This is the story of a ship, and the ship’s name was America. She was built in Newport News, Virginia, and was one of the rare vessels whose interior was designed by women, and more specifically by the New York agency Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald. This was exceedingly rare at the time. The typical decor for a liner was abandoned in favour of a more contemporary design – gone were the chandeliers and stained-glass doors of the Titanic era; now, they favoured squared angles, leather, steel, ceramic and synthetic materials, aiming to create an atmosphere of sober, elegant sophistication.
The America was unveiled in 1939 to the acclaim of the locals from Newport News. The vessel’s sponsor, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was present at the unveiling. Emotions ran high, and the America could now begin its transatlantic crossings carrying two thousand passengers at a time, of which 543 were in steerage. But once the Second World War broke out, the dream of arriving in New York or Hamburg aboard this prestigious vessel could not long endure.
The vessel was infiltrated by two German spies, Franz Joseph Stigler and Erwin Wilhelm Siegler, who joined its crew in 1941. They used false names, and had flawless American accents. No-one suspected them, and their mission bore precious fruit. They managed to obtain crucial information on the movements of Allied ships and the military defences around the Panama Canal. Their work even allowed a Nazi submarine to come dangerously close to New York.
The spy network grew by the day on board the America, and the liner became a floating den of espionage. Stigler was undercover as the ship’s head butcher. Each time he stuck his knife into a piece of bloody flesh, he felt he could hear the Nazi tanks firing upon Allied positions. “American food is so disgusting!” he thought each time he was told to prepare the meatloaf. After all, you didn’t need to have been born in the New World to figure out how to make meatloaf. “You keep up like this and I promise you’ll make head chef in two years,” his boss told him. Stigler was proud of his work, but did not forget that he was a spy first and foremost.
The two German spies remained on board the America until it was commandeered by the Navy and transformed into a troop transport vessel, and renamed the USS West Point. Stigler and Siegler, along with 31 other German agents from the Duquesne spy network, were later discovered by the FBI and would be tried in the largest espionage trial ever brought to court in the USA. It was a national scandal; Stigler was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage, and two years for violation of the Registration Act. Siegler, meanwhile, got 10 years in prison for espionage and two years for violation of the Registration Act.
Alan Alfredo Geday