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"M.v. Athelknight" May 1942 At the end of April 1942 I was appointed to the
Athelknight, then in drydock at Barry, and we sailed eventually in convoy for
Trinidad. This was a convoy of vessel bound to the Mediterranean, South Africa,
South America and Westwards, and having left it somewhere westwards if Gibraltar
we proceeded on our own, on a track contained in our sealed orders. On the 24th
May 1942 about 180 miles South of our original track and this we did. At about 1030 pm on May 26th 1942 we were hit by a torpedo on the starboard side amidships, the position was Latitude 28 N Long. 45 40 W, Mid Atlantic. At the time I was reading a book in my room, a thing I rarely did at sea in time of war. The engines were stopped and orders given to abandon ship. The boats were being lowered when the submarine began to shell the vessel, and no gun flashes could be detected. One of the first shells hit the ship’s side above the 3rd Mate’s boat and the boat fell into the water with only five men in it. I had to haul my boat forward as jagged plates where the torpedo had hit were damaging it. When I went over the side into the boat I found it full of water, it had been badly damaged and obviously would not keep afloat very long. Shells were constantly pounding the bridge. Sparks, or the Radio Officer had sent out the SOS message but he could not say if it had been successful, and anyhow, no one was likely to come near. We managed to pull clear and contacted the 2nd Mate’s boat and we all got into that one. Our boat went under in no time at all. Some time later the submarine approached us, spraying machine gun tracer bullets over us but none hit the boat and he came alongside. He asked for me, and he told me to come on board. He asked where we were from and where bound, and the name of the ship. He apparently did not believe me when I said we were British, but kept repeating, “ You are American”. I insisted we were British, and apparently satisfied, he asked if we had provisions, I said yes, but could do with more, whereupon he gave some orders, and a bag containing half a dozen loaves of bread were passed into the boat. During the interview on the submarine’s deck I was fully aware that a man stood behind me with a Tommy gun. When he ordered me back to the boat, he also remarked that he was sorry for us, and I replied that he could not possibly be sorrier for me than I was for myself and all ahead of us. The nearest land was Barbuda in the West Indies, and this was nearly 1200 miles away. The Azores were also about the same distance away, but prevailing wind would favour the West Indies. During the night he kept shelling the ship and eventually one hit the oil fuel tanks, which burst into flames. The ship’s poop was 140 feet long and the
whole length was a blazing inferno in a couple of seconds, and remained so until
the sunrise the next day. At that time we saw the submarine send another torpedo
into the engine room and in a couple of seconds the stern went under, the bow at
the same time standing like a massive pillar out of the sea which very slowly
sank beneath the waves, leaving just three comparatively small blobs on the vast
surface of the ocean, our boat, the Mate’s boat and the submarine. After being
ordered back into the boat the previous night we came across the lifeboat that
had been cast adrift in the first shelling, and found two of the men dead, two
badly wounded and one with two wounds in his forearm.
The boat was fitted with a canvas cover, which could be
used as protection against wind and weather, sun and rain, but with the latter,
it also helped to gather small quantities of rain water to quench the thirst. We
tried fishing with a line but could catch nothing. One small fish about half
pound weight was jabbed with a sheath knife and shared out and eaten raw. Flying
fish, were also found and eaten raw. Flying fish, especially the small ones
which landed in the boat were very rarely reported, and quite a few must have
been eaten by those that were lucky enough to have them land against him in the
dark. The general topic used to be, the first meal they would have when they
made the Islands, none expected to be picked up by passing ships, anyway we saw
none during the whole 28 days, nor did we see any smoke. We could see our other
boat during the first four days but after that we saw nothing more of them. What bothered me most was the heat of the sun, and when
we sighted the Islands at dawn on the 23rd June 1942 my strength was
fast ebbing. I now realise, that following a major operation for the removal of
the Gall Bladder I was not in a fit state to do such a journey as this. At times
it became necessary to warn all the men against drinking sea water. Some
pretended to wash their mouths out only, but this had to be prohibited. The
youngest on board was only sixteen, and the eldest, an old Kinsale seaman was
well over sixty five. When we touched the beach at Bartholomew, the Islanders
did not come near until we were actually ashore. The boat’s crew with the
exception of myself and the Kinsale man managed to get over the side of the boat
and crawl ashore. We had to be carried and were laid down inside some boat
shelters where we were given coffee. It was about noon when we landed and two
hours later a Police Boat arrived and we had to re enter our lifeboat to be
towed to the harbour about four miles away. We stayed there for two days, some,
like myself in a hospital under the tender care of a very old Breton nursing
sister, others in Hotels. A small Dutch West Indian schooner then took us all
aboard for the sixty miles trip to St Kitts. On our arrival, the Port Medical
Officer came on board and examined us all. Most of us were prevented from moving
hand or foot, and the ambulance had a busy time bringing us up the hill into the
hospital at Basseterre, under the care of Dr. Steddefer, the hospital
Superintendant, who had fled from Hitler’s Germany before the summer of 1939. In this hospital, the man whom we thought had bullets in his arm was found to have two pieces of shrapnel which were removed. It was found that I had lost 54lbs weight on the 28 day boat trip, I was in bed for ten days and when I was allowed up, had to be assisted to my chair. We had to leave hospital to make room for another ship’s crew who had been 13 days in their boats. The reminder of my time on the Island was spent at the Doctor’s home. Seventy shipwrecked mariners eventually left the Island by a Cuban ship for San Juan, Puerto Rico, where an American Naval store ship took us to Newport News, then by rail to New York. We eventually left there by rail for Halifax where about 280 of us boarded the Trooper Strathmore, landing at Glasgow before the end of September. In New York I received a cable from the owners informing me that the Mate’s boat had been picked up by a South African bound ship after 24 days adrift, at that time they were 350 miles behind us so they were extremely lucky, as I understand that most of their stores had been used up.
"February 3rd 1943, at Buckingham Palace" The Chief Officer was D.J. Davies of Glanfa, Dinas Cross Pembrokeshire. We both received the O.B.E. from His Majesty King George V1 at Buckingham Palace February 3rd 1943. I was told by the Naval People that we had used our provisions in a manner not recommended by their medical advisors, this was that we should have given at least 10 fluid ounces of water the first day and to have reduced this and the other rations as we went along. This would have been a task, which would indeed be most difficult to carry out. British Consulate Letter Athelknight Survivors List on 23 July 1942 Back to Hugh Roberts main page ~~~~~~~ |
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