Although its a few days after the 80th anniversary I thought I would commemorate the torpedoing of the tanker Franche Comte on the 16th March 1941 with this report made by the captain 10 days later with the tanker finally back in home waters. m.v. “FRANCHE COMTE” At anchorage. Wednesday, 26 March 1941. Port of Rothesay, Isle of Bute. Messrs John I. Jacobs & Co. Ltd., 15, St. Helens Place London. E.C.3. Captains Report Dear Sirs, I regret the delay in making my report to you on the torpedoing of my vessel, but feel sure that you will understand that owing to the numerous matters that have required my attention since getting the ship into this port, this is the first opportunity I have had to make this report. Firstly I have to report that on the night of the 14th March 1941 at 11.30pm during an attack on the convoy by enemy submarines, my vessel was struck by shell fire that holed her in No. 1 Port Tank, damage caused being shell hole through Shell plating about 4 ft. above water line, luckily no cargo was being carried in this tank so no cargo was lost. It was afterwards ascertained that the shot that struck us was fired by the m.v. “AURIS”. On the night of the 16th March 1941 the convoy was again attacked by enemy submarines, several vessels being torpedoed and sunk, and at 11.55 p.m. my vessel was struck by a torpedo causing heavy and serious damage in the No. 2 Tank, No. 1 Tank, Forward Pump room and No. 3 Tank. The approximate position at the time of torpedoing was 61–15N 12–30W and the vessel was stuck on the port side. Immediately the vessel was struck she took fire and settled badly by the head, the foredeck being completely submerged and blown out. At that time I had no other options but to order the crew to the lifeboats, the fire being completely out of control, and being unable to estimate how the long the vessel might remain afloat. The lifeboats were manned and lowered into the water, but my instructions were to remain alongside until I in my boat, or the Chief Officer in his boat, gave orders to cast off. I regret to report that this was not carried out, as the crew in the boats cut the painters adrift, however having got the tow boats together I ordered that we remain as near the ship, to windward, as possible so as to be able to reboard in the event of the vessel not foundering. Whilst standing by H.M.S Destroyer H.28 came back and ordered crew in boats to board that vessel. On being picked up I immediately repaired to the bridge to advise the Commander of my wish and intention to remain by my vessel until I was satisfied that she was unsalvageable and was advised by him that he would return me as soon as he had returned to the convoy and was able to do so. On his return to the lifeboats I ordered the crew to return with me, but regret to report that I was met with the complete refusal by all the lower ratings, then called for volunteers to return with me and am pleased to give the following names who immediately responded :- J. J. Spring Ch. Officer J. Timmes SnD Officer G. Rowlandson Third Officer F.Le Roux Ch. Engineer W. Marshall Snd. Engineer L. G. Hutt Fourth Engineer J. G. I. Williams Fifth Engineer F. Pashley Ch. Steward T. Martin 1st Radio Off. D. Seymour Snd Radio Off. H. Davies 3rd Radio Off. The destroyer then returned us to one of the lifeboats and we endeavoured to pull back to my vessel, but found this was impossible owing to the wind and sea and not sufficient pulling power, but on the Destroyers return to the convoy, H.M.S. (Corvette) “BLUEBELL” was ordered to return and look after us, on her arrival back I requested Commander for volunteers to assist in manning the ship and I take great pleasure that the following list of men volunteered. I may add that these men had already lost their ships by enemy action and had just previously been picked up :- P. O. Sullivan - late Third Officer s.s “VENETIA” D. T. Evans - late Third Engineer s.s “VENETIA” A. J. Pillet - late A.B. s.s “VENETIA” B. Plummer - late AB s.s “VENETIA” P. Redgrave R.N. - late Gunner s.s “VENETIA” Arnulf Anderson - late A.B. on Norwegian m.v “FERM” On getting alongside the “FRANCHE COMTE” the fire was still burning and in the darkness the hole in her port side was a nerve – wracking sight and I was unable to persuade the men to reboard, so decided to remain alongside in boat until daylight. Whilst standing off H.M.S. Armed Trawler “NORTHLAND ------“ arrived and we were again picked up, but I advised the Officer Commanding of my intention to reboard my vessel and he agreed to remain by her until daylight. At daylight he reboarded, that being 9 a.m. on the 17th March 1941. The fire by this time had been put out by the sea and at 11.35 a.m. having raised steam on boiler, the vessel was got under weigh and we proceeded on our passage at slow speed, escorted by H.M.S. “BLUEBELL” I am pleased to report that, despite the difficulty experienced in steering and the fact our compasses were completely out of adjustment and it being impossible to ascertain any errors, the Azimuth Mirror also being gone, I was able to bring my vessel into this port without assistance, where we anchored at 1.50 p.m. on Friday, 21st March 1941. I have also to report that on the 19th March 1941 H.M.S. “BLUEBELL” advised me that they had run out of stores, she having about 79 survivors from other vessels, besides her own crew and at 4 p.m. that day I stopped under lea of the Isle of Lewis and transferred stores to her. Whilst she was alongside R. Power, R.N., late Gunner of the s.s.” VENETIA “ was ordered on board to assist man guns in the event of aerial attacks. I would like to express my admiration and gratitude for the magnificent manner in which may remaining members of the ship’s company and the volunteers carried out their duties and assisted me to bring my vessel safely back into port. Trusting all has been carried out to your entire satisfaction. I am, Dear Sirs, Yours faithfully (signed) L .C. Church.
...And the pay would have stopped for the sailors of the sunken ships. This policy was not changed until May 1941 IRRC.
There is an interesting tail about this whole affair. Effectively, after the ship returned and it's remaining cargo of oil discharged (to a value of several hundreds of thousands of pounds), the volunteer crew from both the Franche Comte, Venetia and Ferm all lodged salvage claims and considerable debate ensued as to the legitimacy of the claim, all of which is documented at Kew. Some of this has been told in the book Arctic Voices but after my mothers death I came across another set of photos taken probably while it was at anchor in the Western Isles. The extent of the damage is apparent in this and other photos. There is a brief mention on U Boat Net but the Captains letter gives a more comprehensive list of the crew who returned with the boat
The attached photos give an indication of the extent of the damage from deck level and I presume the one with the crew member standing in water gives an idea of just how down the ship was before unloading. The sketch, presumably torn from a contemporary magazine would indicate that the return of the boat despite the damage was of some note.
My Grandfather was Fireman on this ship when it was attacked. I have a copy of his discharge marked as 'renewed (occasioned?) lost by enemy action'. So coming across this information is great. These are the first pictures I have seen of the ship. It's amazing it didn't sink. As a side story, the attack was on 16th March. My grandfather's brother was in the Irish Guards during WW1. He was killed in Ypres with 2 others when their dug out took a direct hit, on 16th March 1916. It seems the Germans were keen to have a shot at our family on the 16th March!! Great photos, hopefully I can get a decent print to show family.
Kevin Do you have your Grandfathers name and I will see if he appears in either of the 2 files held at Kew? However having just skip read them again, I can't see any of the listed names having 'fireman' as the rank. I am happy to send you the scans of the photos if interested. Fantastic to know that someone else with a close connection has seen this.
Hi Michael O'Flaherty was his name. And listed rating is Fireman. Commonly known as stoker or boiler stoker. I will upload some documents of his service. He was also on SS Almeda Star in 1938. Luckily he left that ships company before it was torpedoed and sunk in January 1941, with total loss of crew. I would very much appreciate scans of photos. Thank you.
Hello and welcome, In the Merchant Navy they were never known as stokers that was a Royal Navy engine-room rating. Fireman was the correct term for the MN equivalent. Michael O'Flaherty first went to sea in 1929. He has the following files at TNA Kew: BT 391/82/190 - this is his Combined Office Merchant Navy Operations (COMNO) pouch which indicates he saw service at Normandy and beyond. BT 395/1/73328 - this is his WW2 medal entitlement. BT 382/1345 - this is where his WW2 service record is held - it is called a CRS 10 - and his held in a box of up to 60 other names. He appears to have served as follows: 149752 – LLANDAFF CASTLE – 27.2.1929 140521 – FLAMIINIAN – 9.7.30 149751 - ALMEDA STAR – 25.9.1930 149782 - ANDALUCIA STAR – 20.8.1932 156136 - JAMAICA PROGRESS – 30.9.1933 161359 – SULTAN STAR – 23.2.1934 129078 – GARTH CASTLE – 23.5.1935 149782 – ANDALUCIA STAR – 11.4.1936 149751 – ALMEDA STAR – 12.3.1938 For WW2 service see his Dis.A book if survived otherwise obtain his CRS 10 from TNA Kew see above BT 382. 183822 – ATHELFOAM – 12.4.1952 Regards Hugh
Hi Hugh Many thanks for providing that information. You have certainly helped me out and saved me a lot of time. I've been trying to piece together his naval history and you have pointed me in the right direction. I think a visit to Kew would be most helpful, I'm not too far away. To also help with his WW1 history in the British army and between the the wars service. Many thanks Regards Kevin
Hi I have gone through TS32/486 again and it only mentions those of the Franche Comte crew who volunteered to return to the ship (and were claiming salvage rights) a couple from the Venetia and a Norwegian from another ship, the Fern who were also claiming salvage. There was also a naval rating ordered on board to man one of the guns but didn't qualify for salvage presumably as he hadn't 'volunteered'. The files contain quite detailed statements from the Captain and a number of the claimants. There was clearly a lot of discussion going on as to whether the original decision to abandon the vessel was justified and whether the subsequent claim had merit
Thanks for posting this, all new information for me. I will certainly read up more about this. Really appreciate all the information you have supplied. Doesn't seem right you can order the evacuation of a ship and then reboard and claim salvage.
Hi I think the claim for salvage may have had precedent before and there was another tanker, the San Demetrio San Demetrio London - Wikipedia that was bought back by its crew in similar circumstances. Interesting that the 1940s film of this was playing on Film 4 today and although the vast majority of the film is clearly in a studio, I think they have captured the ship very well and indeed some of the features in the Franche Comte deck views above are clearly reproduced in the film. Check it out on IMDb. I guess we can debate whether a payment was reasonable or that the men should have just seen it as part of the job but the ship had caught fire, was down by the head, stopped and still a target, the bridge wrecked and the bite out of the hull sufficient for it to twist to the extent that deck plate rivets were being ejected like bullets. Also the cargo (heavy oil) bought back was estimated to be worth several hundreds of thousands of pounds so the payments were pretty small in the scheme of things. The ship was also repaired and sailed on for a good few years after.
Regarding the issue of salvage, I'd consider any crew who reboarded a wrecked ship and managed to get it back to port were more than deserving of the relatively tiny salvage payments they received. They could just as easily have taken the safer option and remained safely on the ship that had picked them up. Hindsight shows that they survived volunteering for this dangerous task and got the tanker to port, but the crippled ship could just as easily encountered another submarine or succumbed to it's damage and broken up at any moment. So they earnt every penny they got and were certainly doing more than just their normal job. In truth, considering how most shipping companies then and now treat their crews, I'm amazed that they actually managed to get the payments approved. Regards, Steve
In addition to the captain's, I have transcribed a couple of the other crew statements. This was my uncle's. I think he earnt his salvage pay-out! LEONARD GEORGE HUTT of xx, x Road, Shepherd’s Bush, W.12. states:- I am a Ship’s Engineer and have been at sea for two and a half years and at the moment I hold no Certificate. In March 1941, I was serving as 4th Engineer on board the m.v. “ FRANCHE COMTE”. The “FRANCHE COMTE” is a vessel of 5,591 tons net. On the 16th day of March 1941, we were in the course of a voyage from South America to the United Kingdom. We were fully laden. The “FRANCHE COMTE” is manned by a Crew of about 40 hands and she carried seven Engineers. The whole of the Crew, with the exception of the Chief Engineer were English – the Chief Engineer was a Frenchman. Shortly before midnight on the 16th March, I was on duty in the Engine Room and the 7th Engineer was with me. At this time I felt and heard a tremendous explosion and immediately realised that the ship had been torpedoed. The firemen cleared out of the Engine Room but I remained there with the 7th Engineer. As soon as the explosion occurred I stopped the engines, as I thought that was the proper thing to do. I had only stopped them for a few seconds, when the engines were rung to ‘stop’ from the Bridge. I remained standing by for two or three minutes when somebody shouted down to the Engine room telling us to come up. I immediately went up on to the Deck. At this time it was pitch dark. There was a good swell running and the weather was fairly fine. When we got on Deck I saw that the Crew had already commenced to get away from the ship. One boat was in fact full up and was leaving the ship. The second boat had about 17 men in it and the only people remaining on the ship were the Captain and the Mate, who were on the Bridge, the Donkey-man and myself. As soon as I got on Deck, the Captain asked me if I would go below again and shut off the condenser as the ship was discharging water from the starboard side which would have made the lowering of the starboard life boat dangerous. I immediately went below with the Donkeyman and shut off the condenser so that no water was going over the side of the ship. I went back to the Deck and by this time only the Captain was left on Deck, everyone else was in the boats. The Captain told me to get into the boat and he immediately followed me. To get into the boat we had to get down a ladder, as the boat was now in the water. As soon as we were on board, the boat left the side of the “FRANCHE COMTE” and we rowed towards the other boat which was standing off and boat boats then rowed towards a Destroyer and the Destroyer picked us up. The Crew went aft into the mens quarters of the Destroyer and the Officers went into the Ward room. The Destroyer immediately set off to chase the Submarine which had been attacking the convoy. At this time, we left the “FRANCHE COMTE” which was carrying a cargo of Boiler Oil was well alight. She had been torpedoed forward on the starboard side and it looked as if the whole ship was on fire from the Bridge to the forecastle head and explosions were occurring as we left the ship which were very loud and which we thought were other torpedoes hitting the ship. She appeared to be settling down and she was well down by the head, listing to starboard badly. We were all satisfied at this time that the ship was going down. The Captain said nothing in my hearing between the time we left the ship and the time we boarded the Destroyer about going back to the ship. We had been aboard the Destroyer about an hour, the Captain came into the Ward room. He had apparently been with the Captain of the Destroyer, and he asked for volunteers to go back to the “FRANCHE COMTE”. By this time, the Destroyer had come up to the ship again and was standing off her. I was not feeling very well as I was suffering from the shock but I and other Officers volunteered to try and go back. We therefore came up on Deck and 12 of us, including the Captain, got into one of our own life boats and the Destroyer towed us towards the “FRANCHE COMTE”. It was now a moonlight night and we could see fairly well. The “FRANCHE COMTE” was still on fire forward and flames were coming out of the forward tanks. She seemed to be settling down further by the head and she was creeking very badly. We stood off about 10 to 15 yards from the starboard side and the Captain said he did not think it was advisable to try and go on board and we agreed with him. We saw an armed Trawler in sight. I believe that arrangements had been made for this Trawler to stand by in case we got on board again, but I do not know this as a fact. When we saw we could not get on board the “FRANCHE COMTE” we rowed towards the Trawler and were taken on board and we remained on board until about 8.30 a.m. on the 17th March. The Trawler stood by the “FRANCHE COMTE”. At this time we decided to try and board the “FRANCHE COMTE” again and we all got into our own boats and rowed to the “FRANCHE COMTE” and got on board. The fire was out. She was well down by the head and the fire had been put out by the seas breaking over her. I went down into the Engine room. There was no water in the Engine Room and the Engine Room appeared to be in order. The engines of the ship are aft and it looked to me as if the propeller was out of the water. Besides the 12 men from the “FRANCHE COMTE”, we had six volunteers from another ship. These men were survivors of a vessel which had been torpedoes and they had been picked up by a Destroyer, which I think was the “BLUEBELL” and when our men volunteered, the Destroyer got in touch with the “BLUEBELL” and the six sailors on board that ship agreed to go aboard the “FRANCHE COMTE” and we had picked these six up when we tried to board the “FRANCHE COMTE” the first time and they had slept on board with us that night. After we got on board the “FRANCHE COMTE” some of the volunteers helped to get up steam and I helped to get up steam also and it took us about 1½ to 2 hours. As soon as we got up steam the Captain asked if we were ready. The Second Engineer asked me to turn the engines over and I went to the controls and carried out my orders and the engines worked satisfactorily and we therefore got under way. By now it would be between 9.30 and 10 a.m. The weather was fine and clear and there was not much sea. Once the ship was under way we carried on and arrived at Rothesay on Friday the 21st March. All the time a Destroyer (which I think was the “BLUEBELL”) stood by. On the journey back there was the Chief Engineer, the Second, Fourth and Fifth Engineers, the other did not come back. The Chief Engineer did not take a watch, therefore the other of us took six hour watches right round the clock. The ship was so much down by the head that the oil, particularly in the crank case, ran forward and the pressure was too great for the doors of the crank case to hold it and every hour we had to keep blocking up the cracks round the door and notwithstanding this, oil was spurting all over the engine room and the conditions under which we had to work were dreadful. As a result of being torpedoed we lost about 3,000 tons of cargo from the forward tanks.
The precedent cited in the film San Demetrio London was Florence (1852) 16 Jur 572. She “was abandoned by order of the master. The crew boarded a steamer, landed, were put by the British Consul aboard another steamer bound for England. Subsequently they met up with the derelict. Some of the crew volunteered to return to her, and succeeded in bringing her into port. The Court, in that situation, found that there had been such unconditional abandonment as would justify a recovery for salvage”. Abandonment must: (1) take place at sea and not upon a coast; (2) be sine spe recuperandi et sine animo revertendi [without hope of recovery and without the intention of returning]; (3) be bona fide for the purpose of saving life; and (4) be by order of the master, in consequence of danger by reason of damage to the ship and the state of the elements. The film may have engaged in some artistic licence for dramatic effect as it postulated that the master shouldn’t be amongst those returning to the vessel, which, from your evidence, doesn’t actually appear to have been the case.
