[56][57] The site of Lancastria wreck lies in French territorial waters and is therefore ineligible for protection under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986; however, at the request of the British Government, in 2006 the French authorities gave the site legal protection as a war grave. Jacqueline Tanner is one of a handful of people who was on the Lancastria and is still alive. 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. Brogden's account states that one bomb landed close to the funnel and entered No. You. [4] She sank around 5nmi (9.3km) south of Chmoulin Point in the Charpentier roads, around 9nmi (17km) from St. Nazaire. It was fourth English pounds. 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. It was bombed by German armed forces and he was left shipwrecked after surviving TV star Amanda Holden. In a letter to The Times last month, campaigners said the government should do more. "[50], In June 2008, the first batch of commemorative medals was presented to survivors and relatives of victims and survivors; the HMT Lancastria Commemorative Medal, which represented "official Scottish Government recognition" of the Lancastria disaster. Many of those in the water drowned because there were insufficient life jackets, or died from hypothermia, or were choked by fuel oil. Captain Sharp estimated the number to be 5,500. On the day the Lancastria sank, Walter - who was from Dundee and serving with the Royal Engineers - was in the company of his friend Charlie Napier from Inverurie. [3], The immense loss of life was such that the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, immediately suppressed news of the disaster through the D-Notice system,[33] telling his staff that "The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today at least". He never saw his friend Charlie again. But despite the crammed conditions for most, earlier onthere 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 andcomplaining that it difficult to find enough change.(3). 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. The liner sank within 20 minutes of being bombed by the Luftwaffe. Many men jumped into the sea wearing life jackets and broke their necks when they hit the water, others were killed as they hit the hull of the ship. The following brief overview of the Lancastrias history is augmented with verified information from sources that Wynn might have consulted. You need to sign in to tag. 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. 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. Alchetron By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy 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. 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]. Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port and she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. [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. On Saturday, 13 June, relatives of those who were on the Lancastria will gather for a ceremony at the Scottish memorial at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, near to where the ship was built. The speed at which the vessel sank meant that there was little time for other ships to react. Or, you can request a quotation for a copy to be sent to you. When this news came to me in the quiet Cabinet Room during the afternoon, continued Churchill, I forbade its publication, saying The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today at least.. However, therewas no such light-heartedness for 800 RAF personnel of the ranks. 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. While there were 2,477 survivors, it is . The evacuees were in several western French ports including Lorient and St. Nazaire on the Loire River. 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. 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. Grace's Guide web site design is Copyright 2021 by Grace's Guide Ltd. It highlighted claims from the New York Sun newspaper on the sinking, with 500 feared dead. 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. Just to say a little. Those who survived the incident were instructed not to speak about their experience. 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. 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. Churchills D-Notice asked all media outlets not to publish any information on the Lancastria sinking. Crew members were either discharged or sent on leave.[15]. The medal is in recognition of the endurance of survivors and ultimate sacrifice of the victims. 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. It was too much for the people to take. Estimates of the loss range between 3,000 and 5,800 fatalities. He was a very quiet man, and his recalling of the Lancastria tended to come only after a couple of pints.". "The trouble with the story of the Lancastria is it doesn't fit with the grand narrative of that period - the miraculous evacuation of Dunkirk, and the Battle of Britain," reflects Mark Hirst. The 20,000-ton liner Lancastria, with five thousand men aboard, was bombed just as she was about to leave. View the catalogue description for. Official notice of this disaster may not be forthcoming, but the descendants of those who died still honor the victims today and you can find some interesting history here www.lancastria.org.uk, For Sale: English Electric Lightning Jet Interceptors. Many will then travel to France for the service at Saint-Nazaire on Wednesday, with no major event planned in the UK. [51] The front of the medal depicts Lancastria with the text "HMT Lancastria 17th June 1940". Even when coupled with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania off the south coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915 by German which killed 1,195, leaving 761 survivorsLancastria would apparently exceed the combined death total. 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. Many others died from hypothermia, inhaling fuel oil on the surface or drowning. 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). Years later, he helped Mark to piece together the stories of the Lancastria. In April 1940, she was one of twenty troopships in Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of troops from Norway, and was bombed on the return journey although she escaped damage. May 1936. Lancastria Association of Scotland made a further request in 2009. He was told that he should take as many as he possibly could "without regard to the limits of International Law". RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. [31], There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. [23] The ship sank at 16:12, within twenty minutes of being hit,[26] which gave little time for other vessels to respond. The service, which is attended by survivors and relatives of both victims and survivors together with representatives of the French and Scottish Governments and a number of veterans organisations and is held on the closest Saturday to the anniversary of 17 June each year at St. George's West Church, Edinburgh. There were 2,477 survivors. 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. The Lancastria Association Victim registers 1,738 deaths. Her normal complement in troopship configuration was 2,180 including 330 crew; however, Captain Sharp had brought 2,653 men back from Norway, so he replied that he could take 3,000 "at a pinch". RMS Lancastria and Operation Chariot memorials, St Nazaire. Modern estimates suggest that between 4,000 and 7,000 people died during the . Unnecessary fittings were removed, she was repainted in battleship grey, the portholes were blacked out, and a 4-inch gun was installed. It was in the 1970s a challenge, but I eventually, after many disappointing follows, found a second hand copy, with a book dealer. Following the sinking of the Lancastria, Prime Minister Winston Churchill imposed a media blackout. Because the port has to be accessed along a tidal channel, Lancastria anchored in the Charpentier Roads, some 5 miles (8.0km) south-west of St. Nazaire, at 04:00 on 17 June,[17] along with some thirty other merchant vessels of all sizes. 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. 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 Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-Up, June 1940. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of He believes Walter and Charlie found some life jackets on the Lancastria to use as pillows on the way home. British and Allied evacuation vessels took Lancastrias survivors aboard, the trawler HMT Cambridgeshire alone rescuing nearly 900 souls. The numbers of passengers aboard, survivors, and casualties are unreported or vary wildly. Seventy five years after the sinking of the Lancastria - Britain's worst maritime disaster in history - why is the tragedy largely forgotten? A number of survivors reported that one bomb had gone down the ship's single funnel which is most likely, given the speed with which the ship sank about 1520 minutes. Captain Sharp estimated 5,500, but one Royal Engineer officer was told that there were more than 7,200 persons aboard. 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. Under the Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. The Lancastria, a pre-war Cunard cruise liner, was requisitioned by the Admiralty and turned in to a war-time troop ship. Launched on the Clyde, Scotland, in 1920 by William Beardmore and Co as the Tyrrhenia for the Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard, the 16,243 ton, 578 foot long liner could carry 2,200 passengers in three classes. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Ariel. 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. Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. "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. Please ensure the tag is appropriate for the record. Walter was in the water for around four hours before he was picked up. But it is a largely forgotten chapter in British history, a fact that leaves survivors and relatives aggrieved. Nonetheless, on June 17 lets enjoy the footiebutalsospare a thought for the heroes of theLancastria.They gave us our freedom. 2023 BBC. The letter added: "These relatives do not have a clear understanding of what happened as documentary evidence, they are told, remains unavailable; and possibly will not be revealed until 2040, which is of no comfort; indeed it adds to their distress as the relatives, themselves, will not be alive.". Others told of retrieving the corpses that washed up on the beaches a few days later. Ian Harvey is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. 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. On the morning of May 1st 1915 the Lusitania left New York behind. The MoD has said it does not plan to send a representative to France. RMS Lancastria In the article there is this paragraph: When German aircraft began strafing survivors in the water [citation needed], the fuel oil which had leaked into the sea ignited, and was quickly transformed into a flaming inferno [citation needed]. "[37] Private Ronald Herbert Yorke (Sherwood Foresters) is quoted in the Ripley and Heanor News on 5 July: "Hundreds of my pals were imprisoned below. If you provide contact details, we will be in touch about your request within 10 working days. Churchill even admitted he forgot to lift the D-Notice because events crowded upon us so black and so quickly. That D-Notice is not set to expire for another twenty years. Grace's Guide To British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/index.php?title=RMS_Lancastria&oldid=1038523, Creative [44], The missing British military dead from the sinking of Lancastria (those whose bodies were not recovered or were unable to be identified) are commemorated on a number of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials (those identified were buried in cemeteries and are marked with Commission headstones). As many as 7,000 lost their lives, making it Britain's worst sea . This number far exceeded the amount of life jackets and lifeboats onboard, but this lack of safety equipment ultimately did not matter. She arrived in the mouth of the Loire estuary late on 16 June. Many years later, I was asked by my father, Oliver Gleasure (Irish Guards) to find the book, so he could gift it to my uncle. 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. She made her maiden voyage, Glasgow-Qubec-Montreal on 19 June 1922. Fewer than 2,500 people survived. [27] According to Jonathan Fenby in his book The Sinking of the Lancastria, the German aircraft strafed survivors in the water. 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. 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). Walter managed to hold on before the animal disappeared. Though more people died on the Lancastria than on Titanic and Lusitania combined, the story is little more than a footnote in the history of WWII. ; had they seen them perish or had they seen them escape?. Walter assumed, to his dying day in 1989, that Charlie was killed in the sinking. Is climate change killing Australian wine? She was ordered to sail from Nassau to New York for refitting as she had been requisitioned as a troopship, becoming HMT Lancastria. [51] The medal was designed by Mark Hirst, grandson of Lancastria survivor Walter Hirst. 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. There were no Royal Navy vessels available to protect her against submarine attack, so Captain Sharp decided to wait until the Oronsay could leave, along with the Royal Navy escort. The Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. 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). When he eventually returned to England, he was ordered - along with the other survivors - to not speak a word about the Lancastria. The ferrying trip took three to four hours. Read about our approach to external linking. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. [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. 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. 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. RMS Lancastria (later HMT Lancastria) was a British Cunard liner commandeered by the UK Government during World War II. Remembrance. 2 held about 800 RAF personnel. [43] The campaign received support from all parties, but the MoD said that such a move would be "purely symbolic" and have no effect. 1,816 burials are recorded, over 400 of them in France. people who designed and built them. He passed away four years ago, the last Scottish survivor to die. 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 . Lancastria survivor Charles Napier with a copy of the newspaper which reported the news of the Lancastria sinking. Surely, after all of these years now, it can come out. After the incident, Admiral Karl Dnitz issued the Laconia Order, henceforth ordering his commanders not to rescue survivors after attacks. She was the sister ship of RMS Cameronia that Beardmore's had built for the same customer the previous year. We have not forgotten. It also organises the largest memorial service for the victims in the UK. About 124,000 troops were assembling and the Admiralty had dispatched some 30 merchant vessels of all sizes to the rescue. Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. There were multiple air raids and, in addition, the British feared possible U-boat attacks, so Captain Sharp decided to wait for a Royal Navy and/or RAF escort. Naval Institute is maintaining and preserving the former Naval Historical Foundation website so readers and former NHF members can still access past issues of Pull Together and other content. I can't think, after all of these years, it can still be a secret. Refitted in 1924 for two classes and renamed Lancastria, she travelled the route from Liverpool to New York and back, but in 1932 was reassigned to cruise in the Mediterranean and through northern European waters. 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. [13][14], At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Lancastria was in the Bahamas. [47] The Lancastria Association of Scotland was formed in 2005 and holds its annual service at St George's West Church in Edinburgh. Ushered down to decks E and F at the very bottom of the ship they nevertheless clutched their life jackets probably entertaining athought thatthesewould make good pillows.Ominously however, the troopswere warnednotto leave their confinedquarters. They were told that release under the FOIA would not be given because of several exemptions. When Nazi planes dropped their bombs, Walter and Charlie were separated in the chaos. [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. Franconia was assigned to Lorient while Lancastria continued toward St. Nazaire but because of the tidal channel on the Loire estuary Lancastria had to anchor in the Charpentier Roads about 5 nm (nautical miles) southwest of the actual port. I think he was embarrassed. Your email address will not be published. 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.. [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. [citation needed], The MoD stated in 2015 that "as the French Government has provided an appropriate level of protection to 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [48], The Lancastria Association of Scotland has members throughout the UK, France and the rest of Europe as well as members in North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. All rights reserved. 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. Help us improve catalogue descriptions by adding tags. Hold No. Under the British Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. All Digitized Passenger Lists For the RMS Laconia Available at the GG Archives. The Ministry of Defence said all known documents relating to the Lancastria have been available at the National Archives at Kew since the early 1970s. One Royal Engineers officer reported that he had been told by one of Lancastria's loading officers that over 7,200 people had come aboard. A fresh air raid began before 4 pm. Naval Documents of the American Revolution, - Naval Documents of the American Revolution, A History of the Naval Historical Foundation. In fact the casualty figures, especiallyin perspective, are moreshocking and although 59 merchant seamen were lost on theLancastria(4), 126 merchant sailors perishedduring the whole of the previous fortnights Dunkirk evacuation. Walter ended up in the water and saw a dog swimming away from the wreckage. text of this web site is available under the Creative Two other bombs landed in No. 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 "But the lack of recognition and acknowledgement in the subsequent years that has left many survivors and relatives of victims feeling their sacrifice was worth less than the big heroic events of the Second World War.". This web publication contains 154,528 pages of Winston Churchill issued a D-Notice on the day of the sinking of the RMS Lancastria. Lancastria memorial plaque at Liverpool Pier Head. 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. Mark - a former broadcast journalist and co-founder of the Lancastria Association of Scotland - has studied the life of his grandfather Walter Hirst, who survived the sinking. I think Churchill was right when he said 'we don't broadcast this'. [21], At 13:50, during an air-raid, the nearby Oronsay, a 20,000-ton Orient Liner, was hit on the bridge by a German bomb. For other uses, see, Section 36; prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs; Section 40(2); contains personal information; Section 40(3); Release would contravene section 10 of the, According to CWGC Records of identified Burials in France as of 17 June 1940 of "Lancastria" total 1486 (British Army 1449; RAF 33, Location of the sinking of the troopship RMS Lancastria, Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas, Liverpool, "BBC - History - World Wars: The 'Lancastria' - a Secret Sacrifice in World War Two", "About Us: History of Scouting in Ireland", "The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954) - 27 May 1936 - p16", "At sea. I of course ,read it before giving it to my father. Retreat to Victory. [53] St Katharine Cree church in the City of London has a memorial window to Lancastria. Charles C. Kolb, PhD, is a USNI Golden Life Member. [42] Early in the 21st century the French Government placed an exclusion zone around the wreck site. The loss of His Majesty's Troopship Lancastria on 17 June 1940 still resonates 80 years on from the disaster.