Melrose Abbey

Thankyou so much for this post Brenda. It is marvellous to get a first hand account of the pressure these brave seamen were under. My father was rescued by the ship Toward in December, 1942. On her return journey from Halifax to Liverpool Toward was sunk with the loss of her Master and many of the crew that come to the aid of others.

Lest we forget.

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Thankyou for this information Terry. My father - William Fred Learmonth - 2nd engineer is not listed as a survivor. I will certainly contact the site to inform them.

With Kind Regards,
Patricia

Hi Patricia .............I,ve attached a photo Attachment 33961of the "Melrose Abbey "which I think may be the one in your query I found a few photos with the same name but I suspect this is the one ......... I hope so anyway
I notice that he was from Broughty Ferry not far from my old home town

MELROSE ABBEY wasn't a rescue ship, she was a cargo ship. But these very often, if not always, also carried some sort of light armament aft. What use this would have been in the event is arguable I would say.

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Originally Posted by Michael Jobson

MELROSE ABBEY wasn't a rescue ship, she was a cargo ship. But these very often, if not always, also carried some sort of light armament aft. What use this would have been in the event is arguable I would say.

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Don't know which posts you are reading Michael, but there is no mention of the 'Melrose Abbey' being a rescue ship, the rescue ship mentioned was the 'Copeland'.

Cargo ships did in fact did act as the nominated 'rescue ship' in convoys when dedicated vessels such as deep sea tugs and armed trawlers were not available in convoys, these were normally the fastest ship with lowest freeboard (for obvious reasons) and stationed in the last thwartship column and the centre column of the convoy, again for obvious reasons. The majority of convoys did not have the luxury of dedicated tugs/trawlers for rescue purposes, in fact twenty armed trawlers were taken off convoy duties and sent to the EC of the USA in 1942 to act as submarine chasers/locators when the U-Boats were having their happy hours. They were sent as part of 'Reverse Lend Lease' (which many may not have heard of) as the USA was woefully short of such vessels, Admiral King (anti-British) did in the beginning did not believe in the UK convoy system declaring it outdated and of no use on the ECUSA it was only instituted when the President over ruled King and USA losses fell afterwards on the ECUSA when convoys were escorted by trawlers and luxury USA fast launches were commandeered, armed and used as spotters off the coast..

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Originally Posted by Bob Montgomery

Hi Patricia .............I,ve attached a photo Attachment 33961of the "Melrose Abbey "which I think may be the one in your query I found a few photos with the same name but I suspect this is the one ......... I hope so anyway
I notice that he was from Broughty Ferry not far from my old home town

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I seem to recall a statement in my youth that lord haw haw stated the melrose abbey was sunk up to 4 times ....making her the most sunk afloat vessel in the MN.....cappy

Cappy it may be so, a lot of Lord Haw Haws intentions was to try and dishearten the civilian population by propoganda and try to show how much in control they were . You might have sailed with Capt. Hogg in Runcimans , he was torpedoed twice and mined once , I believe on the Blythmoor , think it was in 1944 when mined. He was a family friend of my fathers and uncles , one time sitting around the radio listening to his nightly broadcast of Tish , he came out with the mining of the vessel mentioned and gave a whole spiel on old Hogg even to the extent of where he lived and how he had arrived home safe . It was a game of words linked to the propoganda he came out with . By nature he was a good story teller. He did well for his German masters. He got a well deserved neck stretching at the end of the war , legal or not , he would have found there were many who would of paid to be the hangman for the privilege. Cheers JS

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Originally Posted by cappy

I seem to recall a statement in my youth that lord haw haw stated the melrose abbey was sunk up to 4 times ....making her the most sunk afloat vessel in the MN.....cappy

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Cappy, I read that she was sunk on one occasion and re floated, Terry.

my granfather will cram.....was mined in the thames .....i courted a lovely girl and never new till years later her father was lost in the incident ...he was an ab forrard as they came to tie up at beckton gasworks pier ....my granda was thrown in the water.....not seriously injured ...as he was of course in the aft position for tie up being second mate.....the vessel was the SS halo ....and was lost later in the war after a refurb .......my granda told me he was greatly saddened to see lancaster bombers coming back over the chanel with parts missing and smoking coughing engines ......knowing his son john was a navigator in such ......joining the RAF from the MN early in the war my uncle john my mams brother was very fortunate to go against the odds and survive many missions until the war ended.....cappy

Hi Doc,Olav(Nick) Sivertsen. Have just been reading your article on the Melrose Abbey.We’re there 2 ships using this name during the same period during the 2nd war?
My father was a Norwegian Merchant Navy officer on the Norwegian ship GRADO which was sunk by torpedo along with the Antigone whist in Convoy SC129 from Halifax N S to Ipswich.Nearly all the crew were picked up by the Melrose Abbey a rescue ship and returned to Scotland.W.W.W. warsailors.com GRADO gives a comprehensive account of the rescue also the crew list.Surely this could not be the same Melrose Abbey as she sank in 1942? Interesting reading the Naval Warfare article on the Melrose Abbey. Lastly there were 4 Gunners on the GRADO 1 Norwegian and 3British.Thanks anyway just didn’t think there would be 2 ships with same name at the same time.

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Originally Posted by nick sivertsen

Hi Doc,Olav(Nick) Sivertsen. Have just been reading your article on the Melrose Abbey.We’re there 2 ships using this name during the same period during the 2nd war?
My father was a Norwegian Merchant Navy officer on the Norwegian ship GRADO which was sunk by torpedo along with the Antigone whist in Convoy SC129 from Halifax N S to Ipswich.Nearly all the crew were picked up by the Melrose Abbey a rescue ship and returned to Scotland.W.W.W. warsailors.com GRADO gives a comprehensive account of the rescue also the crew list.Surely this could not be the same Melrose Abbey as she sank in 1942? Interesting reading the Naval Warfare article on the Melrose Abbey. Lastly there were 4 Gunners on the GRADO 1 Norwegian and 3British.Thanks anyway just didn’t think there would be 2 ships with same name at the same time.

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Yes Nick ,two existed at the same time
1/.ss MELROSE ABBEY-O.N.160830 -Built 4/1929 - 1,908gross reg.tons built by Earles SB and E.Co,Hull for Hull & Netherlands SS Co.Ltd,Hull (later Associated Humber Lines.) .Registered in Hull. Survived until 1958,then sold to Greeks.Broken Up 1960 in Perama,Piraeus,Greece.

2/.ss MELROSE ABBEY-O.N.162109-Built 6/1936 - 2,472 grt by Gray's ;W.Hartlepool for Melrose Abbey Sg.Co;Ltd.Registered in Cardiff.
Sub-torpedoed by U356 ,7 lives lost.on 27/12/42 on voyage London-Trinidad with coal and mails.


It was the 1929 Melrose Abbey, the designated Rescue Vessel in convoy SC 129 which picked up survivors of the torpedoing of Antigone and Grado by U 402 whilst they were all in Convoy SC 129 in May 1943,

Regards Graham