rms lancastria survivors list rms lancastria survivors list

Walter assumed, to his dying day in 1989, that Charlie was killed in the sinking. It was in the 1970s a challenge, but I eventually, after many disappointing follows, found a second hand copy, with a book dealer. She made her maiden voyage, Glasgow-Qubec-Montreal on 19 June 1922. The numbers of passengers aboard, survivors, and casualties are unreported or vary wildly. Therefore, destroyers, fishing boats, and other small craft had to ferry the evacuees to Lancastria while being bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffes Junkers Ju 11 bombers of Kampfgeschwader 30. Lancastria was hit by three or possibly four bombs. [58], After a postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a commemorative service was held at Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas, Liverpool on 27 June 2020. She was first used to assist in the evacuation of troops from Norway. 2: Their Finest Hour , Geoffrey Bonds 1959 Lancastria, John Wests 1988 The Loss of Lancastria, Brian Crabbs 2002 The Forgotten Tragedy: The Story of the Loss of HMT Lancastria, Jonathan Fenbys 2005 The Sinking of the Lancastria: Britains Greatest Maritime Disaster and Churchills Cover-up, Jacques Perruchon and Jacques Leroux 2005 Juin 1940 sur les ctes charentaises: ces trangers qui ont refus notre dfaite, Hugh Sebag-Montefiores 2006 The Sinking of the Lancastria in Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, Jonathan Fenby and James Goodes 2008 The Sinking of the Lancastria, John Hanleys 2013 The Last Boat, Chair of the HMT Lancastria Association Raye Dancocks 2011 The Lancastria a Secret Sacrifice in World War Two, Graham Frasers 2015 Lancastria: The forgotten tragedy of World War Two, and the Lancastria Archive. As the families reflect on their loss, it appears their frustrations will remain. Captain Sharp estimated the number to be 5,500. Introduction:Aday which isprobably more in peoples minds due to resumption of the Premier League footballseasonrather than the commemoration of Britains worst maritime tragedy a disaster which took the lives of an estimated 3000 to 5800 sailors, soldiers, airmen and civilians. She was refitted for just two classes and renamed Lancastria in 1924, after passengers complained that they could not properly pronounce Tyrrhenia. He believes Walter and Charlie found some life jackets on the Lancastria to use as pillows on the way home. Please ensure the tag is appropriate for the record. Fewer than 2,500 people survived. Lancastria was free to depart and the captain of the British destroyer HMSHavelock advised her to do so; but, without a destroyer escort as defence against a possible submarine attack, Sharp decided to wait for Oronsay before leaving. Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30. The article said the soldiers sang popular World War Two songs "Roll Out the Barrel" and "There'll Always be an England" as the ship went down. It petitioned the British Government to have the wreck site designated an official maritime war grave. The RMS Lancastria was hit by three or four bombs dropped from a Junkers JU 88 bomber; 15 to 20 minutes later, she lay a the bottom of the sea. The RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk on June 17, 1940 during World War II with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. [citation needed], The Lancastria Association of Scotland began a campaign in 2005 to secure greater recognition for the loss of life aboard Lancastria and the acknowledgement of the endurance of survivors that day. The D-Notice blacked-out details of the incident for 100 years, so it will not be released before 2040. 5621230. Fewer than 2,500. [40] On 17 June 2010 (70th anniversary of the sinking) Janet Dempsey gave a lecture at The National Archives entitled "Forgotten Tragedy: The Loss of HMT Lancastria". Lancastria survivor Charles Napier with a copy of the newspaper which reported the news of the Lancastria sinking. S.S. "LANCASTRIA" : Lists of R.A.F. In February 2008 the Scottish Government confirmed it would present the medal to all those who were aboard the Lancastria that day. Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and Walter ended up in the water and saw a dog swimming away from the wreckage. There are a number of Commonwealth war graves (some with named dead soldiers from the Pioneer Corps but many commemorated as unknown) in fishing ports on the French islands of le de R and le d'Olron (cemeteries at Saint-Martin-de-R, Saint-Trojan-les-Bains, Saint-Clment-des-Baleines, Ars-en-R and others) with graves dated 17 June 1940. Thefirst due to the declaration of war against Germany and the 2020 season scrapped because of the pandemic; in 1939 Blackpool were in first place whilst Liverpool and Everton were fourth and fifth respectively. Mark said: "There is a definite residual sense of grievance. . [49] The day of the 75th anniversary of the loss of Lancastria was marked in the Westminster Parliament on 17 June 2015 at Prime Minister's Questions by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who was standing in for the Prime Minister. On the 16th June, she anchored at the Loire Rivers mouth about 5 miles south-west of St. Nazaire, in the company of around 30 other merchant vessels of every size and shape. VideoOn board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry, I didnt think make-up was made for black girls, Why there is serious money in kitchen fumes. She was 578 ft. in length and 16,000 gross tons, designed to accommodate 2,200 passengers in three classes. The Lancastria Tragedy comprises an introduction, eleven numbered chapters, and a concluding chapter titled In Closing, as well as endmatter including an About the Author section, Sources, and a three-page Index of proper nouns. The ship was built by William Beardmore and Company of Dalmuir on the River Clyde and launched in 1920 as Royal Mail Steamship (RMS) Tyrrhenia for the Anchor Line, a subsidiary of the better-known Cunard Line. The death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the British Expeditionary Force in France. Alchetron Osborne said of the sinking: "It was kept secret at the time for reasons of wartime secrecy, but I think it is appropriate today in this House of Commons to remember all those who died, those who survived, and those who mourn them. Why don't they recognise it? RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? Remembrance St Nazaire: the HMT Lancastria Memorial on the left and the Operation Chariot Memorial on the right. [33], However, there were earlier reports of the sinking and the scale of the disaster from survivors in local British newspapers. About 4,000 men, women and children lost their lives when the Lancastria sank 20 minutes after it was bombed by the Germans near the French port of Saint-Nazaire on 17 June 1940. She was originally sent to Quiberon Bay as part of Operation Aerial, which was the evacuation of the remainder of the British Expeditionary Force which had been cut-off to the south of the German advance through France, amounting to some 124,000 men, mostly logistic support troops, from various ports in western France. It was not an official government order, but the British media followed Churchills lead. They were told that release under the FOIA would not be given because of several exemptions. Churchills D-Notice asked all media outlets not to publish any information on the Lancastria sinking. "As the French Government has provided an appropriate level of protection to the Lancastria through French law and it is formally considered a military maritime grave by the MoD, we believe that the wreck has the formal status and protection it deserves.". Wynn states that there were 2,488 survivors and a minimum of 2,385 perished. Stephen Wynn, a retired police constable with 30 years service in Essex, began writing prior to his retirement. Four chapters are personal accounts from survivors or their close relatives. The survivors crowded on the submarines' decks and the towed lifeboats, as the B-24 made several deadly attack runs on U-156. RMS Tyrrhenia RMS Tyrrhenia was built in Glasgow by William Beardmore and launched in 1922; she began work for Cunard as a passenger liner crossing the Atlantic. The ships captain was instructed to take on as many passengers as possible, so estimates for the number of souls aboard on June 17 range between 5,000 and 7,000. Much of this proved heart-breaking as one family were told weeks laterthat their son, previously reported as a survivor, had instead been listed as one of the missing. As many as 7,000 lost their lives, making it Britain's worst sea . What a story, and how lucky are we,born just after WW2, for the brave men and women, who fought for our freedom, Your email address will not be published. The first boat away was filled with women and children but it capsized on landing in the water and a second had to be lowered for them. Having received an emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops from France the ship was loaded well in excess of its capacity of 1,300 passengers. Eyewitness Emile Boutin (whose stories are included in the online Lancastria archive) wrote, Sometimes one body arrived, sometimes 16 arrived at once other times there were four days, five days without anything. The citizens of Moutiers buried the victims behind a sea dike, where they stayeduntil the end of the war. Moutiers people never talk, never talked about the Lancastria, but about the cemetery of the British. It was not until 2006 that the French government afforded the site official legal protection as a war grave. 2 held about 800 RAF personnel. "Nearly 2,500 are known to have been saved - and more may be in enemy hands - from a total 5300 aboard the transport Lancastria, which, it was admitted in London yesterday, was sunk on June 17 by the enemy during the evacuation of the BEF from France,' it read. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Now aged 77 and living in Malvern, Worcestershire, she will be joined by her husband, her children and her grandchildren at a ceremony in Saint-Nazaire on 17 June to mark the tragedy. A few eyewitnesses told of soldiers balancing on the upturned hull and singing Roll out the Barrel as the ship listed to port. Approximately four thousand men, women, and children were buried beneath the waves. Chapter 5 focuses on the actual sinking of the Lancastria while Chapter 11 focuses on its aftermath. She was ordered to sail from Nassau to New York for refitting as she had been requisitioned as a troopship, becoming HMT Lancastria. The term RMS dates to 1840 when only the fastest and most reliable ships were contracted by the British government to carry mail. This web publication contains 154,528 pages of This was the date on which, the RMS Lancastria was sunk off the French port of Nantes, with an unknown loss of life. She was the sister ship of RMS Cameronia which Beardmore had built for the Anchor Line the previous year. [6] And at15:55 on the 17 June the first bombs fell almost simultaneouslyfrom a German bomber causing theLancastriato catch fire and capsize; hundreds would have been killed immediately whilst others struggled in the oil-coveredsea.In a act of pure evil JU 88s weremachine-gunning survivors from the air many of them women and children but amidst the carnage smaller vessels did their best to assist,the anti-submarine trawlerCambridgeshirepicking up no less than 900. The French Government recently placed an exclusion zone around the wreck site. I think he was embarrassed. Frank Holden Snr was on board the luxury transatlantic cruise liner Lancastria in 1940. If you don't have an account please register. About 4,000 men, women and children lost their lives when the Lancastria sank 20 minutes after it was bombed by the Germans near the French port of Saint-Nazaire on 17 June 1940. Official commemorations of those lost during the disaster were long in coming. All service personnel killed during the Second World War are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and where known that they lost their lives on the Lancastria. [5] Tyrrhenia was 16,243gross register tons(GRT), 578 feet (176m) long and could carry 2,200 passengers in three classes. Catalogue description S.S. "LANCASTRIA" : Lists of R.A.F. 4 hold. The notifications are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors could choose not to abide by them but, generally, accede to these notices. May 1936. Having received an emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops from France the ship was loaded well in excess of its capacity of 1,300 passengers. One can understand media censorshiptoensurethat morale wasnt impacted butwhile people in Britain were unaware of the tragedy, French citizens around the coast could not escape it as bodies washedashore all summer, all along ahundred kilometres of coastline.More and more appeared along the sand dependent upon tides and summer storms.But despite German rulings the French localscontinued to give decent Christian burialsalthough,onceagain, identificationrecords weresparse. Many of those in the water drowned because there were insufficient life jackets, or died from hypothermia, or were choked by fuel oil. personnel, Have you found an error with this catalogue description? Not a member of the Naval Institute? Those who got away were machine-gunned in the water". Some of those left behind were women of the ATS, The story of the brave men rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk in May and June 1940 is well known, but less often told is the story of the nurses on the hospital ships that brought thousands of wounded servicemen back to the safety of England. I can't think, after all of these years, it can still be a secret. Those who survived the incident were instructed not to speak about their experience. The initial cover up at the time of the war is perhaps understandable, because it could be used as propaganda by the Germans. As the 100th anniversary of the RMSTitanic sinking took place in 2012, fresh calls were made for "official recognition" of the loss of Lancastria by the British Government. They included Pioneer and Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Engineers, and Royal Air Force personnel, some Polish and Czech troops, civilian refugees, embassy staff, employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium and their families. Seventy five years after the sinking of the Lancastria - Britain's worst maritime disaster in history - why is the tragedy largely forgotten? Kate Murphy Schaefer is an undergraduate history instructor who studies the human impact of wars and revolutions. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Ariel. [17] Troops were ferried out to Lancastria and the other larger ships by destroyers, tugs, fishing boats and other small craft,[18] a round trip of three or four hours, sometimes being machine-gunned by German aircraft, although apparently without casualties. Wesalute them all. Many survivors perished from hypothermia or suffocated on fuel oil. The ship was among twenty others that participated in the evacuation of 2,653 British, French, and Polish troops from Norway when Operation Alphabet began on May 24,1940. He was told that he should take as many as he possibly could "without regard to the limits of International Law". [24] The ship was equipped with sixteen lifeboats and 2,500 life jackets;[19] but many of the boats could not be launched because they had been damaged in the bombing or because of the angle of the hull. People were ferried from the mainland all day. Lancastria was sunk on 17 June 1940 off the French port of St. Nazaire while taking part in Operation Aerial, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation. "I think my grandfather was haunted by that," added Mark. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of About 124,000 troops were assembling and the Admiralty had dispatched some 30 merchant vessels of all sizes to the rescue. The testimony of an engineering officer, Frank Brogden, who was in the engine room at the time contradicts this. Read tagging guidelines. The Lancastria Association Victim registers 1,738 deaths. After a short overhaul, she left Liverpool on 14 June under Captain Rudolph Sharp (born 27 October 1885) and arrived in the mouth of the Loire river estuary on 16 June. There is no reliable count of how many people were crammed onto the liner. Captain Sharp estimated 5,500, but one Royal Engineer officer was told that there were more than 7,200 persons aboard. He never saw his friend Charlie again. Read about our approach to external linking. [7][9] In May 1936, she undertook a specially commissioned cruise to visit war memorials at Malta, Salonika, Gallipoli and Istanbul. To the glory of God, in proud memory of more than 4,000 who died and in commemoration of the people of Saint Nazaire and surrounding districts who saved many lives, tended wounded and gave a Christian burial to victims. It highlighted claims from the New York Sun newspaper on the sinking, with 500 feared dead. We have not forgotten. The ship was apparently equipped with sixteen lifeboats and 2,500 life jackets, but many of the boats were damaged from the air attacks while others were unusable because of the ships starboard list and hull angle. The RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner, owned by the Cunard Line. If it can be proved that Captain Sharp ignored the Ministry of Defence instructions not to exceed the maximum loading capacity of 3000 persons, grounds for compensation claims could be enormous. Whatever the case, this event likely remains the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history, more than the RMS Titanic, which had an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard and suffered over 1,500 fatalities. She sank around 5 nautical miles south of Chmoulin Point in the Charpentier roads and around 9 nautical miles out of St. Nazaire. She sailed scheduled routes from Liverpool to New York until 1932, and was then used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and [23] The ship sank at 16:12, within twenty minutes of being hit,[26] which gave little time for other vessels to respond. Lancastria memorial plaque at Liverpool Pier Head. She was bombed at 15:48 by Junkers 88 aircraft from II. He states that The time taken to record everybodys name, rank, service number and regiment or corps would have been time consuming and served no purpose (vii). This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded. Though buried in WWII history, the sinking of the Lancastria reminds us of the sacrifices and loss of thousands of men, women, and children during the war. It also has a model of the ship in a glass case and the ship's bell is also in the church. There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. people who designed and built them. [51] The front of the medal depicts Lancastria with the text "HMT Lancastria 17th June 1940". 1,816 burials are recorded, over 400 of them in France. The British government had requisitioned the Cunard ocean liner to continue bringing British Expeditionary Force troops back to Britain following the evacuation of Dunkirk. The loss of the LANCASTRIA was also the most . Two chapters briefly detail the extraction of Allied forces from Europe in Operations Cycle (Le Havre, France), Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk); and Operation Aerial (St. Nazaire, Nantes, Cherbourg, and seven other French ports). After receiving news of the Lancastria disaster, Churchill had placed a D-notice on the incident, forbidding any knowledge of the sinking reaching an already demoralized public. Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. It was used until 1993, when the name was changed to DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice). The missing dead who served in the Navy are commemorated on the naval memorials at Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth, with missing merchant seamen named at the Tower Hill Memorial, and the missing airmen who went down with the ship, listed on the Runnymede Memorial. I think the tag '' should be removed from: Subscribe now for regular news, updates and priority booking for events, All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated, AIR - Records created or inherited by the Air Ministry, the Royal Air Force, and related bodies, Division within AIR - Records of the Royal Air Force, AIR 35 - Air Ministry: British Air Forces in France: Registered Files, About our Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port and she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. "When we have tried, they (the government) have said it (documents on the Lancastria) are secret. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. Wynn cites seven online sources (p. 181), namely the British Newspaper Archive, the Britain at War website, the British section of Ancestry.com, the Militarian Forum, the Forces War Records, the Wartime Memories Project, and the War Graves Records, which appear to have been mistakenly recorded as a .com website rather than .org. The RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk by enemy action on 17 June 1940 with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. At midday Captain Sharp was advised to sail immediately but due to navalreports of a U-boat in the area he decided to await fora destroyer escort,a decision whichwas to seal the fate of manyevacuees. Many thanks. [2] Almost 50 years later, a memorial was erected in St. Nazaire, reading: Opposite this place lies the wreck of the troopship Lancastria sunk by enemy action on 17 June 1940 whilst embarking British troops and civilians during the evacuation of France. However, some information about the Lancastrias sinking was made public within a matter of days, particularly six individual death notices in local newspapers. A third boat had its bottom stoved in by landing too fast. We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services. people who designed and built them. They question why, after all this time, the area of the sinking - which is in French waters - is not designated a British war memorial site. A large number of men who jumped over the side were killed by hitting the side of the hull or had their necks broken by their life jackets on impact with the water. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy [52] The inscription on the rear of the medal reads: "In recognition of the ultimate sacrifice of the 4000 victims of Britain's worst-ever maritime disaster and the endurance of survivors We will remember them". [35] The story was finally broken in the United States by the Press Association on 25 July,[36] in The New York Times, and the next day in Britain by The Scotsman, more than five weeks after the sinking. Chapter 4 Secret Session Speeches by Churchill provides extracts of five speeches made between June 20th 1941 and December 10, 1942, including one made in response to the sinking of HMT Lancastria on June 17, 1941. The government feared what the news would do the British nation in the midst of its darkest hour. She was bombed at 15:48 by Junkers 88 aircraft from II. It is likely that the bodies of these men were recovered from the Bay of Biscay by French fishermen and brought back to their home ports to be interred. Footballers, just like many other blokeswere drafted orenlisted with local teams sending gifted players such as Liverpools Tom Cooper and Evertons reserve goalkeeper William Reidwhilst Preston North EndsTom Finney served in the Royal Armoured Corps.In fact,629 professionalfootballers had joined theservices by April 1940.By this time the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)wassent to France,but afterrelatively little action throughout the winter of 1939 the army faced its toughest battle which ended in theDunkirk evacuation, an event which although essentially a British defeat,didsavethe majority of British troops andforged a new optimism for the nation. But if we could ask a questionwouldnt it be revealing to haveaskedthe servicemen aboard If theywould have gone to war willy-nilly (too bad they didnt have theopportunity to refuse). Required fields are marked *. Oxford University-trained historian and author of more than a dozen books Jonathan Fenby stated that 1,738 perished (Fenby 2005, p. 247), but as there are no official figures published, there are great discrepancies in the numbers calculated by a variety of authors, and other estimates range from 2,000 to 9,000. It was bombed by German armed forces and he was left shipwrecked after surviving TV star Amanda Holden. I've briefly mentioned the experience of four survivors during this talk: Major Plunkett, Wing Commander MacFayden and Captain Rudolph Sharp, Master, as well as his Steward.