Note it states 'The sinking of the RMS Lancastria off St. Nazaire on June 17th - this event was not released by the wartime censors until nearly 6 weeks after.' I wonder if this might be the source of the 'cover-up' story? This didn't obviously didn't stop the Ripley and Heanor News and Ilkeston Division Free Press reporting it somewhat earlier! RMS Lancastria(later HMTLancastria)Note 1was a British Cunardlinerrequisitioned by the UK Government during World War II. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Ariel. On Monday the 17th of June, 1940 at 3.48pm the requisitioned Cunard cruise liner, Lancastria came under attack from enemy aircraft. She received three direct hits from a German Junkers 88 bomber and within 20 minutes, the 16,243-ton luxury liner sank, taking with her an estimated 4,000 victims. 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 name Tyrrhenia proved problematic for her passengers to pronounce and was subsequently changed to Lancastria in 1924.
There were still tens of thousands of British military personnel in France even as it became apparent that the new French leader was likely to seek an Armistice. Once again a rapidly organised evacuation was underway. The circumstances were not as desperate at at Dunkirk but they were still impeded by German bombers ranging far and wide.
The Cunard liner Lancastria had been pressed into service as a troop ship. She now took on board as many men as possible, far exceeding her peacetime capacity. Amongst them were over 800 RAF maintenance crew, packed into the lower hold, as well as thousands of soldiers from a variety of Army support units, and an unknown number of civilian refugees.
Unfortunately they had not long left the port of St Nazaire before the bombers found them.
Walter Hirst was a Sapper with the Royal Engineers:
On the 17th we boarded the Lancastria late in the afternoon. We immediately grabbed a couple of life jackets which I thought would make ideal pillows. We were ordered below and shortly after witnessed, through a porthole, the Oronsay being hit. Both myself and another Sapper decided then, that it would be healthier if we were topside and so decided to climb the stairs, against orders.
Soon after the Lancastria was hit. It was a massive explosion. There was total panic and chaos. Soldiers, including some from 663, positioned at either end of the ship began to open up with Bren guns at the circling enemy aircraft. I managed to get myself into a lifeboat but as it was being lowered the ropes on one end became jammed in the davit. A panicked sailor suddenly jumped up and started to hack away at the ropes with a knife. Myself and others yelled at him to stop, but immediately we were all thrown into the sea.
Although I had a lifejacket on, I still had my doubts about being in the water as I was a non-swimmer. We were all saturated with oil. I kicked off from the side of the Lancastria on my back. I kept thinking 'got to escape the suction of the ship'.
The Lancastria continued to roll over to port. Hundreds of men were now clinging to the upturned hull. Some of those standing on the turning hull started to sing 'Roll out the Barrel'. Then one tenor voice began with 'There'll always be an England'.
Albert Nadin, serving with the Royal Army Service Corps, describes how the ship took about seventeen minutes to sink. The Captain was using a loud hailer from the bridge to proclaim 'Every man for himself'. There were already many people in the water but Nadin saw that many of them were being hit by falling debris as the ship leaned over – and he decided to wait before abandoning ship:
My mind was made up for me when she started to sink, turning slowly over on to her side and within seconds the top deck rail was almost level with the water. I was not a good swimmer but I stepped over the rail into the sea and made every effort to get away from the ship as far as I possibly could. I got about thirty yards away, looked back and saw she was sinking fast but a lot of troops were still on board and were scrambling up the bottom of the ship as she turned over.
I managed to get hold of an oar and another chap joined me and we managed to keep afloat by kicking out and holding the oar in front of us. By this time the oil was covering the whole area and we could feel it coming up from below. We were just drifting around while the German bombers were flying low and machine-gunning the survivors in the sea. By this time I was scared stiff and was covered in oil and could not seem to be able to keep my head out of the water.
We went on drifting about for an hour or so, but then a piece of wreckage, something like a raft, suddenly appeared as we were lifted up on top of a wave and we could see it was floating towards us. As we bobbed up and down in the water, we could see four men hanging on the sides. They shouted to us to try and paddle towards them as they were starting to drift away from us. We did this and managed to reach them. They were all covered in oil and to this day I do not know what they looked like! One of the men said, 'You both can join us, but no one is going to be allowed to climb on top of the wreckage. How to get tissue samples. If we just hang on treading water we could all make it.' It was a most suitable suggestion and we thanked them and left the oar to float away, it may have helped some other poor devils.
We were in the water for about another four hours and it was getting us all down. Two of the chaps just gave up and slipped away and the four of us left were very tired and were being battered by the waves. Then we saw the lights of a small steamer about a mile away and we spotted a ships lifeboat coming towards us. It reached us and pulled three of my comrades aboard. It was about eighteen feet long and already had about ten people in it. My turn came, as I thought, but someone said, 'We can't take any more, but we will come back for you.'
It was dark and I knew they would have a job to find me again so I thought, 'here goes,' and pushed and splashed towards the boat, made it, and got my right arm through the looped rope running along the side of the boat, and locked my left arm on to my right, and thought, 'they will have to knock me on the head before I let go!' I was pulled along for about ten yards before they realised they were towing me, then someone said, 'Get the poor chap aboard before he is choked by this sodding oil.' They pulled me aboard and I just slumped in the bottom of the boat with the other survivors resting their feet on my back.
Walter Hirst and Albert Nadin's full accounts can be read, along with many others at Lancastria Archive.
The loss of the Lancastria was Britain's worst maritime disaster. As a Cruise Liner, the Lancastria could take 1,785 passengers but the urgent need to evacuate so many from France meant that she was loaded with many more troops than this, although no fully accurate tally was kept or at least does it not survive. Estimates of the number of people on board have been placed as high as 9,000 and there were 2,077 survivors. It is probable that at least 4,000 people died in the disaster.
It was recognised as a catastrophe at the time and Churchill ordered a news blackout about the incident, fearing the impact such an incident would have on morale. Although it was reported in the foreign press later in May, many people in Britain did not learn of the disaster until after the war.
The lack of information about the incident causes frustration 75 years later but all the available documents about the incident are available in the National Archives. The sad fact is that the story remains incomplete because of the confusion of war and the circumstances of the sinking itself. The most complete study of the incident is The Forgotten Tragedy: The Story of the Sinking of HMT 'Lancastria'.
Introduction:
A day which is probably more in people's minds due to resumption of the Premier League football season rather than the commemoration of Britain's worst maritime tragedy – a disaster which took the lives of an estimated 3000 to 5800 sailors, soldiers, airmen and civilians.
Yes, it was a long time ago – but to keep football supporters still interested perhaps there are parallels between the 1939-40 season and this year's 2019-20 competition – for both were abandoned early. The first 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.
However, the move towards war went initially quite slowly. Footballers, just like many other blokes were drafted or enlisted with local teams sending gifted players such as Liverpool's Tom Cooper and Everton's reserve goalkeeper William Reid whilst Preston North End's Tom Finney served in the Royal Armoured Corps.In fact, 629 professional footballers had joined the services by April 1940.By this time the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to France, but after relatively little action throughout the winter of 1939 the army faced its toughest battle which ended in the Dunkirk evacuation, an event which although essentially a British defeat, did save the majority of British troops and forged a new optimism for the nation.
Some may have called it a ‘humiliating defeat' but to this day the ‘Dunkirk Spirit' is still an oft-used expression to describe endurance under extreme pressure.
The Evacuation:
Dunkirk is well-documented to most; but although most troops in early June had been safely evacuated to English ports, the rest of the army were fighting a desperate rearguard action in north-western France around Brittany, a situation which Churchill recognised as an evacuation area to which many merchant and naval ships were duly despatched.Subsequently, on the 17 June the Lancastria had arrived off St Nazaire in an operation codenamed Aerial with orders to evacuate as ‘as many as possible‘ – a task the ship carried out continuously until there were an estimated 9,000 troops, RAF personnel, staff and dependants from Allied embassies and some French refugees including women and children.
Harrowing enough in itself – the grey-painted ship was anchored out in the Loire estuary with personnel ferried out in various small boats – it can be well-imagined that these hungry, traumatised and wounded people were so relieved to be transported to a safe place.But as more and more embarked below decks the vessel became hopelessly overcrowded, indeed a communique was sent stating that the ship should ‘embark as many as possible irrespective of international rules' (1).
We were in the water for about another four hours and it was getting us all down. Two of the chaps just gave up and slipped away and the four of us left were very tired and were being battered by the waves. Then we saw the lights of a small steamer about a mile away and we spotted a ships lifeboat coming towards us. It reached us and pulled three of my comrades aboard. It was about eighteen feet long and already had about ten people in it. My turn came, as I thought, but someone said, 'We can't take any more, but we will come back for you.'
It was dark and I knew they would have a job to find me again so I thought, 'here goes,' and pushed and splashed towards the boat, made it, and got my right arm through the looped rope running along the side of the boat, and locked my left arm on to my right, and thought, 'they will have to knock me on the head before I let go!' I was pulled along for about ten yards before they realised they were towing me, then someone said, 'Get the poor chap aboard before he is choked by this sodding oil.' They pulled me aboard and I just slumped in the bottom of the boat with the other survivors resting their feet on my back.
Walter Hirst and Albert Nadin's full accounts can be read, along with many others at Lancastria Archive.
The loss of the Lancastria was Britain's worst maritime disaster. As a Cruise Liner, the Lancastria could take 1,785 passengers but the urgent need to evacuate so many from France meant that she was loaded with many more troops than this, although no fully accurate tally was kept or at least does it not survive. Estimates of the number of people on board have been placed as high as 9,000 and there were 2,077 survivors. It is probable that at least 4,000 people died in the disaster.
It was recognised as a catastrophe at the time and Churchill ordered a news blackout about the incident, fearing the impact such an incident would have on morale. Although it was reported in the foreign press later in May, many people in Britain did not learn of the disaster until after the war.
The lack of information about the incident causes frustration 75 years later but all the available documents about the incident are available in the National Archives. The sad fact is that the story remains incomplete because of the confusion of war and the circumstances of the sinking itself. The most complete study of the incident is The Forgotten Tragedy: The Story of the Sinking of HMT 'Lancastria'.
Introduction:
A day which is probably more in people's minds due to resumption of the Premier League football season rather than the commemoration of Britain's worst maritime tragedy – a disaster which took the lives of an estimated 3000 to 5800 sailors, soldiers, airmen and civilians.
Yes, it was a long time ago – but to keep football supporters still interested perhaps there are parallels between the 1939-40 season and this year's 2019-20 competition – for both were abandoned early. The first 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.
However, the move towards war went initially quite slowly. Footballers, just like many other blokes were drafted or enlisted with local teams sending gifted players such as Liverpool's Tom Cooper and Everton's reserve goalkeeper William Reid whilst Preston North End's Tom Finney served in the Royal Armoured Corps.In fact, 629 professional footballers had joined the services by April 1940.By this time the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to France, but after relatively little action throughout the winter of 1939 the army faced its toughest battle which ended in the Dunkirk evacuation, an event which although essentially a British defeat, did save the majority of British troops and forged a new optimism for the nation.
Some may have called it a ‘humiliating defeat' but to this day the ‘Dunkirk Spirit' is still an oft-used expression to describe endurance under extreme pressure.
The Evacuation:
Dunkirk is well-documented to most; but although most troops in early June had been safely evacuated to English ports, the rest of the army were fighting a desperate rearguard action in north-western France around Brittany, a situation which Churchill recognised as an evacuation area to which many merchant and naval ships were duly despatched.Subsequently, on the 17 June the Lancastria had arrived off St Nazaire in an operation codenamed Aerial with orders to evacuate as ‘as many as possible‘ – a task the ship carried out continuously until there were an estimated 9,000 troops, RAF personnel, staff and dependants from Allied embassies and some French refugees including women and children.
Harrowing enough in itself – the grey-painted ship was anchored out in the Loire estuary with personnel ferried out in various small boats – it can be well-imagined that these hungry, traumatised and wounded people were so relieved to be transported to a safe place.But as more and more embarked below decks the vessel became hopelessly overcrowded, indeed a communique was sent stating that the ship should ‘embark as many as possible irrespective of international rules' (1).
This of course would mean ignoring virtually all safety rules and regulations.
But despite the crammed conditions for most, earlier on there was a certain surrealism to the operation as some army officers were quoting it was ‘ almost like a cruise with people going to the restaurant, ordering from the menu and enjoying alcoholic beverages in the lounges.' (2)
One steward reported that ‘the cocktail bar was reserved for Warrant Officers and Sergeants who were all shouting for drinks' and complaining that it ‘difficult to find enough change.'(3)
However, there was no such light-heartedness for 800 RAF personnel of the ranks. Ushered down to decks E and F at the very bottom of the ship they nevertheless clutched their life jackets probably entertaining a thought that these would make good pillows.Ominously however, the troops were warned not to leave their confined quarters.
At midday Captain Sharp was advised to sail immediately but due to naval reports of a U-boat in the area he decided to await for a destroyer escort, a decision which was to seal the fate of many evacuees.
And at 15:55 on the 17 June the first bombs fell almost simultaneously from a German bomber causing the Lancastria to catch fire and capsize; hundreds would have been killed immediately whilst others struggled in the oil-covered sea.In a act of pure evil JU 88's were machine-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 trawler Cambridgeshire picking up no less than 900.
Rms Lancastria Manicure Kit
Estimates of total survivors were hard to quantify though. This isn't just a result of an inaccurate muster of personnel embarked but in the main part by Churchill's decision by to impose a news blackout stating that ‘the newspapers have had enough of disastrous news of late' meant that the whole catastrophe wasn't reported to the rest of the world until an article appeared in the New York Press several weeks later.
Lancastria Ship
The Aftermath:
One can understand media censorship to ensure that morale wasn't impacted but while people in Britain were unaware of the tragedy, French citizens around the coast could not escape it as bodies washed ashore all summer, all along a hundred kilometres of coastline.More and more appeared along the sand dependent upon tides and summer storms.But despite German rulings the French locals continued to give decent Christian burials although, once again, identification records were sparse.
And it is this sparsity of records, together with Churchill's news blackout which has taken years for the facts to materialise, even though pressure from a post-war survivors association – the HMT Lancastria Association – has continued to ask questions such as: ‘which survivors saw who on board?; ‘had they seen them perish or had they seen them escape?'
Much of this proved heart-breaking as one family were told weeks later that their son, previously reported as a survivor, had instead been listed as one of the missing.
In fact the casualty figures, especially in perspective, are more shocking and although 59 merchant seamen were lost on the Lancastria (4), 126 merchant sailors perished during the whole of the previous fortnight's Dunkirk evacuation. (5)
Furthermore, estimates are that 36% of all BEF troops killed in action between September ‘39 and June 1940 were lost on the Lancastria.
But with wearisome slowness the U.K. government still hasn't acknowledged the sacrifice, although to its credit the Scottish parliament commissioned a Lancastria survivors' medal, plus a memorial in Glasgow where the ship was built.
On the other hand, somewhat cynically, an MOD spokeswoman in Westminster said ‘there is no formal event being organised' adding that ‘ the government did not commemorate events willy-nilly.' (6)
Quite an official statement to ponder. But if we could ask a question wouldn't it be revealing to have asked the servicemen aboard If they would have gone to war ‘willy-nilly' – (too bad they didn't have the opportunity to refuse).
So there you are – a sad narrative from our maritime history. But as we all look forward to life nearing ‘normality' again, some folks will be mulling over ‘normal' questions such as who will win the Premier League or the Scottish Premiership, whilst some thoughts may be of a more existential nature, i.e, ‘what is life?' and ‘where are we going?', etc.
Nonetheless, on June 17 let's enjoy the footie but also spare a thought for the heroes of the Lancastria.They gave us our freedom. We salute them all.
1) www.bbc.co.uk (2017) Dunkirk – a few facts. (accessed 30.05.2020)
2) ibid
3) ibid
4) ibid
Rms Lancastria
5) www.lancastria.org.uk (2019) We will remember them (accessed 02.06.2020)
6) The Independent (p.4 – 16.06.2015) Families still refused memorial…… Free download hindi writing software full version download.
