[45][46], After the war, the Lancastria Survivors Association was founded by Major Peter Petit, but this lapsed on his death in 1969. "[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. Let us know. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy You need to sign in to tag. Those who got away were machine-gunned in the water". Lancastria survivor Charles Napier with a copy of the newspaper which reported the news of the Lancastria sinking. My late uncle Richard Gleasure, an aircraft technician, was due to be on the SS Lancastria, rescue ship , but as his air force colleges were leaving with a full aircraft, several yelled to him to RUN, Quick,, as they then pulled him onto an already taxing plane through the floor door, he was saved. 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 British government had requisitioned the Cunard ocean liner to continue bringing British Expeditionary Force troops back to Britain following the evacuation of Dunkirk. Those who survived the incident were instructed not to speak about their experience. 5621230. A fresh air raid began before 4 pm. 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. information and 239,789 images on early companies, their products and the The British Government has refused to make the site a war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 although documents obtained under the Freedom of Information show that it could be done. She was bombed at 15:48 by Junkers 88 aircraft from II. "[30] Rudolph Sharp survived the sinking and went on to command the RMSLaconia, losing his life on 12 September 1942 in the Laconia incident off West Africa. 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. Not a member of the Naval Institute? [18], Early in the morning, three RNVR officers came aboard to ask how many troops Lancastria could take. 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". (5). A transcript and podcast are available from The National Archives website. This information will help us make improvements to the website. 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. 13 Maritime Disasters More Tragic Than the Titanic The British press did then cover the story, including front pages of the Daily Herald (also on 26 July) and Sunday Express on 4 August; the latter included a photograph of the capsized ship with its upturned hull lined with men under the headline "Last Moments of the Greatest Sea Tragedy of All Time". He never saw his friend Charlie again. He was a very quiet man, and his recalling of the Lancastria tended to come only after a couple of pints.". And what do those touched by the catastrophe want now? As were news reports on the sinking. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was requisitioned for use as a troop carrier and was refitted in New York, her company colours painted over in battleship grey. 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. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. She was the sister ship of RMS Cameronia that Beardmore's had built for the same customer the previous year. Is climate change killing Australian wine? She arrived in the mouth of the Loire estuary late on 16 June. All Digitized Passenger Lists For the RMS Laconia Available at the GG Archives. You. Over 1,400 tons of fuel oil leaked into the sea and was set partially ablaze, possibly by strafing. Some survivors claimed that a bomb had gone straight down a funnel, others thought bombs hit No, 4, 2, and 3 holds. There were 2,477 survivors. Please ensure the tag is appropriate for the record. 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. The medal ribbon has a grey background with a red and black central stripe, representative of the ship's wartime and merchant marine colours. "It was a bad time - the evacuation from 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. Two other bombs landed in No. Mark, a filmmaker, has spent years researching the next few hours of his grandfather's life. The people living in the area, found bodies washed up on the beaches for weeks after the disaster. 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. 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. Charles C. Kolb, PhD, is a USNI Golden Life Member. Harrois went on to say that when history looks at the retreat in 1940, the evacuation of Dunkirk is the undertaking that most remember. Returning to Glasgow, the captain requested that surplus oil in her tanks be removed, but there was insufficient time before she was ordered to Liverpool for a refit. Read tagging guidelines. He believes Walter and Charlie found some life jackets on the Lancastria to use as pillows on the way home. 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. [48], Lancastria is represented at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire by a sessile oak tree and a plaque. Lancastria memorial plaque at Liverpool Pier Head. [3][4], The ship was launched in 1920 as Tyrrhenia by William Beardmore and Company of Dalmuir on the River Clyde for the Anchor Line, a subsidiary of Cunard. There are 1,472 names on his list of the deceased, extracted from the War Graves website, but theCommonwealth War Graves Commission records 1,816 burials with more than 400 in France (Fenby 2005, p. 234) and the Lancastria Association identifies 1,738 individuals that died aboard the ship . Mr Napier is also wearing the Lancastria commemorative medal which was awarded by the Scottish Government in June 2008 in recognition of those who were aboard the vessel that day. She was ordered to sail from Nassau to New York for refitting as she had been requisitioned as a troopship, becoming HMT Lancastria. Lancastria survivor Charles Napier with a copy of the newspaper which reported the news of the Lancastria sinking. [13][14], At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Lancastria was in the Bahamas. 79 Years Ago Today;RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe "We want recognition that this was the biggest sea disaster ever," she said. If you don't have an account please register. It highlighted claims from the New York Sun newspaper on the sinking, with 500 feared dead. 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. On 17 June 1940, whilst being used as part of Operation Aerial to evacuate civilian refugees and British military personnel from France, it was anchored about 5 miles from the coast of St Nazaire. [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. Kate Murphy Schaefer is an undergraduate history instructor who studies the human impact of wars and revolutions. Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. text of this web site is available under the Creative Memorials in statue, plaques, and stained glass can be found in Staffordshire, Liverpool, and London. Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port and she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. This number far exceeded the amount of life jackets and lifeboats onboard, but this lack of safety equipment ultimately did not matter. HMT Lancastria Association, 17 June 1988.. 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. But Charlie had also survived. The Story of RMS Lancastria (Historic Document) | RallyPoint document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Naval Historical Foundation 1306 Dahlgren Avenue, SE Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374 1-202-678-4333 info@navyhistory.org. Many of those in the water drowned because there were insufficient life jackets, or died from hypothermia, or were choked by fuel oil. [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 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. [4] She sank around 5nmi (9.3km) south of Chmoulin Point in the Charpentier roads, around 9nmi (17km) from St. Nazaire. 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. However, an exact number of Lancastrias casualties may never be known. She was first used to ferry men and supplies between Canada and the United Kingdom. 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. Eventually, newspapers in New York broke the story at the end of July - five weeks after the disaster. Interestingly, 2040 or 2041 should also be when restricted British documents on the Pearl Harbor attack are made public. No one can be sure of just how many lives were lost in the attack; she had spent all the morning embarking as many people as she could and estimates range from there being 5,000 to 9,000 people on board, of which less than 2,500 survived. RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. With the outbreak of the Second World War, she carried cargo before being requisitioned in April 1940 as a troopship, becoming the HMT Lancastria. The Many lifeboats could not be launched as they had been damaged, and there were only 2,500 life jackets on board. 1,816 burials are recorded, over 400 of them in France. It was too much for the people to take. [4] 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. - The speed at which the vessel sank meant that there was little time for other ships to react. A senior lecturer in British politics at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, Thibaud Harrois, said that the German advances in 1940 caught almost everyone by surprise and led to the Battle of Dunkirk. The MoD has said it does not plan to send a representative to France. She was first used to assist in the evacuation of troops from Norway. [10][11][12] The passengers on this voyage included Admiral of the Fleet Roger Keyes, Field Marshal William Birdwood and Commodore Edward Unwin. 2 and No. personnel, Have you found an error with this catalogue description? I think Churchill was right when he said 'we don't broadcast this'. Many . RMS Lancastria - en-academic.com Lancastria Association of Scotland made a further request in 2009. An estimated 400 Scots were amongst the 4,000 killed with the Lancastria was attacked and sunk. So there you are a sad narrative from our maritime history. 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. RMS Lancastria (later HMT Lancastria) was a British Cunard liner commandeered by the UK Government for war, sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II sending 4,000 people to their deaths, possibly many more. The death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the British Expeditionary Force in France. Walter ended up in the water and saw a dog swimming away from the wreckage. It also organises the largest memorial service for the victims in the UK. 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. 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 RMS Lancastria | Military Wiki | Fandom NHF has decommissioned and is no longer accepting new members or donations. Your email address will not be published. Churchills D-Notice asked all media outlets not to publish any information on the Lancastria sinking. 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. These were dangerous journeys, along roads blocked with refugees and under bombardment by enemy aircraft. Crew members were either discharged or sent on leave.[15]. She was refitted for just two classes and renamed Lancastria in 1924, after passengers complained that they could not properly pronounce Tyrrhenia. Due to the imposition of the D-Notice, survivors and the crews of the ships that had gone to the aid of Lancastria did not discuss the disaster at the time due to the fear of court martial. [3] It is the greatest ever loss of life in the sinking of a single British ship, claiming more lives than the combined losses of the RMS Titanic (1,523 passengers and crew) and RMS . 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. RMS Lancastria Memorial in Liverpool Furthermore, estimates are that 36% of all BEF troops killed in action between September '39 and June 1940 were lost on the Lancastria. The Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-up - June 1940 Paperback - Amazon "I think my grandfather was haunted by that," added Mark. manufacturing in Britain. 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. The survivors crowded on the submarines' decks and the towed lifeboats, as the B-24 made several deadly attack runs on U-156. He was told that he should take as many as he possibly could "without regard to the limits of International Law". When the British troop ship 'Lancastria' was sunk in June 1940, some 5,000 people died - but news of the disaster was kept from the British public. She made her maiden voyage, Glasgow-Qubec-Montreal on 19 June 1922. 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". It was only attended by 10 people. 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. This shrouded details of the disaster in secrecy as Churchill wanted to cover up the grisly details of the loss of life from an already severely demoralized British public. 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. Lancastria - Remembrance Even then, the British newspapers toed the patriotic line. [19] By the mid-afternoon of 17 June she had embarked an unknown number (estimates range from 4,000 up to 9,000)[4] line-of-communication troops (including Pioneer and Royal Army Service Corps soldiers) and Royal Air Force personnel, together with about forty civilian refugees, including embassy staff and employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium with their families. Harrowingenough in itself the grey-paintedship was anchored out in the Loireestuarywith personnel ferried out in various small boats itcan be well-imagined thatthese hungry, traumatisedand wounded peoplewere so relieved to be transportedto asafe place.But asmore and more embarkedbelow decks the vessel became hopelesslyovercrowded, indeed a communique was sent stating that the ship should embark as many as possible irrespective of international rules (1). We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. Copyright Historic UK Ltd. Company Registered in England No. Every nook and cranny, including her massive holds, was packed with people. [citation needed], A memorial on the sea-front at St Nazaire was unveiled on 17 June 1988, "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". Late that afternoon, she was packed with servicemen, air force personnel, embassy staff, and their families and some civilians with their families. "When we have tried, they (the government) have said it (documents on the Lancastria) are secret. She sank around 5 nautical miles south of Chmoulin Point in the Charpentier roads and around 9 nautical miles out of St. Nazaire. Initiated in 1889and then revised in 1911, 1920, and 1939it sets out offences related to spying, sabotage, and related crimes. HMT Lancastria remembered 75 years on - National Museums Liverpool [28], Survivors were taken aboard other British and Allied evacuation vessels, the trawler HMTCambridgeshire rescuing 900. 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 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.". 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. Retreat to Victory. [51] The front of the medal depicts Lancastria with the text "HMT Lancastria 17th June 1940". Walter was attacked by a man who wanted his life jacket. Forgotten tragedy: The loss of HMT Lancastria Under the Official Secrets Act, the report on the Lancastria cannot be published until the year 2040. 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. This year the ceremony was considerably toned down due to the coronavirus pandemic. 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. It was used until 1993, when the name was changed to DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice). 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. [8] In 1934 the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland chartered Lancastria for a pilgrimage to Rome. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. British and Allied evacuation vessels took Lancastrias survivors aboard, the trawler HMT Cambridgeshire alone rescuing nearly 900 souls. People were ferried from the mainland all day. 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. 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. 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). 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. RMS Lancastria - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia I think he was embarrassed. RMS Lancastria (later HMT Lancastria) was a British Cunard liner commandeered by the UK Government during World War II. There are no actual transcripts of these speeches, but they have been reconstructed from Churchills notes given to Charles Eade. 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. [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. RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. RMS Lancastria, Death Toll: 4,000-6,500. He passed away four years ago, the last Scottish survivor to die. Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900. 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,. The notifications are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors could choose not to abide by them but, generally, accede to these notices. Another liner, the SS Oronsay, was damaged, so Captain Sharp was advised to depart. 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. 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. I can't think, after all of these years, it can still be a secret. Lancastria: The forgotten tragedy of World War Two - BBC News The late edition of The Scotsman on July 25 1940 featured a six-paragraph story buried on the middle of page five. The medal is in recognition of the endurance of survivors and ultimate sacrifice of the 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. privacy policy, Need more context? Around 700 missing from the British Expeditionary Force are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. "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 Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-Up, June 1940. Wynn does not clarify what materials he utilized from these sources and there are no footnotes, in-text citations, or endnotes. Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Walter managed to hold on before the animal disappeared. [34], The sinking was announced that evening during the English-language Nazi propaganda radio programme, Germany Calling by its presenter William Joyce, better known as "Lord Haw-Haw"; however his claims were notoriously unreliable and had little public credence. Frank Holden Snr was on board the luxury transatlantic cruise liner Lancastria in 1940. Lancastria Association names 1,738 people known to have been killed. The D-Notice blacked-out details of the incident for 100 years, so it will not be released before 2040. Jun 17 1940 Sinking of the RMS Lancastria A fresh air raid began before 4 pm. May 1936. [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. 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