Crete 1941 - SS City of Canterbury

[Ken Trehearne]

Hello again Alastair.

Having now found the Revolt book on line I can say that the writer states therein that the First Officer of both City of Canterbury and City of Benares was RWJ Hetherington - the name I gave you earlier. In the book, the Captain of the Canterbury is given as Herbert Percival. My understanding is that it frequently arose that the convoy Commodore was not necessarily the same person as the Captain e.g. there would be two Captains to cover that situation - with one ranking higher than the other. I may be incorrect in this and am certain another member will put me right, and correctly so.

If what I have reported is of help it is my pleasure to assist. Thank you for the opportunity. My thanks to Doc. V also for his input which did keep me going. Tomorrow I will close the laptop lid and fix the car. May later even read THAT book.


Goodnight from Auckland.

Ken T
R412277

[DeepSea]

Convoy Commodore's and his staff were Royal Navy assigned to a specific Merchant ship, responsible for the actual speed and evasive manoeuvres for the whole of the convoy. Ship Captain (Master) was still in charge of the actual ship.

[DeepSea]

Hi Billy

I think the reason as I have said is that the Convoys were all kept Hush Hush as far as Movements and Crew etc were concerned?? There are Lists though for some Ships in Convoys but those lists are all for deceased Seaman,as I gather??
Cheers

WWII Movement Cards for ships are readily available at Kew. Link below to all the City of Canterbury records of her movements from 1939-1946 and can be purchased online.

Search results: city of canterbury | The National Archives

[DeepSea]

Hi Billy
Not in any way going away from what you say but in my Post #3 you will se that the Crew List for the Year in question are not available as you say!
I think the reason as I have said is that the Convoys were all kept Hush Hush as far as Movements and Crew etc were concerned?? There are Lists though for some Ships in Convoys but those lists are all for deceased Seaman,as I gather??
Cheers

Just to save some confusion for those who may not know. The information supplied regarding Log Books & Crew Agreements in post #3 is from The Maritime History Archive in Canada, which does not hold any WWII Log Book & Crew Agreements for British Merchant ships.

There is a sticky thread I posted 10 years ago giving a complete guide to Merchant Navy records in the Forum: Research help - Where to look. If people looking for information were pointed to this page it would save an awful lot of repeating ourselves.

Ships log books and Crew Lists 1861 to 1938

10% of Logbooks and Crew Agreements for the above period are held at the National Archives in Kew in classification BT 99 Agreements and Crew Lists, Series 11. 80% of the records are held at the Maritime History Archive, Canada. The remaining logbooks are held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. They hold the years where the last digit ends in "5", from 1861 onwards: i.e. 1865, 1875, and 1885 etc.

Ships Logbooks and Crew Agreements 1939 to 1946

These records are held at the National Archives in their classification BT 381 WW 2 Logbooks and Crew Agreements. These are held in order of the ship's official number; it is therefore advisable to find out the official number of the ship in that you are interested before researching these records. A Guide to Researching Logbooks and Crew Agreements for the Period of World War 11 is also available from this office.

[Alastair McDavid]

Many thanks to all those of you responding with excellent advice.
In case anyone else follows this post, apart from the Captain and First officer of the SS City of Canterbury on the AN30 Convoy ( Port Said 6th May – Suda Bay 9th May 1941 ) I am also looking for the name of the Master of MV Rawnsley and the Master of MV Lossiebank during the same convoy.

Will head off to The National Archives, having just found some 1941 maps of Crete and Heraklion at The British Library yesterday.

Alastair

[DeepSea]

Rawnsley ON 16578. Click link 1941 Log Book & Crew Agreements Attacked by enemy aircraft 8th May 1941. Taken in tow the following day to be beached at Crete, but sank while at anchor at Hierapetra Bay on the 12th May.

Lossiebank ON 161863 Click link 1941 Log Book & Crew Agreements

[Ronald Watkins]

Try the Maritime Museum at Greenwich. I was able to get info and photo's of ships that I had sailed in
Ron

[happy daze john in oz]

There is no doubt that when it comes to finding information such as this our Deep Sea is by far the best there is.
Good on ya mate.

[Sine threlfall]

Hello Alistair
Just discovered your post and perhaps I can help.
My father served on the City of Canterbury though I don’t know any dates. However, he may have been the Chief Engineer known as Mac as his name was Colin Brown Macdonald. He also survived the sinking of the Benares so it may have been him and not the First Officer who he mentioned in his log. I have a couple of pictures of the ship but know nothing else I’m afraid.
Good luck with your book and if you receive any more information I should love to hear if it was my father to which he referred. Sine.

[Sandy Sinclair]

Hello Alistair,
My father was a Marine who was captured on Crete at the end of May 1941. He was in the Survey Section of MNBDO 1 in the Suda Bay area.

I presume your Father in Law got to Crete the same way, Convoy WS from the UK to Egypt via Cape Town where he changed ships.
I didn't know how he got to Crete until a couple of weeks ago when AN30 was referenced, so I now have a shortlist of ships. I collect and scratch build (not that well) 1/1200 scale ships so now have a couple of projects.
After his capture my dad spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in Austria, Stalag XVIIIA. I have two or three photos from this time.
You don't say if your Father In Law managed to evade capture or not, but if I have anything that is of interest to you I'd happily let you have copies of photos.

Finally if you have published a book of the results of your research then I'd like to purchase a copy.