MV San Demetrio was a British motor tanker, notable for her service during the Second World War. She was built in 1938 for the Eagle Oil and Shipping Company. In 1940 she was damaged by enemy action in mid-Atlantic, abandoned by her crew but later re-boarded and successfully brought into harbour. She was the subject of a 1943 feature film, San Demetrio London, one of the few films that recognised the heroism of the UK Merchant Navy crews during the War. San Demetrio was one of several motor tankers of about built for Eagle Oil and Shipping in the latter 1930s. She was built by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company of Glasgow, who had also launched her sister ships San Conrado in 1936 and San Cipriano in 1937. Convoy HX 84 San Demetrio had loaded 11,200 tons of aviation fuel in Aruba, Dutch West Indies and was bound for Avonmouth, England. She was one of 38 ships that joined Convoy HX 84 for the passage across the North Atlantic and left Halifax, Nova Scotia on 28 October 1940. The s and escorted the convoy out of Canadian home waters but once clear of the coast, the convoy's sole escort was the armed merchant cruiser – a converted passenger liner that had been armed with seven outdated BL 6 inch Mk VII naval guns and a pair of anti-aircraft guns. Attack by Admiral Scheer On 5 November 1940, the found the convoy at and attacked immediately. Captain E.S.F. Fegen of HMS Jervis Bay steamed out towards the raider so as to delay Admiral Scheer to allow the convoy to scatter and escape. Jervis Bay was completely outclassed, but she fought for 22 minutes before she was sunk with the loss of 190 of her crew. Their sacrifice, followed by an alleged four-hour cat-and-mouse battle with the convoy freighter enabled most of the merchantmen from Convoy HX 84 to escape. Fegen received a posthumous Victoria Cross. Admiral Scheer now tried to sink as many of the convoy as possible before darkness fell. She hit San Demetrio with several shells that killed look-out Ernest Daines, destroyed the bridge and poop deck and left the upper deck in flames. Despite both the exploding shells and the resultant fire, the ship's highly flammable cargo did not explode. Nevertheless, her Master, Captain Waite, believed that the fire could set off the aviation fuel at any moment so