By the 30th. January 1941 sufficient ships had assembled at Freetown, Sierra Leone, to make up another convoy in the SL series [Sierra Leone for Liverpool] – this was to be SL64. Nineteen of the merchant ships were in such a poor state that they could not even maintain the convoy speed of 9 knots. The Navy was not able to escort two convoys because they could not spare sufficient ships. The ships sailed as one convoy but, once at sea, the slower ships were left behind whilst the single ocean escort sailed with the 28 ships of SL64. The masters of the slower ships were told to remain together under the charge of the Commodore - the Master of one of their number - the Warlaby. They were to rendezvous with convoy HG63 out in the Atlantic. HG63 itself only had two escorts; they were unable to protect their own convoy from attack let alone the nineteen ships of SL64s. As they sailed from Freetown, the masters of the ships must have felt rather bitter as they passed the naval ships assembled in the port. The Admiralty had presumably had more important tasks for these ships rather than escorting the merchantmen. With the homeland besieged, one wonders at the wisdom of the decision. The merchant ships carried 150,000 tons of desperately needed supplies between them. The lightly escorted convoy HG63 from Gibraltar was the first to be attacked. The U-boat U37 and five Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft sank six of the ships and damaged a seventh, which sank later in heavy weather. The German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper then sank the Iceland. Two days later, probably with help from the Condors, the Hipper found SL64s. At first, the crews in the convoy thought that a change of heart had caused the Navy to come to their aid. Then Hipper hoisted her battle ensign. In all the German cruiser sank seven ships and badly damaged two more. John Slader in his book ‘The Fourth Service’ says “Clunepark was damaged, abandoned and re-boarded, with her rescuer Blairathol [also damaged] she made Madeira for repair. A few days later Lornaston and Ainderby, the former carrying many survivors, arrived at Funchal for repair”. The remaining ships appear to have dispersed. The Gairsoppa, whose cargo included 3 million ounces of silver, was sunk in mid February with the loss of 84 lives [actually from SL64]. The Nailsea Lass was sunk on the 24th February, five of her crew did not survive and her master was taken prisoner. Almost 250 seaman from convoy SL64s lost their lives – sufficient to crew five ships. Their loss has never been acknowledged. The Admiralty regarded these ships as independents and does not count them in convoy loss statistics. SUMMARY 11th February 1941, Margot Noon 35° 20’N, 21° 50’W [Commodore astern]. 0600 Commodore back with convoy in ~ 37° 25’N, 21° 30’W. Stragglers – Empire Energy, Nailsea Lass, Bur, Varangberg and Kaliopi. 0605/12th Margot sights strange Man o War. 0625 Hipper opens fire on Shrewsbury @3000 yards; Commodore makes signal T4 – all ships altered course [Margot & Blairathol altered early]. Hipper then attacked in order - Warlaby, Derryname, Westbury, Perseus, Borgestad, Lornaston and Oswestry Grange. Derryname, Borgestad and Lornaston had opened fire on the enemy and received ‘very heavy punishment’ Two sank with all hands and Lornaston was badly damaged. Borgestad appeared to hit the control tower of the Hipper. 0745 Hipper attacked Margot. Blairathol rescued 86 from four ships, Polyktor rescued 21 from Perseus. 42 Bur [No] arr. Ponta Delgada 52 Anna Mazaraki [Gr] arr. Funchal ex SLS63 joined HG54 22 Blairathol arr. Funchal [Master awarded G M] joined HG54 12 Clunepark arr. Funchal joined HG54 Damaged by Hipper 41 Westbury, SUNK Hipper s ?? Derryname, SUNK Hipper s 63 Kalliopi [Gr] arr Gibraltar 62 Perseus [Gr] SUNK by Hipper s ex SLS63 43 Polyktor [Gr] arr Funchal 53 Oswestry Grange SUNK Hipper s ex SL63 21 Shrewsbury SUNK Hipper s ex SLS63 23 Varangberg [No] ex SLS63 31 Warlaby [Cdre] SUNK Hipper ex SL63 Captain Murray, Commodore killed on bridge 51 Borgestad [RC?] SUNK Hipper s 32 Nailsea Lass SUNK later by U-boat ex SLS63 bottom badly fouled 61 Empire Energy arr Barry Roads 27/2 ex SLS63 11 Margot[VC] arr Funchal [Master GM] joined HG54 33 Lornaston arr Azores? arr Funchal * joined SL65 damaged by HIPPER 13 Volturno arr Funchal joined HG54 Other ships involved which were not listed as being in SLs64 [see ADM199/2186]: - Gairsoppa due to sail in SL64 SUNK by U-boat short of fuel Ainderbury arr Funchal damaged by HIPPER Seaforth sailed in SL64? SUNK by U-boat Dartford [straggler] ?? Terkoeli [Du]+ British
Petrol sent distress message 12/2 1146 "convoy being shelled several ships
sunk or sinking" [this must have been with SLS64] ADM 199/2341 [SA] Awards Some of the Her Majesty ships based in Freetown
The Navy could hardly plead that they were short of ships to escort the two convoys – especially as they had four corvettes [which were built for this duty] and sundry trawlers and a Sloop. As they knew that Hipper was at sea, you would have thought that they would have rushed a brace of cruisers up there as well. Nineteen ships sailed in this unescorted convoy, seven were sunk by Hipper, a further seven sought refuge mostly at Funchal to repair damage or land survivors. Two more were torpedoed later. When you think that “the safe and timely arrival of the convoy” was the Navy’s primary responsibility, this was a cock up of monumental proportions. |
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War-time Stories >
Convoy SL64 and SL64s
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SL64 and SL 64s Losses up to February 1941
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