Merchant Seamen P.O.Ws.
by Published on 12th January 2021 02:57 AM
My uncle, Percy Appleby, was Chief Steward of the "Huntsman" when it was sunk by the 'Graf Spee' very early iin the war. and he was taken aboard as a P.O.W. He was later transferred to the "Altmark", which was a supply ship for the ‘Graf Spee’. The raider was scuttled in the River Plate by its Commander, after a fierce gun battle with the R.N. but the ‘Altmark’ escaped detection until it had nearly reached safety in Germany. In Feb.1940 it was intercepted off the coast of Norway by the destroyer “Cossack", and ran for cover in a fjord. The Navy followed her in and boarded her with drawn cutlasses and fixed bayonets. After a short fight, all 300 Merchant Navy seamen, who had been locked in the holds, were released. I was told (first hand) that after the fighting was over the Navy were kept busy picking up crew members of the Altmark who were apparently trying to escape by swimming to shore. There seemed to be dozens of them until it was discovered that as fast as they were put back aboard the Altmark, the Merchant Navy seamen would hustle them through the accommodation and pitch them over the other side!