Merchant Seamen WW2

[Hughie]

Commemorative Information:
I'd be interested if any member might be able to provide us with an image
of: Memorial Panel 69 Tower Hill London. If anyone is visiting the Tower of
London then this is nearby. I'm curious to know if these memorial panels
bear the names of the those who died.

Memorial Panel 69 relates to the sinking of the MV San Arcadio which had
crew from the three towns - many merchant seamen from the three towns lost their lives during WW2. The following is from our archives at threetowners:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh McCallum" <hewmac@......au>
To: <threetowners@topica.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 8:08 PM
Subject: [3T] M.V. San Arcadio Torpedoed

This relates to a much earlier post which is reproduced below. These were
local men who lost their lives on the M.V. San Arcadio 31st January 1942:

William Boyd DOCHERTY age 19 Engineer Officer. Sixth son of Henry and
Jeanie Docherty, of Saltcoats.

Alexander Dunn MACMILLAN age 24 Ordinary Seaman. Son of Robert Hall
MacMillan and Margaret Dunn MacMillan; husband of Mary K. MacMillan, of
Saltcoats.

David McCUBBIN age 40 Greaser. Son of William and Susan McCubbin; husband of Margaret McCubbin, Ardrossan

Francis McQUADE age 27 Greaser. Son of Arthur McQuade, and of Winifred
McQuade, Ardrossan.

Commemorative Information: Memorial Panel 69 Tower Hill London, UK.

Hugh McCallum
Melbourne

Hugh McCallum asked the Mariners List:
>> Where can I get further details regarding the sinking of vessel M.V. San
>> Arcadio. Registered London. Sunk 31st January 1942. These details were
>> obtained from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for a friend.

John D. Stevenson in Edinburgh replied:
> San Arcadio.
> Built Harland & Wolff, Govan , yard no 938,1935.
> Motor Tanker engines by the builders.
> The San Arcadio, Capt`n W.F.Fynn, was 150 miles E. of New York on 31st
> January ,1942, when she was torpedoed by a German submarine. Soon after
> the submarine surfaced and completed the destruction of the tanker by
> gunfire and a second torpedo . Forty two men, including the master were
> killed. The vessel was not in convoy.
> This from "Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the age of Steam ,
> 1824/1962 " by Charles Hocking.
>
> This from my own private research database : There is evidence to support
> the story that when the submarine surfaced it attacked the lifeboats with
> machine gun fire , killing several crew.
> Trust this helps.

[Meg]

Hughie

Believe it or not - this is where I work - (near the tower, not in it!!) so I will get someone from work to bring their camera in tomorrow and see what I can do.

Meg

[Anne Mathieson]

I was really interested in the information on the seamen lost on the San Arcadio. David McCubbin was my mother's brother, one of three brothers who lost their lives in WW2. Their names, David/John/James all appear on the WW2 War Memorial on Glasgow Street, Ardrossan. My grandfather William McCubbin unveiled the memorial having lost three sons in that war. I was always aware that Davy had drowned but did not know the circumstances and my mother Mariah is long dead now and could never have the answers from her. Davy McCubbin's children emigrated many years ago.

Annie Mathieson

[Anne Mathieson]

Further to my previous message, I believe there were survivors from the San Arcadio - one name I was told by my mother was Bill McMillan of Ardrossan - who lived to tell the tale. I wonder how many others?


Annie Mathieson

[Meg]

I have just been over to Trinity Square at Tower Hill (the garden of rememberance for merchant seamen who died during the war) and couldn't get photos as they are filming something there (again)! Few months ago in the summer it was the Lara Croft movie - this time it looked like Ian Ogilvie. Am back down here again next week, so will bring my own camera and take some photos. The background to the memorial slabs is black and the lettering is gold, so fingers crossed they turn out.

Best regards
Meg

[knxyl]

There is info re San Arcadio on the following site


http://www.vpnavy.com/vp74_notice.html


Margaret

[lorrass]

Hi There
Just read about merchant convoys in some of the e mails
just thought if anyone has an interest in them(my father was a
merchant seaman) try a web site OS OS-KMS it has a bit of infomation
on convoys and loss of life dureing ww11.
If anyone wants to have a wee blether aboot
this it may be interesting
Ross

[joantoyboy]

my dad was a merchant seaman ww2 we lived in saltcoats when my mom would get his letters half of them would be crossed of she could hardly read them because of the black marks we never knew where he was , used to wonder why my mom cried a lot, thank GOD he survived to a ripe old age .

[iainbrown]

I saw this topic and thought Id contribute a bit of research I've been doing into the San Arcadio. My great uncle William Brown was an Ordinary Seaman in the Merchant Navy during WWII. He sailed on the M.V. San Arcadio (London), a San (Eagle Oil) class motor tanker owned by the Eagle Oil & Shipping Company Ltd.

The ship was built by Harland & Wolff, Govan in 1935. It was 446 feet long, 60 feet wide and had a tonnage of 7.419. It carried crude and white oil products and its callsign was GYJQ.

At 16.45 hours on 31st January 1942 the unescorted ship, whilst carrying a cargo of 6600 tons of gas oil and 3300 tons of lubricating oil, on route Houston - Halifax - Mersey, was hit in the bow by two torpedoes by German submarine U-107, commanded by Harald Gelhaus, 150 miles East of New York, North of Bermuda (38.10N, 63.50W - Grid CB 5478). The U-boat surfaced after a coup de grâce hit in the engine room at 18.51 hours and caused the tanker to break in two. The Germans fired 24 rounds from the deck gun at the stern without scoring a hit and then left the area. Of her 50 man crew, the master (Cpt. W. F. Flynn), 37 crew members and three gunners were lost.

In the March 27th 1942 the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald ran the story: SEVEN LOCAL MEN MISSING - Torpedoed Tanker - Survivor's Story - 12 DAYS IN OPEN LIFEBOAT

After having been adrift for 12 days in the Atlantic in an open life boat, from which he and eight companions were finally rescued by an American seaplane, Mr. Wiliam McMillan, 13 Hill Street, Ardrossan, has just returned home apparently little worse for his ordeal. Mr McMillan was one of eight Ardrossan and Saltcoats members of the crew of a tanker which was twic torpedoed and then shelled and sunk by a submarine, and the other seven are missing.

The missing Ardrossan and Saltcoats men are:-

Patrick Shields, 18 Old Raise Road, Saltcoats. David McCubbin, 53 Kilmahew Street, Ardrossan. Roderick Brown, 49 Princes Street, Ardrossan. Francis McQuade, 174 Glasgow Street, Ardrossan. Wm. Brown, 14 Busbie Drive, Ardrossan. William Docherty, 7 Stanley Road, Saltcoats. Alex. McMillan, 20 Parkend Road, Saltcoats.

Out of a total crew of 50, only the nine men picked up by the seaplane are known to have been saved. No news has been heard of the remaining 41.

Torpedoed Twice - The ship was torpedoed twice. Though very heavy seas were running, the Nazi submarine surfacedand began to shell heavily the already desperately damaged tanker. The wireless installation was carried away and one of the vessel's four lifeboats was destroyed. "In the confusion caused by the shelling and the heavy seas", Mr McMillan stated, "only six of us were able to get into one lifeboat. Forty-one of the crew, including the seven Ardrossan and Saltcoats members, got into the other two lifeboats and three others launched a raft, but all of us got clear of the doomed vessel before the mountainous seas finally engulfed her. We were able to drag the three men on the raft - one of whom was the third officer - into our lifeboat.

Boats Separated By Storm - "The officers, of course, knew the exact location where the tanker had sunk and, as the destruction of the wireless had prevented any S.O.S. being sent out, it was decided to lay a course for Bermuda, the nearest landfall. For fifteen hours the boats kept together until the storm increased in violence to such an extent that sea-anchors had to be dropped. When the visibility improved, all trace of the other two life-boats had disappeared. Gales and high seas continued without interruption for eleven days" said Mr McMillan. "During the whole of that time we remained soaked to the skin as a result of seas constantly breaking over the boat. Had it not been for the fact that teh water was not particularly cold, I don't suppose any of us could have survived. As it was, we were all suffering from exhaustion and 'salt water burns'. Luckily, until the twelfth day, when a rationing scheme was unanimously adopted, we did not suffer from any real shortage either of food or water. Whenever the wind was favourable we pushed on sail in hope of reaching Bemuda, but currents carried us off our course and we frequently had to drop the sea-anchor.

Rescued By Seaplane - "Then on the twelfth day, the wind fell away entirely and further sailing became impossible. With food running low, we cursed what we thought was our wretched luck. Actually, it proved our salvation. Suddenly, in the far distance, we saw a huge seaplane sweep out of her course and head towards us. Had the high seas of the previous eleven days been running she could never have spotted us as she had done. She circled round us three times and we imagined she was taking our bearings so that she could radio some vessel to come to our rescue. Instead to our almost incredulous amazement and delight, we saw she was letting down her floats and the pilot made a perfect landing not a hundred yards away. Weak as we were, we soon had the oars out and drew the lifeboat alongside the sea plane, which took the whole 9 of us aboard."

160 Miles From Land - Subsequently, Mr McMillan explained, they learned that they had been even luckier tahn they had first imagined. They were still 160 miles from Bermuda and the seaplane, which had been flying for ten hours, was slightly off courseand was heading direct for Bermuda when the tiny speck tossing about in the waves, which proved to be the lifeboat, was seen and the pilot swooped so dramatically to the rescue. Mr. McMillan and the other rescued men were taken to the King Edward VII, Memorial Hospital, in Hamilton, Bermuda, from which he and three others were discharged two days later, the remainder being detained for further treatment. From Bermuda he made his way to Halifax, Nova Scotia recrossing the Atlantic as a passenger.

I think this is quite an interesting story given the number of locals aboard.

[JimMcCub]

Hi Iain thanks for your research into the sinking of the San Arcadio it was very interesting , for years my father has been teling me that his three uncles names were on the war memorial in Ardrossan , To now find the circumstances of the fate of David Mccubbin was very Interesting and moving . We all know WWII was a very brutal war but seeing an account of a survivor underlines what sacrifices these brave and in many cases modest men made make you feel very grateful Indeed .

[Hughie]

Many thanks for that Iain, Bobby and Netta McCubbin have just spent a week with us on the Sunshine Coast here in Oz. Bobby is the son of David and as Jim said there were other two McCubbin brothers died during the war in the merchant marine. What an awful thing for the parents to lose three sons during the war. I believe they were guest of honour at the unveilling of the WW2 Memorial at Ardrossan.

Bobby and I spoke about this and he recalls during his painting apprenticeship at Ardrossan Shipyard he spoke with Mr McMillan who was a survivor. Apparently he was the stepfather of my brother's third wife.