The Empire Lake was built by William Grey & Company Ltd., at West Hartlepool and registered there in February 1941. The ship’s gross tonnage was 2852 tons, length 310 feet, beam 44 feet. She was commissioned for the Ministry of War Transport, the managers being The Stanhope Steamship Company Ltd., at - 81, Promenade, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The ship sailed from Liverpool in convoy on the 18th March 1943, bound for South Africa, she eventually docked in Freetown and from there on to Durban. The Empire Lake sailed from Durban on the 8th July 1943, with a cargo of coal, bound for Aden. For the first two days the ship sailed under convoy escort before being released to make her own way. The Empire Lake was a defensively armed merchant ship, with 1 4-inch gun, 1 12-pounder, 2 Oerlikons, 2 Twin Marlins and 4 P.A.C. Rockets. The crew of thirty-nine consisted of: 31 Merchant Seaman and eight Military Gunners. Before leaving Durban, the crew were warned that there were U-Boats operating in the area. Four of the crew stood down and one deserted, they were replaced with four more men. On the 15th July, the ship was hit by two torpedoes amidships and sank very quickly. Only seven of the crew survived. U-Boat181, was a type: IDX2.Builder: AG Weser
(Bremen).
Laid Down: 15.03.41 The first Commander was Korvettenkapit Wolfgang Lüth; he sailed out of Kiel Harbor on the morning of 12 September 1942. Lüth was twenty-eight years old and holder of the Knight’s Cross. U-181 sailed south for operations in the South Atlantic. Having sunk twelve allied merchant ships, U-181 sailed into Bordeaux on the 18.01.43. On the 23.03.43, U-181 sailed south with Wolfgang Lüth again in command for further operations in the South Atlantic. Whilst at sea, U-181 received orders to sail further south around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean; this was to be the longest voyage ever undertaken by a submarine, lasting until 14.10.43 Operations in the Indian Ocean were relatively easy compared to the Atlantic and provided Lüth with the opportunity to raise the gross tonnage of ships U-181 had sunk. On the 15 July 1943, a lookout sighted the Empire Lake on the German Kriegsmarine Map Quadrant position, KF91; Lüth sank the ship at 16.01 hours with two torpedoes on the port side. The following is recorded in Lüth’s log, "Five men have been left floating on a piece of wreckage," then, cold bloodedly, "Due to the high sea and 180 mile distance from land they will probably not be saved." There were in fact seven survivors, two were on another raft. The Empire Lake was sunk in the Indian Ocean in a position 21-27 South by 51-47 East. This position is between the Islands of Madagascar and Reunion. Conclusion I have been unable to trace any of the survivors. Able-Seaman George Ragless died eleven years ago-1987. I have traced his son Ian Ragless also Christopher Brock, son of the 1st Mate, Hiram Brock (sadly, after tracing Christopher Brock, he died in July 2001). Something special has occurred since I traced Ian Ragless. He thought it was due to my research into the Empire Lake, but it is pure coincidence. He was telephoned by a Captain Page of the Royal Navy who informed him that a French woman in Madagascar had in her possession, his father’s personal log and I am most interested to see if the log throws any light on events. I am not unhappy to conclude my story of the Empire Lake by writing about the final events of Wolfgang Lüth. On the 1 September 1944, at the age of thirty, he was promoted to Kapitän zur See. He had been promoted to full Kapitän in order for Dönitz to personally appoint him Commandant of the Marinekriegsschule at Flensburg. He took up his position on 17 September. Lüth’s orders to the guards at the Marinekriegsschule were to challenge anyone approaching only once and ask for the password, if they received no response they were to shoot. At 00.30, 14 May 1945, Wolfgang Lüth was returning to his quarters, he had to pass the sentries guarding the compound, it was a dark night, windy and raining. An eighteen-year old sentry heard footsteps approaching, he challenged, no response, he challenged again, no response, he fired his rifle in the direction of the approaching figure and saw the body fall. One of the other sentries came running over, they bent over the body and saw that it was Luth, he had been shot through the forehead and was dead. The Officers and Engineers of the Empire Lake were:- Richard John Sproul - Master - 19,
Elmsleigh Gardens, Cleadon, Sunderland The Crew were:- David Lawson - 13, Ravensbourne Terrace, South Shields William James Dunne - 169, Rawson Road, Liverpool 21
There were usually eight gunners assigned to a defensively armed merchant ship, four have been identified as Royal Navy seamen gunners and possibly three were Army gunners. Only G. Sutton has been identified as an Army gunner. Gunners identified so far are:- Able-Seaman G. Wormald The survivors were:- Officer Donald Alexander Logan (age 23)
Donald Alexander Logan was awarded the M.B.E., in 1944 for his services in helping the survivors of the Empire Lake. When the age of the men is taken into consideration, it was a remarkable story of courage and determination. The following is a report given by Able-Seaman George Ragless, on the 25th November 1943. The report is held at the Public Records Office. Able-Seaman Ragless:- We were bound for Aden with a cargo of coal, and were armed with 1x4 inch, 1x12pdr.,2 Oerlikons, 2 Twin Marlins and 4 P.A.C. Rockets. The crew numbered thirty-nine, including four Navy and four Army Gunners. Of this number, thirty two are missing, the seven survivors being 2nd Officer Logan, Naval Gunner Denman, an Army Gunner, Donkeyman, Greaser, Galley-Boy and myself. The confidential Books went down with the ship. Degaussing was off. We left Durban on 8th July 1943, in convoy dispersing after two days and proceeding independently. I believe warning was given, before we left Durban, of submarines operating in the area, but we subsequently received no diversion to course and proceeded as routed without incident, until 15th July. At 16.01 on 15th July 1943, when in position 260 miles from Madagascar, steering a northerly course at a speed of 10 knots, we were struck by two torpedoes from a U-Boat. There was a very rough sea at the time, with southerly wind, force 7. The weather was overcast, but visibility good. The two torpedoes struck the ship practically simultaneously on the port side in No. 1 hold, with a dull explosion. No flash was seen, but a column of water was thrown into the air, together with a huge quantity of coal and several hatch covers. I had just turned in, but on hearing the explosion and feeling the ship begin to lift almost immediately, I rushed up on deck, not stopping to find my lifejacket. When I arrived on deck, I saw a few members of the crew making frantic efforts to release the lifeboats, but without success, as the ship reared up on end and went straight down by the head, within thirty seconds of the explosion, taking all lifeboats with her. I was taken down by the suction, but after some difficulty managed to swim clear. The sea was extremely rough, and although at first I saw lights in the water, and heard whistles, I believe many men subsequently died. Six rafts had fortunately floated clear of the ship as she sank, but two of them were old, and were kept on the hatches as spares, having been condemned before we sailed. Whilst in the water, I saw the automatic light of a raft some distance away and started to swim towards it. Meanwhile the submarine surfaced, passed some two hundred yards clear of me, and closed a raft which held a few other survivors. The submarine looked very large, with a big conning tower, and was painted a light silvery grey. I believe it was either a German or an Italian. A man stood by a machine gun on the conning tower, and the Commander could be seen standing by a larger gun on the fore deck. He looked of rather small stature, and had a dark beard. I heard later that the Commander questioned the 2nd Officer on the raft, asking him the name of the ship, where she was from, and where bound. The submarine then circled the area then went away, without offering any assistance to the men on the raft. After swimming for about three-quarters of an hour from the time I left the ship, by which time it was quite dark, I managed to climb on to the nearest raft, which I found to be one of the condemned rafts. It was partially wrecked, and contained no food stores. I sat on it all night, until daybreak when I saw another raft some two or three miles away. I waved a piece of wood to attract attention, and the survivors on board paddled towards me. When they were within fifty yards of me, I dived overboard, and swam over to this raft, on which was the 2nd Officer, a greaser, a naval gunner, and a galley boy. This raft was not one of the latest models, being of the old square type, but it was much better than the one I had left. We could see no other survivors, and did not find out until we reached land that one army gunner and a donkeyman had also managed to get onto a raft. We had a fairly good supply of food; six tins of biscuits containing 5 lbs. each, 5 lbs. Of Horlicks tablets, 5 lbs. Of chocolate and about 13 tins of pemmican, but only eight gallons of water. We had no compass, but decided to make for Madagascar, steering a Westerly course by the stars and the sun. We erected a mast from a piece of wreckage and cut up a canvas sleeping bag to make a sail, using a rope at each corner to steer. To make ourselves more comfortable, we made flooring from wreckage of an old raft, and canvas; we were left with only three sleeping bags, but found we could share them quite comfortably, and managed to get some sleep at nights, taking turns to keep watch. For the first three days the weather was bad, with a wind from the eastward, and progress was slow. During the short rainy periods, we caught a little rain in a sleeping bag, but there was never enough to fill the water tank. The 2nd Officer and greaser worked out our food stores, and we were rationed to one biscuit per meal, with one piece of chocolate at breakfast time, pemmican at midday, and chocolate again for the evening meal. Just before nightfall, we each ate six Horlicks tablets.our water ration was 2 ozs., twice a day. I tried to catch fish, using a line from the sea anchor, but the fish would not look at my baits of silver paper and bent nails. On the 28th July, after about thirteen days adrift, we sighted land, but our progress was so slow that we did reach land until five days later, on about the 2nd or 3rd of August. By this time we were all losing weight, the galley boy was becoming weak, and suffering with his feet. We did not suffer from thirst until the last few days, when we sighted land and started to tow with the paddles. We eventually got into the breakers and were washed up on shore, landing just north of Farafangana, on the East coast of Madagascar. Throughout this time we had seen nothing, and rather wondered what had happened to the air patrol. We learned later that one Air Force patrol plane had picked up 17 American survivors, but could not take off with such a heavy load, so taxied some 40 miles to Madagascar, resulting in the plane being wrecked. There was no sign of habitation where we landed, so the 2nd Officer, naval gunner and myself decided to walk inland, leaving the greaser and the galley boy on a grassy patch near the beach, as they were not feeling fit enough to walk. After walking a little way we came across a small village where a native woman was cooking a dish of vegetables. She offered us food, but before eating we went back for the greaser and the galley boy, and assisted them to the village. The food tasted very good, and we made ourselves a hot drink by boiling up water with the remainder of our Horlicks tablets and chocolate. A French missionary next arrived, and sent us by bush railway to Farafangana, where the 2nd Officer cabled our agents in Durban, also the British Consul in Teneriffe, who sent us some money. From Farafangana we travelled to Teneriffe, via Army lorry and train. We had to wait a month in Madagascar for a ship, with some other 100 other survivors from torpedoed vessels, but eventually embarked in an American ship to Durban. From Durban we went by train to Capetown then sailed for England in convoy, landing on the 5th November, 1943. I heard, whilst in Madagascar, that the army gunner and donkeyman, on another raft, landed at Madagascar at approximately the same time that we had struck the shore, but about 30 miles further south. Despite the eighteen days on the raft, all felt quite fit, and only the galley boy suffered with swollen feet. |
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