Sinking of the RMS Lancastria is the worst maritime disaster in British history – 75 year cover-up Swimming pool on board the RMS Lancastria in the 1930s on Mediterranean Cruise in happier days She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with at least. The loss of the Lancastria, the straffing of defenceless people and the stories of the survivors in this nightmare sinking highlights war at it worst and amply illustrates how everything can change in the blink of an eye. Today is the 70th anniversary of the loss, and although the Lancastria’s a much more recent event than the loss of other ships such as the Titanic and the Lusitania, the Lancastria really is Britain’s forgotten tragedyburied largely by the events of the fall of France and the evacuation of Dunkirk, as well as a direct order directly from.
Lancastria Ship
The loss of His Majesty’s Troopship Lancastria on 17 June 1940 still resonates 80 years on from the disaster.
RMS Tyrrhenia
RMS Tyrrhenia was built in Glasgow by William Beardmore and launched in 1922; she began work for Cunard as a passenger liner crossing the Atlantic. The name Tyrrhenia proved problematic for her passengers to pronounce and was subsequently changed to Lancastria in 1924.
The sketch above by EW Barrett shows Tyrrhenia leaving Liverpool on 26 January 1924. The sketch is part of Merseyside Maritime Museum’s collections.
During the 1930s Lancastria was mainly used for cruising until she was requisitioned by the Government in March 1940 for use as a troopship. Her hull was painted battleship grey and the famous Cunard colours were gone forever.
Operation Aerial
In June 1940, following the evacuation of Dunkirk and Le Havre, HMTLancastria was sent to France to take part in Operation Aerial. This was the code name given to the continued evacuations of civilians and British forces from Western France.
On 17 June 1940 Lancastria anchored off the coast of St Nazaire and began to board thousands of troops and civilians. The situation was chaotic. The ship was designed to carry 2,200 passengers but there were at least 5,000 people on board, possibly as high as 9,000. Although full, Lancastria was told to wait until other ships had finished boarding to leave together with escorts.
Captain Rudolf Sharp in his report to the Admiralty, now held by the National Archives, wrote
'At 1.48pm the enemy flew over and dropped bombs which hit the Oronsay. After that we expected an air attack at any time.'
At 3.45pm a Junkers 88 German bomber flew overhead and dropped four bombs onto the Lancastria causing massive destruction and devastation. She sank in just over 20 minutes with an estimated loss of 4,000 lives.
A survivor’s account
Private Tom Woods, writing to his girlfriend (later wife) in October 1940 described the devastation that followed:
'I dived into the water, it was very difficult to swim owing to the amount of oil on the water.'
In this letter he describes seeing a small tug in the distance:
'I made straight for it, after swimming for about three-quarters of an hour in which time I was asked for help a good many times, I was feeling tired I thought I could not swim any farther my limbs were going stiff, I thought of home, I struggled and struggled until I managed to turn on my back, then I could hear in the distance voices, (I am hit, I am hit) I knew then we had been machine gunned'
News suppressed
The sinking of the Lancastria caused the single largest loss of life in British maritime history. Coinciding with the fall of France and the possibility of invasion, Winston Churchill issued a ‘D’-Notice, preventing publication of the disaster.
He feared knowledge of the incident would irreparably damage British moral but news eventually reached the British press on 26 July 1940.The initial suppression of information led survivors and their families to feeling forgotten.
They are not forgotten – we remember them.
The sinking of the Lancastria during WWII remains Britain's worst maritime disaster.
On 17 June 1940, over 4,000 people died after German bombers hit the ship they were being evacuated on.
It sank within 25 minutes just a few miles out to sea near the French port of Saint-Nazaire.
The death toll was more than the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania combined.
A media blackout imposed by Winston Churchill has meant it's been largely ignored in our history books and there were no known paintings of the disaster from that time... until now.
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A piece by Admiralty war artist Charles Pears has been discovered at an auction house in Sydney.
It was Jamie Rountree, director of the Rountree Tryon gallery in London, who realised what the painting was depicting.
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He told Sky News: 'We undertake searches globally for art works and in Australia up popped a message that a Charles Pears war scene was there.
Rms Lancastria The Forgotten Tragedy
'When we looked at the images we were very excited by them, we were even more excited when it arrived in our gallery.
'It's a one of a kind, there is no other painting that's in existence as far as we know by a contemporary artist at the time who almost certainly got some eyewitness accounts from all the various survivors.'
But how did it end up Australia? One theory is that it was privately commissioned for the captain of the P&O liner Oronsay, a nearby ship that helped rescue over 2,000 survivors.
'Of course, he wouldn't have been able to say what the event was, potentially even to his family,' Mr Rountree said.
The captain had sailed his ship back to Britain without any charts after his navigational room was bombed-out by the Germans.
The artist, Charles Pears, was living in Falmouth at the time and would have been able to work out his composition of the Lancastria sinking by speaking to those who returned in rescue ships.
Rms Lancastria Interior
Quinton Colville, curator of naval history at the National Maritime Museum, believes it's a significant find.
Rms Lancastria Wreck
'It's wonderful to have representation of tragedy as well as triumph - any story demands both because warfare is appalling,' he said.
'This is all happening after the evacuation of Dunkirk. The Germans have pushed the British forces back to the Channel ports and people are being evacuated back to home soil.
'The Lancastria is there to take more people back to shore; that's army, RAF personnel and civilian British nationals as well. So the ship is there to transport them back to safety and that of course is the terrible irony.'
The painting goes on display at Rountree Tryon gallery today as part of London Art Week. It'll be on show to the public until 7 July.