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. 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. 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. Walter was attacked by a man who wanted his life jacket. The Lancastria troopship was carrying between 6,000 and 9,000 people when it was sunk by German dive bombers on 17 June 1940. Her parents Clifford and Vera Tillyer were working in Belgium when they decided to evacuate. However, some information about the Lancastrias sinking was made public within a matter of days, particularly six individual death notices in local newspapers. Nonetheless, on June 17 lets enjoy the footiebutalsospare a thought for the heroes of theLancastria.They gave us our freedom. A spokesman added: "The sinking of the HMT Lancastria remains the United Kingdom's greatest maritime disaster and, although it occurred over 70 years ago, the sacrifice of many thousands of servicemen and civilians, and the endurance of those who were saved that day, must never be forgotten. Mark, a filmmaker, has spent years researching the next few hours of his grandfather's life. 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. Those who got away were machine-gunned in the water". RMS Lancastria - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia Introduction:Aday which isprobably more in peoples minds due to resumption of the Premier League footballseasonrather than the commemoration of Britains worst maritime tragedy a disaster which took the lives of an estimated 3000 to 5800 sailors, soldiers, airmen and civilians. [32] In 2005, Fenby wrote that estimates of the death toll vary from fewer than 4,000 to 6,500 people although it is also estimated that as many as 7,000 people perished, the largest loss of life in British maritime history, sometimes it is considered the second worst loss of life at sea (though with the estimates of the worst shipwrecks like the Goya also being 7,000, it is unknown which is worse. 1)www.bbc.co.uk(2017)Dunkirk a few facts. 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. Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port and she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. The initial cover up at the time of the war is perhaps understandable, because it could be used as propaganda by the Germans. [28], Survivors were taken aboard other British and Allied evacuation vessels, the trawler HMTCambridgeshire rescuing 900. [13][14], At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Lancastria was in the Bahamas. 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 17th June 1940 saw one of the most horrific events of World War II and the single worst maritime disaster in British history. The name Tyrrhenia proved problematic for her passengers to pronounce and was subsequently changed to Lancastria in 1924. Eyewitness Emile Boutin (whose stories are included in the online Lancastria archive) wrote, Sometimes one body arrived, sometimes 16 arrived at once other times there were four days, five days without anything. The citizens of Moutiers buried the victims behind a sea dike, where they stayeduntil the end of the war. The late edition of The Scotsman on July 25 1940 featured a six-paragraph story buried on the middle of page five. The Lancastria Tragedy: Sinking and Cover-up - June 1940 Paperback - Amazon An estimated 400 Scots were amongst the 4,000 killed with the Lancastria was attacked and sunk. [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. What a story, and how lucky are we,born just after WW2, for the brave men and women, who fought for our freedom, Your email address will not be published. Modern estimates suggest that between 4,000 and 7,000 people died during the . Raye Dancocks explains . The captain said that he would be able to take 3,000 at a pinch. Over 1,400 tons of fuel oil leaked into the sea and was set partially ablaze, possibly by strafing. S.S. "LANCASTRIA" : Lists of R.A.F. casualties and survivors with It was bombed by German armed forces and he was left shipwrecked after surviving TV star Amanda Holden. Brogden's account states that one bomb landed close to the funnel and entered No. She was 578 ft. in length and 16,000 gross tons, designed to accommodate 2,200 passengers in three classes. 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. Officials at the time chose to ignore the Lancastria disaster, as it was deemed a failed evacuation, and it was almost overshadowed by the news of the French surrender to the Germans. 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). 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. Two other bombs landed in No. The loss of His Majesty's Troopship Lancastria on 17 June 1940 still resonates 80 years on from the disaster. Lancastria survivor Charles Napier with a copy of the newspaper which reported the news of the Lancastria sinking. A fresh air raid began before 4 pm. Policy. [59], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}471026N 21915W / 47.17389N 2.32083W / 47.17389; -2.32083 (Location of the sinking of the troopship RMS Lancastria), "Lancastria" redirects here. 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. I've briefly mentioned the experience of four survivors during this talk: Major Plunkett, Wing Commander MacFayden and Captain Rudolph Sharp, Master, as well as his Steward. She was first used to assist in the evacuation of troops from Norway. Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. 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". 2 and No. RMS Laconia (1921) - Wikipedia [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 . 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. Captain Sharp estimated he had loaded 5,500 people, but his officers put the count at nearer 7,200. Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and 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. "[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. Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30. Four chapters are personal accounts from survivors or their close relatives. [39][a] In the face of continued campaigning by relatives, the MoD stated in 2015 that all known documents had long since been released through the National Archives. This number far exceeded the amount of life jackets and lifeboats onboard, but this lack of safety equipment ultimately did not matter. Upwards of three thousand men perished. 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. "I think my grandfather was haunted by that," added Mark. Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900. The Lancastria was carrying up to 9,000 troops when it was bombed by German planes and sunk outside the port on 17 June 1940. As the families reflect on their loss, it appears their frustrations will remain. Within four months of the outbreak of World War II, Lancastria was requisitioned by the Admiralty as His Majestys Troopship (HMT) Lancastria under the command of Captain Rudolph Sharp. 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. Even then, the British newspapers toed the patriotic line. She was bombed at 15:48 by Junkers 88 aircraft from II. 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). Frank Holden Snr was on board the luxury transatlantic cruise liner Lancastria in 1940. [54] Scouting Ireland's national campsite Larch Hill has an anchor memorial to Lancastria, commemorating the legacy of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland's pilgrimage in 1932. The Government did not do so as it was within French territorial waters, outside the jurisdiction of the Act. Lancastria: The forgotten tragedy of World War Two - BBC News Let us know. A transcript and podcast are available from The National Archives website. This web publication contains 154,528 pages of The sinking of HMT Lancastria on June 17, 1940, is an intriguing chapter of naval history in World War II primarily because of the tragic loss of life and how much information pertaining to the event wasand still isclassified. View the catalogue description for. The government feared what the news would do the British nation in the midst of its darkest hour.

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