rms lancastria survivors list

RMS Lancastria, Death Toll: 4,000-6,500. British Expeditionary Force troops back to Britain. [25] As Lancastria began to capsize, some of those who were still on board managed to scramble onto the ship's underside. Captain (Capt) Edward Unwin VC, Admiral of the Fleet (Lord) Sir Roger Keyes and ", "Rudolph Sharp (British) Crew lists of Ships hit by U-boats", "More Ripley Lads Back Home How a Ripley Private Escaped", "Lancastria: The forgotten tragedy of World War Two", "Forgotten tragedy: The loss of HMT Lancastria", "Recognition remains sunk without a trace, by Mark Hirst", "Operation Ariel and Falmouth June 1940 Maritime Views", "Victims of HMT Lancastria sinking honoured with memorial", "The National Memorial Arboretum - Welcome to the National Memorial Arboretum website", "HMT. Yes,it was a long time ago but tokeep football supporters stillinterested perhaps there are parallels between the 1939-40 season and this years 2019-20 competition for both were abandoned early. While there were 2,477 survivors, it is . Lancastria 17th June 1940 & Operation Aerial", "NMC Lay a wreath at the Memorial for The Lancastria", "The 75th anniversary of the sinking of HMT Lancastria", "Lancastria: Service for Britain's worst maritime disaster", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RMS_Lancastria&oldid=1152389814, Sunk by German Bombers on 17 June 1940 off, This page was last edited on 29 April 2023, at 23:38. Many lifeboats could not be launched as they had been damaged, and there were only 2,500 life jackets on board. She was sunk off the French port of St. Nazaire while taking part in Operation Ariel, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation. I think Churchill was right when he said 'we don't broadcast this'. Heres how to join! It petitioned the British Government to have the wreck site designated an official maritime war grave. [51] The front of the medal depicts Lancastria with the text "HMT Lancastria 17th June 1940". [8] In 1934 the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland chartered Lancastria for a pilgrimage to Rome. 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. 1)www.bbc.co.uk(2017)Dunkirk a few facts. We don't know.". 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. 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. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. On the morning of May 1st 1915 the Lusitania left New York behind. Many of those in the water drowned because there were insufficient life jackets, or died from hypothermia, or were choked by fuel oil. This isnt just a result of an inaccurate muster ofpersonnel embarked but in the main part by Churchillsdecision by to impose a news blackout stating that the newspapers havehad enough of disastrous news of late meant that the whole catastrophe wasnt reported to the rest of the world until an article appeared in theNew York Pressseveral weeks later. Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30. Frank Holden Snr was on board the luxury transatlantic cruise liner Lancastria in 1940. [2] Modern estimates suggest that between 4,000 and 7,000 people died during the sinking the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history. 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. Brogden's account states that one bomb landed close to the funnel and entered No. Not a member of the Naval Institute? S.S. "LANCASTRIA" : Lists of R.A.F. She did not return to Liverpool in time to take part in the famous Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk, which evacuated 338,226 Belgian, British, and French troops between May 26 and June 4,. However, some information about the Lancastrias sinking was made public within a matter of days, particularly six individual death notices in local newspapers. 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). [51] The medal was designed by Mark Hirst, grandson of Lancastria survivor Walter Hirst. Walter Hirst hardly spoke to his family about the Lancastria, The Lancastria was a Cunard liner before the Second World War, Winston Churchill ordered a media blackout on the sinking, Survivors of the Lancastria, who were all ordered not to talk about the sinking, Mark Hirst (left) became friends with Charlie Napier (right), who served with Mark's grandfather Walter, The Lancastria, pictured in Greenock, and its resting place in French waters, Jacqueline Tanner (centre), with her father Clifford and mother Vera, pictured drinking tea in Plymouth after being rescued from the Lancastria, Jacqueline, pictured in 1949 as she laid a wreath at the cenotaph in Whitehall on behalf of the Lancastria Survivors Association, The Lancastria memorial in the grounds of the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. 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. I of course ,read it before giving it to my father. Seventy five years on, and despite a special Scottish government medal for Lancastria survivors and their families, relatives want the sinking to be properly remembered. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Survivor Reg Brown speaks to BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, AI chatbots 'may soon be more intelligent than us', Russia troop deaths hit 20,000 in five months - US, Palestinian hunger striker dies in Israel prison, The 17 most eye-catching looks at the Met Gala, The burden of being cricket legend Tendulkar's son, 'My wife and six children joined Kenya starvation cult', On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. But it is a largely forgotten chapter in British history, a fact that leaves survivors and relatives aggrieved. Early on the morning of the 17th June 1940 three Royal Navy Reserve officers came aboard and asked her captain, Rudolph Sharp, how many people the Lancastria would be able to uplift. Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30. 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. RMS Lancastria (later HMT Lancastria[ Note 1]) was a British Cunard [ 2] liner commandeered by the government for war, sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with the loss of over 4,000 lives, possibly many more [ 3]. The U.S. This web publication contains 154,528 pages of It was fourth English pounds. ; had they seen them perish or had they seen them escape?. Walter was attacked by a man who wanted his life jacket. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. "I think my grandfather was haunted by that," added Mark. In 2011, a memorial was dedicated in Clydesdale, Scotland, where the ship was built. In his memoirs, Churchill stated that he had intended to release the news a few days later, but that events in France "crowded upon us so black and so quickly that I forgot to lift the ban". [13][14], At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Lancastria was in the Bahamas. The details that are known about the event have all come from witness statements. Those who survived the incident were instructed not to speak about their experience. There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. The initial cover up at the time of the war is perhaps understandable, because it could be used as propaganda by the Germans. 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 ship was launched in 1920 as Tyrrhenia by William Beardmore and Company of Glasgow on the River Clyde for Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard. Shortly afterwards, Lancastria carried troops to consolidate the invasion of Iceland. 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. The medal ribbon has a grey background with a red and black central stripe, representative of the ship's wartime and merchant marine colours. 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. When sent to newspapers or other publications it prevented particular information from being made public for reasons of state security. As many as 7,000 lost their lives, making it Britain's worst sea . There were 2,477 survivors. An estimated 400 Scots were amongst the 4,000 killed with the Lancastria was attacked and sunk. The evacuees were in several western French ports including Lorient and St. Nazaire on the Loire River. If you provide contact details, we will be in touch about your request within 10 working days. The evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, between May 26th and June 4th 1940, After the Dunkirk evacuation, pockets of military personnel were left behind in France who had to make their way to the French ports for evacuation as best they could. Late that afternoon, she was packed with servicemen, air force personnel, embassy staff, and their families and some civilians with their families. Wynn states that there were 2,488 survivors and a minimum of 2,385 perished. Butas we all look forward to life nearing normality again, some folks will be mulling over normalquestions such aswho will win the Premier League orthe Scottish Premiership, whilst somethoughts may be of a moreexistential nature, i.e, what is life?and where are we going?, etc. RMS Lancastria and Operation Chariot memorials, St Nazaire. [47] The Lancastria Association of Scotland was formed in 2005 and holds its annual service at St George's West Church in Edinburgh. Lancastria was hit by three or possibly four bombs. When Nazi planes dropped their bombs, Walter and Charlie were separated in the chaos. 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. It also has a model of the ship in a glass case and the ship's bell is also in the church. The MoD has said it does not plan to send a representative to France. The late edition of The Scotsman on July 25 1940 featured a six-paragraph story buried on the middle of page five. He never saw his friend Charlie again. "When we have tried, they (the government) have said it (documents on the Lancastria) are secret. You. The Lancastria was the largest loss of life from a single engagement for British forces in World War Two and is also the largest loss of life in British maritime history - greater than the Titanic and Lusitania combined. The Lancastria was a Cunard Anchor Line ocean liner built by William Beardmore and Company and launched on the 31st of May 1920. 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. Video, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry, and despite a special Scottish government medal for Lancastria survivors and their families, Serena Williams announces pregnancy at Met Gala, Shooting suspect was deported four times - US media, New record as 4.56m Indians take flights in a day, Japan to ban upskirting in stronger sex crime laws, Met Gala 2023: Stars celebrate Karl Lagerfeld, BP profits of 4bn in three months spark criticism. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. Let us know. [23] As the ship began to list to starboard, orders were given for the men on deck to move to the port side in an effort to counteract it, but this caused a list to port which could not be corrected. The Government did not do so as it was within French territorial waters, outside the jurisdiction of the Act. The Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. Or, you can request a quotation for a copy to be sent to you. 3 holds while a fourth landed close to the port side of the ship, rupturing the fuel oil tanks, though even with this damage, the ship should have stayed afloat for longer unless the report of the bomb in the funnel was true. Many families of the dead knew only that they died with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF); the death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the BEF in France. About 124,000 troops were assembling and the Admiralty had dispatched some 30 merchant vessels of all sizes to the rescue. [23] The ship sank at 16:12, within twenty minutes of being hit,[26] which gave little time for other vessels to respond. Copyright 2011-2022 Naval Historical Foundation. Around lunchtime, on the 17th, there was an air raid. In February 2008 the Scottish Government confirmed it would present the medal to all those who were aboard the Lancastria that day. 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. Other British newspapers then covered the story, including the Daily Herald (also on 26 July), which carried the story on its front page, and Sunday Express on 4 August; the latter included a photograph of the capsized ship with her upturned hull lined with men under the headline "Last Moments of the Greatest Sea Tragedy of All Time". 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. Many survivors perished from hypothermia or suffocated on fuel oil. In April 1940, she was reconstructed as a troopship and under the command of Captain Rudolph Sharp, she was sent off to aid the evacuation of British troops and citizens from France. NHF members are being converted to members of the Naval Institute. 2 held about 800 RAF personnel. She sailed scheduled routes between Liverpool and New York until 1932, and was then used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea and Northern Europe. Remembrance. Grace's Guide To British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/index.php?title=RMS_Lancastria&oldid=1038523, Creative [55], In October 2011, the Lancastria Association of Scotland has erected a memorial to the victims on the site where the ship was built, the former Dalmuir shipyard at Clydebank, Glasgow, now the grounds of the Golden Jubilee Hospital. After the war the 'Lancastria Survivors Association' was set up by Major Peter Petit, but this lapsed on his death in 1969. Harrois went on to say that when history looks at the retreat in 1940, the evacuation of Dunkirk is the undertaking that most remember. "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 rest were rescued under continued air attack by the devotion of the small craft.. 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. "[40], All service personnel killed during the Second World War are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and were known that they lost their lives on Lancastria; 1,816 burials are recorded, over 400 of them in France. [41], The Government of the United Kingdom has not made the site a war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, stating that it has no jurisdiction over French territorial waters. The term RMS dates to 1840 when only the fastest and most reliable ships were contracted by the British government to carry mail. However, themovetowardswar went initially quite slowly. It was a few weeks after the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk, and Walter and Charlie were still in occupied Europe with an estimated 150,000 other British servicemen. We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services. You need to sign in to tag. My Great Great Grandfathers son, would it be my Great Nephew, he is was on this vessel, and lived to tell about it, on the RMS Lusitania off the south coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915. Enter the tag you would like to associate with this record and click 'Add tag'. 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. casualties and survivors with related. [2] Having received an emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops in excess of its capacity of 1,300 passengers, mode. personnel, Have you found an error with this catalogue description? A few eyewitnesses told of soldiers balancing on the upturned hull and singing Roll out the Barrel as the ship listed to port. Under the British Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. [6] The Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-Up, June 1940. [43] The campaign received support from all parties, but the MoD said that such a move would be "purely symbolic" and have no effect. Wynn has previously authored and co-authored books for the Your Towns & Cities in the Great War series published by Pen & Sword in addition to half a dozen non-fiction books and crime thrillers.. The following brief overview of the Lancastrias history is augmented with verified information from sources that Wynn might have consulted. Quite enough disaster for today. In an anecdote somewhat buried in his Memoirs of the Second World War, Prime Minister Winston Churchill recounts a frightful incident that occurred on June 17, 1940. [42] Early in the 21st century the French Government placed an exclusion zone around the wreck site. 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. However, he was told to embark as many as possible. 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. Hold No. [48], Lancastria is represented at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire by a sessile oak tree and a plaque. 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. On the other hand,somewhatcynically,anMOD spokeswoman inWestminster said there is no formal event being organised adding that the government did not commemorate events willy-nilly. (6). [28], Survivors were taken aboard other British and Allied evacuation vessels, the trawler HMTCambridgeshire rescuing 900. May 1936. This of course would mean ignoring virtually all safety rules and regulations. 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. In 2005, Fenby wrote that estimates of the death toll vary from fewer than 3,000 to 5,800 people although it is also estimated that as many as 6,500 people perished, the largest loss of life in British maritime history. A fresh air raid began before 4 pm. Walter assumed, to his dying day in 1989, that Charlie was killed in the sinking.

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