The SS America was an ocean liner built in 1940 for the United States Lines. She carried many names in the 54 years between her 1940 construction and her 1994 wrecking, as she served as the SS America (carrying this name three different times during her career), the USS West Point, the SSAustralis, the SS noga, the SS Alferdoss and the SS America Star. She served most notably in passenger service as the SS America, and as the greek-flagged SS Australis for Chandris. In 1941, she carried two Nazi spies from the Duquesne spy ring in her crew: Erwin Wilhelm Sieger and Franz Joseph Stigler. Both men were charged by the FBI with espionage and sentenced to 10 years and 16 years imprisonment respectively.
She is now wrecked of the coast of Ajuy - Gone or nearly gone now.
Cueva del Llano
The Cabildo of Fuerteventura have recently opened a new museum / visitor centre in the village of Villaverde just outside Corralejo. The Cueva del lLano ‘cave of the plains’ is a huge volcanic tube which was formed from a pool of lava which erupted from a volcano almost one million years ago. As the top surface cooled it solidified leaving the molten liquid lava to run out leaving an enormous empty space.
You can access about 400 metres of the tube and is well worth a visit. For further information email: sparklevillas@yahoo.co.uk
