SS Faja de Oro ("Strip of Gold", which is a petroleum rich area in Mexico) was an oil tanker built in 1914.
Faja de Oro was originally built by R. W. Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn-on-Tyne as Barneson, for service with Bank Line Ltd (Andrew Weir & Co), of Glasgow.
[2] it was seized by the Mexican government while docked at Tampico, Tamaulipas, on 8 December 1941 and renamed Faja de Oro.
[2] Faja de Oro was sailing unescorted from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, back to Tampico in May 1942 under he command of dec. Alm Gustavo Martinez Trejo.
[2] The sinking of Faja de Oro, coming as it did a week after the sinking of the Mexican tanker SS Potrero del Llano on 14 May by Reinhard Suhren's U-564 contributed to Mexico's declaration of war on Germany on 1 June 1942.