claim the salvage money from the insurers for the ship and cargo. The oil and freight cargo were valued at £60,000. The ship herself, almost new, was worth £250,000. The High Court awarded the claimants £14,700 salvage money: £2,000 of it going to Second Officer Hawkins; £1,000 to the estate of John Boyle. Another £1,000 went to 26-year-old Oswald John Edmund Preston, a Canadian seaman and Naturalized American Citizen, because he played a "magnificent" part when the battle started. Hawkins was also given the tattered Red Ensign of the ship. Salvage Payouts: Second Officer Hawkins was awarded the OBE for his gallantry. Chief Engineer Charles Pollard and Deck Apprentice John Lewis Jones each received the Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea. San Demetrio was repaired and returned to service. Sinking On 14 March 1942 San Demetrio sailed unescorted from Baltimore, Maryland bound for the UK via Halifax, Nova Scotia with a cargo of 4,000 tons of alcohol and 7,000 tons of aviation spirit. On 17 March she was northwest of Cape Charles, Virginia when the torpedoed and sank her. 16 crew and three DEMS gunners were lost, and six crew wounded, but survivors managed to launch two lifeboats. Two days later the US tanker SS Beta rescued the Master, 26 crew and five DEMS gunners and took them to Norfolk, Virginia. The Master, Conrad Vidot, was awarded the Lloyd's War Medal. Film The ship's part in Convoy HX 84 was made into a film, San Demetrio London in 1943, starring Walter Fitzgerald, Mervyn Johns, Ralph Michael, and Robert Beatty. It was one of the few films to recognise the heroism of British Merchant Navy crews during the war. Books An 64-page account of the events surrounding the sinking written by F. Tennyson Jesse, The Saga of San Demetrio, was published by HMSO in 1942 as an exercise in helping boost public morale. One of the ship's crew, Able Seaman Calum Macneil, wrote a book called San Demetrio, which was published by Angus and Robertson in 1957. It is a personal account of his leaving his previous ship and joining the crew of the San Demetrio. He was one of the crew who abandoned the ship then re-boarded during the voyage of Convoy HX 84. Art depictions and museum holdings A wartime poster entitled "San Demetrio gets home" was issued by the Post Office Savings Bank. It featured a painting