The Laconia

[Bev Summerill]

They were using metric charts in those days it was fathom charts which were not coloured

Bev Summerill

[Ivan Cloherty]

They were using metric charts in those days it was fathom charts which were not coloured

Bev Summerill

Hi Bev

have I missed a post somewhere about charts.

Metric charts were used by the French and other continental countries and are in historical terms a recent introduction to the British system which always used fathoms. Having used nothing but charts with fathoms on them in the 50's 60's and 70's thelatter years had colours on them (and my father before me in 20's.30's40's used fathom charts) if I'd had to use metric charts would probably have run the ship aground!

Mind you in the 60's I did have to beg a chart of Kaimashi in Japan from a Japanese ship in San Diego once and and that was also in metres, we spent a lot of time on passage converting the approach channel details into fathoms. Just a note every conceivable instrument on the bridge on that Japanese ship was replicated in the Master's cabin, talk about keeping an eye on the 3/m,2/m and 1/m not the best way to instill confidence in your subordinates

The Laconia being a British ship would have 99.9% sure have fathom charts (grey and black) onboard, but as always I stand to be corrected.

Regards

Ivan

[Captain Kong]

The first time I came across Metric coloured charts was in the late 70s with Esso.

[Hugh]

Quote [E Martin]
"Should imagine you are right Captain Kong.
What I said was that Radio Operators or Sparkies in the Royal Navy were ratings their official title
Telegraphist,must be some old Matelot out there who can confirm this. "

Yes, RN sparks were ratings - telegraphists.

The LACONIA docudrama from a seafarers point of view left me very much unimpressed.

Regards
Hugh

[Gulliver]

QUOTE by Bev Summerill
'They were also useing metric charts in those days it was the old fathom charts which were not coloured'


I think Bev has wrongly phrased and not punctuated his sentence.Try punctuating it to:-

'They were also using metric charts. In those days they used the old fathoms charts,which were not coloured.'

Now it makes sense.Trust me-I'm a proofreader!

Bev is saying that in the docudrama they were using the coloured metric charts.They should have used the older fathoms charts to be faithful to the time period of the incident.
The metric hydrographic charts didn't come into use until the 1970's,as Captain Kong says.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Good or bad TV, like many I learn. Thanks all.

k.

[terry ryan]

the guy who was on the radio is named frank, he will be 90 this year, i drink wth him in the eldonian on a thursday and he still gets the ladies up for a dance, fantastic guy, p s . allen bleasedale ignored frank and some other survivers from the eldonian (r m s club

[jennyusa]

Hello I'm trying to trace any friends and family of third officer thomas r buckingham. The r I think stands for robert or I think reginald
Also I wondered if any one can help me with the following
Buckingham was taken p o w on board u 507 was he taken to milag in germany
Did buckingham reconize the new radar on the conning tower
How old was buckingham and when was he born
Why was he called morimer
Why was he called bunny
I would be grateful if any one can help me with my enquies my contact address is jennyusa100@gmail.com

[Mark Boyett]

One thing the documentary also failed to state was that not all the survivors were picked up by the Vichy French ship.

One lifeboat containing 68 people, drifted for 27 days and finally came ashore and beached on the coast of Liberia, but by then only 16 were still alive.

In my opinion, I think it would be fair to say, both drama and documentary could have been raised to a higher degree.

Fact:

Two of Laconia's Officers were taken prisoner by U-156. R/O A.E. Boyett and Snr. 3rd Officer T.R. Buckingham, who both survived the war and were liberated April 28th 1945

Can you tell me where you got your information from concerning A.E. Boyett? Arthur Boyett was my uncle and after being liberated from a prisoner of war camp at the end of the war he never married. He became a teacher and was a lovely man. Sadly he committed suicide when I was a boy. I have always assumed that he took his life because he never recovered from the Laconia sinking and being a prisoner of war. Was he a serving officer or crew member or just a passenger on the Laconia when it was sunk? My father (now 94) does not talk about it, but from the little he has said I suspect that Arthur was not an officer. Arthur was rescued after the sinking by an Italian submarine because the Italians thought he was an officer. I am therefore confused about his status.