hospital in Gibraltar, where the survivors found by the Spanish steamer Juan were interned. 

On October 16, 1943, the captain of the Portuguese trawler was honored during a ceremony on the Legation of the United States of America in Lisbon. Quirino de Carvalho received a gold watch and the crew also received some souvenirs.

Carlos Guerreiro