Crete 1941 - SS City of Canterbury

[Alastair McDavid]

Hello - A request for help.

We have discovered a manuscript in the attic, written in 1941-45 by my father in law.

A Royal Marine, he travelled to Crete on the SS City of Canterbury (Ellerman Lines) leaving Port Said on 6th May 1941, arrived in Suda Bay, 9th May - Convoy AN 30

With no luck on my internet or archive searches, I am hoping some experts in this forum may be able to assist me or point me in the right direction.

I am trying to find the names of three officers on the ship who are mentioned in the manuscript. The Captain, the First Officer & the Chief Engineer.

I wondered if a Crew List existed for each voyage, if so where to look. These are the only words in the manuscript that might help.

‘The City of Canterbury acted as flag-ship, her captain being commodore of the convoy’

‘The ship’s first officer, was an interesting character and had been one of the few survivors of the ill-fated City of Benares’

‘The chief engineer, a Scotsman, known to everyone as “Mac” ’

We hope to self-publish the book and it would be fantastic if we can put names to all those mentioned. Luckily out of the 100+ people mentioned in the book, we do have names and so far our research at The National Archives, Imperial War Museum and other Archives have found what happened to most of them.

Thank you for reading this. Hope someone can help.

Alastair McDavid

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Alastair
In trying to assist the following is I suppose just what you know already ,however may not be.
We will need your FIL Name DOB and Place of Birth ,this will at least give us something to work on.
There are I hope ways of finding what you want but having said that in Convoys unless the person was killed in line of duty other information is very hard as all Convoys were kept as secret as possible.
So from here will await a reply please
Thank You


Apr 27, 1941IndependentPort Said, Apr 28, 1941Port Said, May 6, 1941AN.30 (Port Said - Suda Bay)Suda Bay, May 9, 1941Suda Bay, May 10, 1941EscortedAlexandria, May 12, 1941Alexandria, May 15, 1941IndependentPort Said, May 17, 1941Port Said, May 22, 1941IndependentSuez, May 23, 1941

[Doc Vernon]

Unfortunately so far looks as if there is no records of that particular time ,as said the Convoys were kept Secret.
The following shows what dates Crew Lists for that ship are available,but if you read at the bottom,there are other sites that you could possibly look at as wel??
Hope this helps in some way??
Cheers


City of Canterbury 1923

Crew.jpg

[Ken Trehearne]

Hello Alistair.
You may find the book "Durban 1942 - A British Troopship Revolt" by Gerry R Rubin, of interest. There are several references to this book on www. The revolt, being in 1942, was after your time of interest though may make good reading and one never knows if content may lead back to an earlier date.

There is also a brief reference to the ship in COFEPOW | Children & Families of Far East Prisoners of War within a story about the Empress of Asia.

I suspect the First Officer of City of Canterbury, at your point of interest, was Randall Hetherington MBE - he may have been Commodore though I doubt this. Capt. Hetherington was Master of City of Canterbury where I was a QM from Sept 1951 to May 1952.

I note from a www site that Elizabeth (surname withheld by me), grand-daughter of Hetherington, replied to a question (in 2016) on whether or not he was on City of Benares stating that she did not know of any connection though would look through his records. Nothing further is recorded.
Ken T
R412277

[Ken Trehearne]

Hi again Alistair.

Referring to my #4 as follows:

"You may find the book "Durban 1942 - A British Troopship Revolt" by Gerry R Rubin, of interest. There are several references to this book on www. The revolt, being in 1942, was after your time of interest though may make good reading and one never knows if content may lead back to an earlier date".

I find that on 4 Sept 2011 a post on this site by Doc. V referred to BBC details of the book. Doc's given BBC link no longer works though a summary of the story is today available from BBC on www in two parts. Google - BBC Peoples War Mutiny in Durban (Part 1) and separately(Part 2). I have today read both parts and confirm there is no reference to dates earlier than the January 1942 event.
Ken T
R412277

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Ken
Yes I had seen that again on the Net and was about to repost it but you had already done so. Interesting read. Also you had a post of your own on sire regarding the issue of the Captain as well.
Cheers

[DeepSea]

The war time Log Book & Crew Agreements for the City of Canterbury are held at Kew under the ships Official No. 146325. There are no listings between 1941, 42 & 43, which could mean the ship did not return to the UK at anytime between these years, or the files no longer exist. You may find the men you are looking for in the 1940 list. Link to Log Book & Crew Agreements.

Search results: 146325 | The National Archives

[Doc Vernon]

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

[Alastair McDavid]

Hello Alistair.
You may find the book "Durban 1942 - A British Troopship Revolt" by Gerry R Rubin, of interest.



Ken T
R412277

Hello to all who responded - hope to goodness this is how I reply.

I’ve tracked down Elizabeth’s post in the other forum and wait to see if she is still responding to questions, which I have posted there.

We had read a number of accounts about “Durban 1942 - A British Troopship Revolt”.

In our book, it also mentions the cockroaches, no doubt multiplied many times in the 7 months from Crete to Durban !

“ ….. but the only thing we could genuinely complain about was the plague of cockroaches. The ship had served in the tropics all her career, unlike the Bergensfjord which crossed the equator for the first time with us, and the cockroaches had held sway undisturbed in the woodwork of the cabins for many years. Every time you opened a cupboard door they scurried away by the dozen. Even when you turned on the electric fan or a basin tap for a second, it stirred them into activity. What happened when we turned over in our bunks in the middle of the night we shuddered to imagine.” .....

I will certainly now look at the 1940 crew lists at the National Archives, thank you for that pointer, I would never have searched 146325 !

I think our hope really lies in people like Elizabeth who had a relative who served on the City of Canterbury in 1941.

We know this was not the first trip to Crete that the Captain had made, we assume in command of the City of Canterbury, and we also know that Mac, the Chief Engineer was aboard when the ship …. had apparently broken down in the Red Sea a month ago when coming up in a convoy from Aden and, after drifting aimlessly all night in the direction of Eritrea, had been repaired in the nick of time ….

Appreciate your replies and who know, in time …

Alastair

[Doc Vernon]

Just a helping hand on billy's Link ,this is the direct Link to the 1940 Listing
Cheers

146317; 146318; 146325; 146326; 146334 | The National Archives