TNA MT 40 66

Page 4.
LIST OF SHIPS WHICH TOOK PART IN OPERATION "DYNAMO" - 26TH MAY - 4TH JUNE, 1940.
PART I - BRITISH SHIPS (contimued)
PERSONNEL AND HOSPITAL SHIPS
ARCHANGEL
MANXMAN
AUTOCARRIER
MONA'S QUEEN
BEN-MY-CREE
NEWHAVEN
BIARRITZ
NEPHRITE (Store Ship)
CANTERBURY
NGAROMA
CLAN MACALISTER
NORMANIA
COTE D'ARGENT
} french
PARIS (Hospital)
COTE D'AZUR
PRAGUE
DINARD (Hospital)
PRINCESS MAUD
DORIAN ROSE (Store Ship)
QUEEN OF THE CHANNEL
FENELLA
ROEBUCK
FOAM QUEEN
ROUEN
ISLE OF GUERNSEY (Hospital)
ROYAL DAFFODIL
ISLE OF THANET (Hospital)
ROYAL SOVEREIGN
KILLARNEY
ST. ANDREW (Hospital)
KING GEORGE V
ST. DAVID (Hospital)
LADY OF MAN
ST. HELIER
LEVENWOOD (Store Ship)
ST. JULIAN
LOCH GARRY
ST. SEIRIOL
LORINA
#
SCOTIA
MAID OF ORLEANS
TYNWALD
MALINES
WORTHING (Hospital)
MANXMAID
WHITSTABLE
OTHER BRITISH SHIPS
ADVENTURESS
BONNY BELLE
AGNESS CROSS (Life-boat)
BOURNEMOUTH LIFE-BOAT
ALBATROSS III
B.P. ONE
ALOUETTE
BRITANNIA
ANDORA
BULLFINCH
ANDORA II (R.A.F. Launch)
CABBY
ANNE IV
CANVEY QUEEN
ATHOLA
CAVERSHAM (M.B.)
AURA
CHAMOIS (Lighter)
BAIL
CHERFIELD
BAT (Lighter)
CLAUDE (Water Boat)
BEE (Lighter)
COMMODORE
BELFAST
CONSTANT NYMPH
BLACK ARROW
CORDELIA
BLACK JAVA
CORNELIA
BLACKPOOL
C. 9 (Tugs)
BOBELI (Motor Cruiser)
C. 11
BONNY HEATHER
C.Y. 63
DABB II
DEFENDER
DHOON (Trawler)
Sunk
(Continued)

y.02M
AYZER, IRVINE & Co, LTD.
TELEPHONE Hook 168 (3 LINES)
27
MANAGERS OF
HE CLAN LINE STEAMERS LTD.
TYLNEY HALL,
LONDON, GLASGOW & LIVERPOOL.
TELEGRAMS:
ROTHERWICK,
"CAYZER, Hook, HANTS"
OUR REFCE FB/NT.
"CAYZER, GLASGOW"
"CAYZER, LIVERPOOL"
YOUR "
BASINGSTOKE, HANTS.
20th June. 1940.
The Ministry of Shipping,
Berkeley Square House.
LONDON. W.1.
THIS in JUN RECEIVED 19/10/10 13 21 1940
Dear Sirs,
We are in receipt of your letter of yesterday, enclosing letter addressed to Captain Mackie of the "CLAN MACALISTER" in regard to the evacuation from
Dunkirk, for which we thank you. We shall have pleasure in forwarding same to Captain Mackie.
Yours faithfully, per pro CAYZER, ARVINE & CO., LTD.
General Manager.
WORTHERN
LORINA
John London, CO. E.V. Shipping Ltd.,
NORMANNI
Capt R.
/CANTERBU
YEWDALE
MAID OR
John Ltd.,
/BIARRITZ
YEWGLEN
308, C.1.
Glasgow,
/AUTOCARRI

- 2 -
56
During the time we were anchored in this place we could, during the day, hear the roar and fury of the guns and mines on the French coast, the concussion of which was shaking the "LOCHGARRY" at her anchorage twenty-one miles away, and at night the same pounding went on with the addition of immense fires shooting up in the sky - "Calais" on fire? I took bearings by compass to verify this; it came out to a degree and next morning we heard the wat" asid OMJ 202 STOW ent news. At night the dropping of magnetic mines round about was a common occurrence, and the rat-tat-tat of the Spitfires chasing the enemy away, until at last nobody was going to bother getting out of his bed to see them. But if you did get up you were sure to find you were not the only one, although they had faithfully promised to stick to their bunks. They would be in their stocking soles, keeking out in some corner. It would be like a great display adw dom of fireworks, and one would wonder how many tons of lead were active in the sky after the minelayer, or whether he would manage to get clear.
On May 28th at 4.30 a.m. orders were received to proceed to Dover for one fuel and water at 6 a.m., and at 7.5 p.m. same day we loaded provisions and made various preparations for going to Dunkirk. At 8.56 p.m. we cast off from one
Admiralty Pier bound for Dunkirk by a certain route. The night was dark and hazy, and when we nearly bumped up against the North Goodwin Light vessel, which was not lit, and after a bit of shouting to the light vessel, I dropped anchor and we were at stand-easy till 3 a.m. Having no light of any kind we had to keep a very good lookout. We felt a mighty wash rocking the ship fore and aft, and right close beside us five destroyers passed at full speed, without apparently taking the slightest notice. Shortly after another large ship was bearing down on us, and passed quite close, and after heaving up anchor we could still see her hull faintly in the gloom. We made up on her and afterwards learned this was the "CLAN MACALISTER" which I guessed to be going the same way as ourselves, as by now Dunkirk was the only place on the coast where she could be going.
At 6.48 a.m. on the 29th May we were at the West Hinder Buoy. Behind us, tearing along at top speed, was what well may have been termed the "Channel
Fleet". the swift steamers that had left Dover in the early morning, among them being the "KING GEORGE V". Each as they passed the "LOCHGARRY" gave us a hearty wave of hands and bonnets. All of them soon passed; on our port bow was a British Destroyer, and one which we recognised as the one funnel
Polish Destroyer. They were going round in a circle which was gradually getting smaller, both of them, I believe, taking cross bearing on a submarine.
When the circle got to the smallest possible round they each dropped several depth charges about the same spot. We were watching for wreckage, but did not successfully. see any. This would be the smallest depth at which a submarine could operate
A while later the Mate said he saw what appeared to be a spent torpedo on the surface, but I did not see it. But if there was a submarine in that circle he certainly is there yet! Now we were in the channel from which the enclosed photo was taken (bottom picture), and the Mate and I argued as to whether it was whin bushes or men that covered the sand dunes. On looking through the binoculars we found that what appeared to be whin bushes were really armies of the B.E.F. It was hardly credible, but true, the beach was strewn with wrecks of ships at all angles, and motor lorries which were hardly visible, being camouflaged, were dashing backwards and forwards.
We steamed along the channel which was some ten miles to Dunkirk Breakwater.
The Breakwater was fully occupied when we arrived there - two and three steamers abreast. They were the steamers that had passed on the way in, and as many destroyers, and who would be at the outer end of the Breakwater but the
S.S. "KILLARNEY" our sparring partner. This was a great surprise. How did she get there? We left her in Dover, and they certainly did not pass us on the way. But the secret was that the "KILLARNEY" was not degaussed and for that reason they came by a different route from us! She was loaded with troops to full capacity and had a very heavy list to starboard, away from the Breakwater, and it was apparent that there was something wrong. Her belting had caught on the Breakwater with the falling tide; eventually the belting gave way and she was free to go, and backed out of the Harbour, closed up to us and waved, then full away the way she had come good luck to them.
The/

STATES
woll and
- 4 -
38
LETER
SEW
A tug boat was told off to give us a lift off the Breakwater by the due of ern, as there were three destroyers abreast astern of us. He made fast r starboard quarter rope to his bow and pulled sternwise. He did his job
TO
one
DO well, pulled us well out, and when he thought we were going too far across
DEPARTMENT
sit.
e endeavoured to straighten us up in the channel by giving us a "nose off"
DEPARTMENT
under the counter and thus cutting our D.G. in two places. I did not want his "nose off" the pitch of the propeller and the helm would have straightened us up nicely - and if that was not sufficient then I could have given her a kick ahead on the starboard helm, which would certainly have done the trick. But and the tug boat captain did not have the necessary patience. A Clyde tug boat master would never have done that. What a mess! The D.G. wire having been cut in two places quickly short circuited, and caught fire under the counter.
and
X
Some French soldiers on the opposite pier head noticed it first and raised the
HTUS
alarm. My toes began to tingle in my boots. Fire, with so many troops on board, fanned by a fresh westerly wind on the stern! Would it be possible to bassin get her round in the channel and head the wind before it caught hold, or would
I require to beach her on the sands and give them a chance to swim ashore?
I ordered the current to be cut off, by 'phone to the engine-room, and I
think it was already cut off, as the engineers had noticed something amiss on the switchboard. The mate and the second engineer were soon on the job with a fire spray, and the flames extinguished. It is true that we had all the fire apparatus fixed ready for action, and the sailors at their stations duri ng the time the troops were on board, but it happened so quickly and at a time when any person could not move about the decks on account of the crush.
The report that the fire was under control came with a great relief. All this happened while we were backing out of the harbour to add to other difficulties, and being under the counter of the vessel it was well nigh inaccessible to get at.
The mate and second engineer deserve every credit for having dealt with it so effectively and efficiently. I believe the mate was hanging like a monkey on a rope, directing the fire spray on the seat of trouble. However, that having passed over, everything was normal for a few moments.
I would here mention that we were at a disadvantage through the second mate leaving the ship at Dover the previous morning, so that the mate and myself had to share his duties between us in addition to everything else.
Having manoeuvred the vessel into the channel we were for a few minutes waiting for our escort, H.M. Destroyer F.34. "THE GREYHOUND", and on clearing the Breakwater he closed up on us and asked which route we intended going by,
Route X. or Route Y. or --, and while we were thus talking it was cut short;
the destroyer jumped, as it were, and made a series of twists and zig-zags in front of us. Well, I thought to myself, if you are going at that speed there's damn little hope of me keeping up with you! The next moment there was a terrific explosion close to the destroyer on her port side, but it was a miss.
Another moment and a column of water shot up ahead of us about 50 yards away.
No. 1 salvo for the "LOCHGARRY" also a miss! But the third salvo caught the destroyer fair amidships and ripped her side open, causing many casualties, I
would say, but the Commander was still on the bridge and her guns were active peppering away. It was apparent the vessel was out of action. I heard the telegraph to the engine-room ringing but could see no response from the engines.
I passed by the destroyer close to. The Commander shouted, "Carry on"; we then tore away full batter with a double ring on the telegraph, and zig-zagged so far as the channel would allow us.
We were left alone for a while. I was told before leaving that "the
Germans were shelling from the shore, but they were not very accurate". We were not shelled from the shore. We passed the vessel in whose company we had done part of the voyage going over - the "CLAN MACALISTER". She was evidently in a bad way her after-hold on fire and clouds of black smoke rising from her. I would say that she had received a salvo somewhere about her stern, and was either at anchor or not under way!
We had now overtaken and passed a small steamer very like the "LOCHSHIEL"
crammed with troops, her hold and decks quite full. On our starboard bow was the "GRACIE FIELDS", a minesweeper, full of troops going out, and a hospital ship going in on our port bow. They were both zig-zagging vigorously, as we were ourselves, but the "GRACIE FIELDS" got one salvo which stopped her engines, and she stopped, lifeless, and limped somewhere around the Kwint Buoy. The hospital/

YZER, IRVINE & Co, LTD.
TELEPHONE Hook 168 (3 LINES)
MANAGERS OF
THE CLAN LINE STEAMERS LTD.
LONDON. GLASGOW & LIVERPOOL.
TYLNEY HALL,
TELEGRAMS:
"CAYZER, Hook, HANTS"
FB/NT.
ROTHERWICK,
OUR REFOE
"CAYZER, GLASGOW"
"CAYZER, LIVERPOOL"
BASINGSTOKE, HANTS.
T.M.6213/40/S.T.A.6
8th August. 1940.
W.G. Hynard, Esq.,
Director of Sea Transport,
Ministry of Shipping,
Berkeley Square House.
219
LONDON. W.1.
Dear Sir,
We are in receipt of your letter of yesterday and now have pleasure in enclosing copy of letter and report received by the writer from the Master of "CLAN MACALISTER".
Yours faithfully, per pro CAYZER
Encl.
All the Engineers aid excellent work at their and we understand the 4th Engineer (A.M. Rivett) manned a Bren
Gun, planes. by permission of the Chief Engineer, with effect on enemy
The Chief Steward E.u.Onions, 2nd Steward J.F.Brown and
Purser D.D.McMahon we understand aid heroic work in tending to the woundea, there being no Doctor on board.
ALL the Medical Supplies and other consumable stores of our Catering Department were used to give Medical Comfort to the rescued.

anive
17 Derby Street,
COPY
Trinity,
Edinburgh. 6.
3rd June, 1940.
F. Bedford Esq.
220
Tylney Hall,
Rotherwick,
Basingstoke, HANTS.
Dear Sir,
S.S. "CLAN MACALISTER".
As instructed by Captain T.W. Young, Marine Super-
I beg to enclose my Report upon the circumstances you intendent, leading up to the loss of the above vessel which I hope will find in order.
Regretting very much the loss of such a fine ship with so many lives and trusting that this Report will not reflect unfavourably upon any of her crew.
I am, dear Sir,
Your obedient Servant, in
(sgd) R.W. Mackie,
Master.
S
Encl.l.
ALL the Engineers aia excellent work at peede and we understanu the 4th Engineer (A.M.Rivett) manned a Bren
Gun, by permission of the Chief Engineer, with effect on enemy planes.
The Chief Steward E.u.Onions, 2nd Steward J.F. Brown and
Purser D.D.Memahon we understand aid heroic work in tending to the woundea, there being no Doctor on board.
ALL the Medical Supplies and other consumable stores of our Catering Department were used to give Medical Comfort to the rescued.

21 b
COPY
221
REPORT OF LOSS OF S.S. "CLAN MACALISTER" BY ENEMY
ACTION ON 29th MAY 1940 AT EAST DUNKIRK ROADS.
Dosa
I beg to report that this vessel arrived at Southampton about 8.30 a.m. on the 27th May 1940. Loading of Army Landing
Craft (A.L.C.) commencedat 1 p.m., and finished at 6 p.m. after there had been loaded:-
2 Boats on No. 2 Shelter Deck Hatches.
2
"
"
Upper Deck Hatches.
1
11
=
Port Side, Upper Deck.
1
"
"
Starboard Side, Upper Deck.
2
"
"
After Deck at No.4 Hatch also a quantity of Petrol and Lubricating Oil for the said Craft which was stowed abreast of the fore rigging on both sides.
During the course of the day rough accommodation was rigged up by shore labour for the 45 Naval ratings with their small arms, ammunition and stores in No.5 Shelter Deck and accommodation was found in the officers' quarters for Captain Cassidie, R.N., and
2 Lieutenants, R.N.V.R., who were in charge of the A.L.C.
At 3 p.m. I was called to the Naval Control Office and given a route to the Downs where I vas to close the Examination
Vessel for further orders. We left Southampton at 6.30 p.m., and arrived at the Examination Vessel in the Downs about 8.30 a.m. on
28th May and asked for orders. The Examination Officer said he would go inshore and signal for orders for us. About midnight a/
All the Engineers aia excellent work at uneil and we understanu the 4th Engineer (A.M.Rivett) manned a Bren
Gun, by permission of the Chief Engineer, with effect on enemy planes.
The Chief Steward E.u.Onions, 2nd Steward J.F. Brown and
Purser D.D.McMahon we understand did heroic work in tending to the woundea, there being no Doctor on board.
ALL the Medical Supplies and other consumable stores of our Catering Department were usea to give Medical Comfort to the rescued.