On January 26, 1939, General Yagüe’s troops entered Barcelona, ??Franco was about to win the Civil War. On the 27th, the next day, the Littorio Division entered Mataró with hardly any resistance, then it would not be the same in other places, such as near Turó del Balís, between Llavaneres and Sant Vicenç de Montalt (then Llavaneres de Montalt) where the corps entered Italian military and the republican defenders there were 80 casualties, mostly Italians. There is an area of ??the Mataró cemetery that houses the Italian soldiers who died those days.
The Catalan coast was defended by bunkers on beaches and hills near the sea, specifically in the Maresme, there were artillery pieces located between Malgrat and Montgat, in high areas and beaches with easy access, bunkers and artillery installations, in a first phase with cannons. Schneider 75mm guns that were replaced for use at the front by obsolete 90mm Krupp cannons, very inoperative.
In all wars, there always appears a group of opportunists who think of enriching themselves through the needs of others, the war vultures. It is known that in the last war in Lebanon, mafias of this type mobilized private boats to sail to Cyprus, charging 10 thousand dollars per person, in our case it is about French merchant ships that allowed people to be taken out of the conflict zone against a very high ticket price, it is never a military action, it is about civilians who take advantage of the moment and people who fear for their lives.
One of these French merchant ships that entered the Catalan coast to pick up passengers was the AUNIS, 50.5 meters long and 7.40 meters wide, with a steam engine that supplied 435 horsepower and allowed it to navigate at 10 knots.The old merchant ship from 1899 that tried to go unnoticed in the painful republican retreat, could get very close to the beaches.
The AUNIS had increased the fare in Caldes d’Estrac, the risks were proportional to the possible benefit obtained, embarking people in the Caldes d’Estrac – Llavaneres area had been something almost daily, there had been an unwritten pact of non-belligerency in the area, considered an embassy area, but the navigation of international military ships on this coast, with the expatriation of Spanish and foreign citizens, had occurred within a diplomatic sphere, and in the case at hand, it was a business.
The Republic had begun to renew its Navy fleet with two naval plans for the construction of 4 minelayer gunboats of 2,000 tons and 16 knots of speed. Known as the Jupiter class, which was the name of the first ship built, therefore, according to the law of March 27, 1934, the construction of two ships began at a cost of 32 million pesetas and they would be the Jupiter and the Vulcano. , carried out by the Spanish Society of Naval Constructions, of Ferrol. The second plan, approved by the Law of July 16, 1935, allowed the construction of two more ships, twins of the previous ones, which would bear the names of Neptune and Mars.
At the time of the military uprising, July 1936, the four ships were in the Ferrol shipyard, in different stages of construction. Ferrol, at the time of the uprising, was mainly republican, but the quick and effective action of the rebel officers, followers of the coup d’état, meant that they had control of the ships moored there and the shipyards. Ferrol, its port and its shipyards, remained under the control of the rebels. In this way, the Júpiter came into operation on 3/31/1937 and the Vulcano on 8/20/1937, both being decisive for the future of Franco’s navy and Franco’s victory. The Mars was launched on 11-11-1938 and the Neptune on 11-18-1939, after the war.
Both the Jupiter and the Vulcano captured and damaged numerous foreign merchant ships, mainly English, French and Greek, that served republican interests, whether in the Cantabrian Sea, the Atlantic or the Mediterranean.
The Júpiter was based in Mallorca when on January 27, 1939 it set sail from there to approach the coasts of Maresme, the Mataró area, Llavaneres de Montalt (Sant Vicenç de Montalt) and Caldes d’Estrac. There she was able to locate the AUNIS, but she was shelled from the ground and retreated towards the area near her base. Hours later she continued tracking her, locating the AUNIS much further north and arresting him at 4 p.m. on January 28, 1939 in front of Cape San Sebastián in Palafrugell (Girona). (See note).
The AUNIS was taken to the port of Barcelona, ??arriving at 9:40 p.m. on January 29, but given the impossibility of docking due to the state of the port, dozens of sunken ships that prevented passage, it was taken to Mallorca.
It is here, at this point where a second life begins for the AUNIS, nothing is known about its crew, passengers or assets that it would surely carry in the form of gold, jewelry or money. The laws of war allowed the seizure of foreign ships if they were found collaborating with the enemy side.
In 1937, the Franco government created the “Management of Seized Ships”, in 1938 it was renamed “Management of Merchant Ships for official services” and was awarded more than 40 merchant ships. It depended on the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. It was easy to recognize those confiscated ships by name; they were all renamed “Castle of…”.
Aunis was the Valldemosa Castle, beginning its journey as a Spanish merchant ship in 1940, it is assumed that after the relevant repairs, and along with it, many other merchant ships with the name of “castle” and others with the name of “Ría de… ” also seized. Between 1939 and 1943, 15% of Spanish merchant tonnage was made up of ships belonging to the “Management”. This fact gave rise to complaints from the shipping companies Aznar and Transmediterránea, which accused “Gerencia” of unfair competition.
The end of the Valldemosa Castle was dramatic, loading 1,200 fuel drums to take to Melilla, in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on September 16, 1943, it caught fire, the explosions caused four deaths among the crew who were inside. of the ship and eight injured, including crew members from abroad and from other nearby ships. The shipment was insured for 500,000 pesetas by the Compañía Hispanoamericana de Seguros y Reaseguros.
In 1943 the “Management” was dissolved, passing its entire fleet to the National Company Elcano. The Jupiter and Vulcano minelayers entered the ship renovation program after the signing of cooperation agreements with the United States in the 1950s. This modernization was carried out in Cartagena between 1958 and 1961. The Jupiter was decommissioned on December 23. November 1974 and the Vulcano on April 30, 1978, this being the last warship to be retired among the participants in the Civil War (1936-1939).
Note: two sources indicate somewhat different news but that could be complementary, one, that the AUNIS was captured by the gunboat Dato in the vicinity of Caldes d’Estrac, another, that the AUNIS was shelled in the vicinity of Caldes d’Estrac but he was not captured.