TNA CAB 103 191

Empire
HOTEL
S.S.-
CONFIDENTIAL.
20
P.
WAKEFUL. Torpedoed 29th May, 1940. Ship broke inhalf and only those on the upper deck were saved. About
600 troops were below.
CRESTED EAGLE. Was bombed and then beached in a burning condition on 29th May, 1940. Only about 300 saved
House, out of 600 on board.
SKIPJACK. Bombed 1st June, 1940, 250 - 300 troops on board, most of whom, unfortunately, went down with the ship when she sank.
ough
WAVERLEY. Sunk by enemy aircraft, 29th May, 1940, 600 troops were on board before ship was abandoned in sinking intity was a condition, but only 200 - 300 were picked up.
GRAFTON. Torpedoed and sunk by M.T.B. offKwinte Whistle buoy in the early hours of 29th May, 1940. No record in personnel on board.
Ps as
LANCASTRIA. Sunk 17/6/1940 by aircraft while embarking troops, tish on board were 5,200 troops, several refugees and crew 320.
Military survivors known to have been landed amounted to 3,733.
ARANDORA STAR. Torpedoed 2nd July, 1940 while carrying 1673
(approx) passengers and crew, including 8 officers and 195 men of the military guard. Of the 800 (approx)
saved 163 were members of the military guard.
MOHAMED ALI EL KEBIR. Torpedoed and sunk on 7/8/1940. When ship sank there were stated to be 4 officers and about
30 soldiers on board, all of whom jumped overboard
"and some managed to get rafts and spars, being picked up by the DestroyersWHALER".
ABOUKIR. Torpedoed and sunk on 28th May, 1940 whilst assisting in the evacuation of Dunkirk. Known to have been carrying about 250 people (officers, crew and evacuees)
of whom about 14 only were saved.
GREYHOUND. War Office casualties Liverpool, informed 3/2/1941
by Admiralty Letter M.O 1739/41 that no details available.
CHROBRY. Ship hit by salvo of explosive and incendiary bombs at 2340 on 14th May, 1940 and abandoned in flames early
15th May. Casualties caused by explosion of bombs and through being trapped and overcome by fumes.
HYPERION. Mined in Mediterranean on 22/12/1940 and subsequently sunk by H.M.S. JANUS. It is not thought that there were any troops on board.
MAID OF KENT. Lost on 1/6/40 as the result of bombing attacks during Dunkirk operations. No details available and no information as to any military personnel on board.
MONA'S QUEEN. Personnel Vessel sunk by mine whilst off Dunkirk.
No other details available.
H.M.S. GRACIE FIELDS. Received direct hit from enemy aircraft while carrying 700-800 troops. Impossible to ascertail number of troops killed.

1010
Telegrams: SHIPMINDER, BLACKPOOL."
Telephone: SOUTH SHORE-41006.
17A
6/2
Blackpool 23821.
MINISTRY OF SHIPPING,
Л
"Empire Hotel",
GRAND-HOTEL,
CONFIDENTIAL.
Lansdowne Crescent,
BLACKPOOL, S.S.
M/151359/41
Lancs.
7th March, 1941.
1941.
Dear Mr. Walmsley,
I am sorry not to have replied before to your letter of February 26th but you will appreciate that it has taken a little time to collect the information you to ask for and even now it is not complete. We can, of n
course, only give you such information as we have and this does not always cover all the points you raise.
It may be that in many cases the Admiralty could give h
you more to detailed here information, especially where casualties, are concerned, since they handle all the g
actual Casualty Lists. However, I append all the ed information I can for your help.
S.S. "Lancastria" on 17th June, 1940, was attacked and sunk by enemy aircraft about 3.50 p.m. while at of anchor at Carpenter Roads off St. Nazaire. The ship ad sank in about ten minutes. About twelve boats got
Luding away and a number of the crew and troops were picked it sea up by numerous craft in the vicinity.
nk at
S.S. "Arandora Star" was torpedoed at 6.15 a.m.
over on the 2nd July, 1940, in the North Atlantic -
position 55° 20'N. 10° 33' West. The survivors all got away in the ship's boats and on rafts which hip.
were sighted by aircraft about two hours later and at about 2 p.m. on the 7th a Destroyer arrived and picked up the survivors. It is not known how many voyage were drowned and how many were killed by the explosion. n
W,
S.S. "Mohamed Ali El Kebir" was torpedoed at saved,
8.15 p.m. on the 7th August, 1940, in the North chose
Atlantic 55° 0" N. 15° West. She sank about one
2 sank hour and fifty minutes later. A Destroyer arrived on the scene and picked up survivors.
F. Walmsley, Esq.
Church K call,
Wavertree,
Liverpool.

T561
16A
UNITED
of
SHIPPING CASUALTIES SECTION,
TRADE DIVISION,
OMERALTY
ADMIRALTY, S.W.1.
28th February, 1941.
tity as a
Dear Mr. Hammond, in
I am in receipt of your letter of 25th instant and am afraid that the information which is available in
S as tish this Section will not be of very much use to you. I
think I explained to you over the telephone that we are not concerned with the personnel of merchant ships which le are lost, but only with the ships themselves. The information which we obtain in regard to personnel being
00
only incidental to our object. I have, however, checked up our facts and other information we have, with the following result:-
1.
S.S. LANCASTRIA. This ship was struck by a salvo of
4 bombs about 1545 G.M.T. on 17th June. The ship had embarked 5,200 troops and a number of refugees, including women and children. The wind was light N.W., slight sea and swell, cloudy with bright periods. The ship sank rapidly by the head, listing from side to side. About
10 minutes after being hit at 1600, the ship heeled over on her port side and sank.
Deserty
S.S. WAKEFUL
I have no information about this ship.
Is she H.M.S.?
S.S. ARANDORA STAR This ship was torpedoed on a voyage from Liverpool to St. Johns, Newfoundland at 0657 on
2nd July, 1940. I understand 119 Officers and crew, making a total of 868 survivors, the remainder of those
163 Military Guard, 264 Italians, 322 Germans were saved, on board are presumed to have been lost. The ship sank stern first at 0720.
D. Hammond, Esq.
The War Office,
Casualty Branch,
Blue Coat School,
Church R oad,
Wavertree,
Liverpool.