 |
Blue Funnel
|
Thanks for the efforts of Terry Robins in locating this picture.
Blue Funnel lost five of its ships in the first three months of 1941 however this was slightly tempered by the arrival of SS Mendoza, a captured Vichy French ship which had been intercepted in January off Montevideo by a British AMC, with calls at Ascension and Freetown she was finally handed over to Blue Funnel for management and manning. SS Mendoza was some 8,199 grt and had been built in 1920 and registered to Societe Generale Transport Maritime. After prize proceedings had been finalised those of her crew that wished to be repatriated to France were done so by way of Angola.
Another company ship, Anchises that was en route to the UK from the Far East called at Freetown and transferred both Captain P.S.Atkins and Chief Engineer G.B.Crossley for the vessels voyage to the UK., Mendoza sailed on the 1st of March in convoy SL 67 which comprised 56 ships. Initially the convoy was escorted by the battleship HMS Malaya, an AMC and three flotilla vessels, the convoy came under sustained U-Boat attack in the early hours of the 4th and subsequently lost five of the merchant ships. Fortunately the carrier HMS Ark Royal, battle cruiser HMS Renown and other escorts based at Gibraltar met the remaining ships the following morning; this was to prove fortuitous indeed because on the 8th the very presence of the British capital ships forced the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau arriving from the west to call off their proposed attack.
At parallel 50° north the Gibraltar squadron was relieved by a six inch armed cruiser, a MAC, fourteen destroyers and a corvette for the last leg of the voyage, which in any event proved uneventful, Mendoza eventually arrived at Glasgow where necessary repairs were carried out.
EMPIRE MacCABE A MERCHANT AIRCRAFT CARRIER
P.Ransome-Wallis
The above ships not only carried Swordfish and other protection aircraft but also carried the cargo for which they were originally designed..
Towards the end of October 1942 Mendoza sailed independently from Mombassa bound for Durban with Captain B.T. Batho in command, the ship had a crew of 153 and was carrying 250 passengers. Its somewhat mystifying that having requested an escort she was turned down, the excuse given that none was available, considering her slow speed of 9 knots and that she had 250 passengers onboard is quite inexcusable! If, as Captain S.W. Roskill states, that the Eastern Fleet was so weakened by Mediterranean commitments, then the ship should have been delayed until proper escorts or a convoy was found for Mendoza to sail with.
Nevertheless Captain Batho was forced to sail without escort and when within 70 miles of her destination was torpedoed aft on her port side by U-178 on the 1st of November at 1630 Hrs. The Captain ordered ‘Emergency Stations’ and both crew and passengers mustered at their respective lifeboats. The ships Chief Engineer, Mr Crossley made for his engine room and on arriving at the control platform noted that the engines had been stopped by orders on the telegraph, not by the explosion. Water was pouring into the spaces due to fractured pipe work and so after ordering the shutting off of all relevant valves the bilge pumps were started, the spaces evacuated and the Chief attempted to join the Captain on the Bridge. However Captain Batho had made aft where he discovered that both propellers and the rudder had been blown off and Mendoza was settling by the stern, it was then and only then that her Captain decided that faced with no other alternative he had to give the order to abandon ship. The Captain returned to the Bridge and after giving the said order advised his Chief Engineer to make for one of the port side boats qualifying with the statement that he would join him there. Ten of the twelve lifeboats were launched successfully with the remaining two damaged beyond repair, at this juncture a second torpedo was seen tracking towards the ship by those still onboard which included the Captain, Chief Engineer, Senior Radio Officer, three Deck Officers and a number of her European crew. The second torpedo struck the port side, possibly by way of the fuel tanks, as there was a secondary explosion, it is however possible that it was in fact a third torpedo as the submarine Commander declared later that he had fired three torpedoes at Mendoza. Mr Grew the Radio Officer at this point had met up with Captain Batho on the boat deck and Mr Grew later wrote ‘Smoke and flames shot up just aft of where we were standing and wreckage of all kinds rained down on us. We could only see a foot or two in the smoke…. the ship heeled heavily to port, and we could do nothing but hold on to a stanchion. Both Officers agreed that their number was most probably up.
Sister ship of Mendoza
With thanks to Bill Hannah for supplying this picture.
With no other options open to them the remaining men had to jump for their lives although some of them were severely burned including Staff Captain Barclay, Grew the Radio Officer and Third Officer Mr F. Crooks, Captain Barclay later succumbed to his injuries after having been rescued from the water. All those that had to jump for their lives were picked up from the water and a short while later an aircraft appeared overhead signalling that assistance was on its way. Captain Batho ordered that all the lifeboats should maintain contact but at dusk when no rescue had arrived he then ordered that the lifeboats should make sail and attempt to make landfall of their own accord. Captain Batho, although soaked to the skin steered his own boat accepting no relief, its possible that due to this action events, which occurred later, contributed in part to a most tragic outcome.
Shortly after daybreak a ship hove into view, this was the American S.S. Alava and laudably she slowed to pick up survivors, she was in fact carrying a cargo of explosives and her Captain must have been under orders to stop for nothing as the surrounding waters were infested with enemy submarines, Mr Crossley later described the action as ‘very sporting’. By now there was a considerable sea running and a noticeable swell but Captain Batho managed to get all of his boats passengers and injured crew, the latter by the use of bowlines onto the American ship. This left just the Captain and Midshipman I.K.Gray in the boat, Gray then attempted to assist his Captain onto the ladder but before he could balance himself Captain Batho slipped and was crushed between the ships and lifeboats side and fell into the water, most probably unconscious. Three American seamen climbed down a scrambling net in an attempt to secure Captain Batho but he was swept astern as the ship gathered way and his body disappeared. A tragic end to a well respected servant and Captain of Blue Funnel. Numbers differ as to casualties, the MoWT stated that only 34 were lost but this must refer to crew only; according to Captain Batho’s numbers of how many were aboard 150 passengers are totally unaccounted for.
The site was originally contacted by the Bill Hanna, Son-in Law of one of the survivors, Bill Weaver; Bill sailed his lifeboat almost 70 miles into Durban and was picked up by a whaler. Bill stayed with the lifeboat as one of its occupants had sustained a broken leg. Bill states that during the sinking of Mendoza either Midshipman Gray or Small took photographs of the vessels sinking and duly sent him copies. Unfortunately Bill had his pocket picked later during the war and he lost the photographs, if anyone knows the whereabouts of either men could they please contact us here at merchantnavyofficers.com