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Thread: The sinking of the Lylepark

  1. #11
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    Default Re: The sinking of the Lylepark

    Our time on the Michel was coming to a end after sinking three more ships after our sinking and the pow quarters was getting a bit crowded .But before i go on about the transfer to the supply ship the Charlotte Schliemann there is one thing that struck me as hilarious (but not at that time ) when they picked us up and lined us up on the deck soaking wet the Germans had a ring of sailors armed with guns now what could we have done we was in no condition to fight anyone .
    Well back to the transfer it was a lovely calm day some where out in the South Atlantic as they was using the torpedo boats towing a couple of lifeboats and i can remember seeing a couple of U boats plus another raider(Steir)and two supply ships and one guy said were is our bloody navy
    We was told things would be a bit different and believe me it was so as we approached the tanker we could see she had been at sea for awhile a proper rust bucket all the time this was going on the had armed guards watching us .
    There must have been over 250 mixed survivors we also had two women and two young boys survivors off the G/Castle and we never saw them again well i did not they were given cabins .
    We was given a palliasse and sent down into the bottom of the hold and it did not look very good .
    I was with Tommy Davies,George Doyle Barry Lane ,and Tommy Foy we were to stick together for most of our pow days.
    It was the start of the worst part of our times with Germans.
    More of time on the supply ship

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    Default Re: The sinking of the Lylepark

    A few weeks ago Lou a couple of my mates that I have a drink with on a sunday were talking of your old ship and prison mate Tommy Foy.He lived with his sister in the same road as them,i remember him well he couldn't get served in any of the pubs where he hung around down by the docks.
    Regards.
    jim.B.
    CLARITATE DEXTRA

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    Default Re: The sinking of the Lylepark

    The following is an extract from my book SHIPPING COMPANY LOSSES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

    LYLEPARK (Captain C.S. Low). Bound independently for Cape Town from New York when intercepted, shelled and sunk by the German raider Michel (Kapitän zur See Helmuth von Ruckteschell) on 11 June, 1942, in approximate position 14º00´W 10º00´W. Thirty-six died and 3 wounded. Twenty-two taken prisoner by the Michel, but transferred to the supply ship Doggerbank (ex-Speybank, captured by the Atlantis) which took them to Japan where they spent the remainder of the war in Camp Fukuoka.

    In order to avoid captivity, Captain Low and Mr. Reid, the 1st Mate, remained on the burning ship, and slid down the falls into a damaged lifeboat. And when it sank, they succeeded in boarding separate rafts. Captain Low, spotted by a plane from the carrier HMS Archer, was picked up and taken to Freetown while Mr Reid and the 2nd Mate were also brought there by the Avila Star, and all were returning to the UK on her when she was torpedoed and sunk on 6 July. Along with others, Captain Low, with a wounded arm and shoulder, was picked up from a lifeboat by the Portuguese destroyer Lima, and taken to Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. Mr Reid was in charge of one of the Avila Star’s lifeboats which was never seen again.

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    Default Re: The sinking of the Lylepark

    hard times ......respects to those men many got the hammer after being rescued ....soul destroying .....going in there lawful pursuits

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    Default Re: The sinking of the Lylepark

    We started to settle down in the supply ship but it was very difficult as the the conditions was a hell of lot different to the raider the food was very ordinary mostly stew what was in it god only knows it was just enough to keep us alive sanitation was nil the toilets was on the forepeak on both starboard and port consisted of wooden planks over tin shoots that went overboard to try and keep clean we did get wet when it rained and allowed on deck .
    We was allowed deck in batches and that was not to bad when the weather was good and that was good for the first few weeks we was this ship.
    They Germans had two machine guns on the lower bridge trained on the forepeak all the time plus three or four guys guns and they had a couple of stick grenades stuck in their belts we could see all this .
    There was some talk about trying to take over the ship not that i was in this action in anyway but i did hear of it later on but nothing ever came of it .
    We drifted around the South Atlantic and i think they gave fuel to a couple of U Boats.
    In the mean time we held a few sing songs and some of things was very funny but getting to sleep was very hard at times with the rats running all over us (i think the Germans trained these bloody rats to pester us )some of the language was pretty ripe .
    But i must say that the moral was pretty good .
    With the weather being warm it was not to bad but that was about to change more later

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    Default Re: The sinking of the Lylepark

    We was to learn that the supply ship would not be going to Germany but was going to Japan so that did not sound to good to us guys .
    Then we started going down south and it got a lot colder and the seas was getting a lot rougher and all we had was one blanket in fact the time on deck got a shorter
    According to some of our officers we was going down to the roaring forties but i know we was bloody cold even all the guards was all wrapped up all i had was dungarees ,singlet and shirt and boy did i feel the talk about ( A frozen midget with a ridget didjet)that was me.
    We must have been like that for about a week or so then we started to head north and and you could feek it getting warmer and we got more time on deck.
    Then the next thing we saw was the Germans was they put a very large flag on top of the tanks with the German Swastika so we must be getting near Jap held territory
    We did not go directly to Singapore but to a oil storage island Buolo Bukum were we went along side a jetty .The Germans told us the Japanese want 50 Seamen and i was one of them to go with my mates the rest of the pow*s was to go to Japan so the Japs loaded us on to a big ferry boat and off to Singapore and that was the started of my time as a guest of the Japanese

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