Stephen Whiteside WW2

Stephen Thomas Whiteside, Lieut-Commander. H.M.S. Crispin, Royal Naval Reserve. Lost at sea, 4th February 1941. Age 35yrs.

Lt.-Cmdr. Whiteside was the only son of a well-to-do couple, Thomas and Edith Whiteside, who lived on the outskirts of Field Broughton village. By 1941 Mrs Whiteside had died and only Mr Whiteside and his daughter lived at Stoney Dale. Lt.-Cmdr. Whiteside's own home was at Stoke Bishop, Bristol, he had been married since May 1940, his bride being Gabrielle White of Nuneham Courtenay, Oxford. Stephen joined the Royal Naval Reserve as a midshipman in 1922 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in 1939, serving with the Royal Navy from the outbreak of war.

Stonydale, 2000.

In early 1941 Lt.-Cmdr. Whiteside was second in command of the Ocean Boarding Vessel H.M.S. Crispin, this was one of sixteen merchant ships with a speed of more than 15 knots requisitioned in 1940/41, "Crispin" was actually taken over by the Navy in August 1940. Boarding Vessels were normally armed with two 6inch guns and lighter anti-aircraft armament. Their function was to intercept and examine suspected enemy merchant vessels on the high seas, a task sometimes known as contraband control. This was very difficult work and these ships incurred heavy losses (5), but after Germany had taken control of most of Europe, there was little for them to do, consequently the survivors were returned to their original owners or adapted for other uses

The type IXB U-boat U-107 set out on its maiden patrol, leaving Kiel on 24th January 1941. The boat was commanded by Admiral Doenitz's son-in-law, Lieutnant Gunter Hessler, destined for fame as a U-boat "ace". The U-107 was launched at Bremen on 2nd July 1940 and commissioned on 8th October, with a displacement of 1051 tons, she carried twenty-two 21inch torpedoes and a crew of 48.

She sighted convoy OB279, steaming in a south-westerly direction, to the south of Iceland early on February 3rd., U-107 attacked and sank ss "Empire Citizen" south of Reykjavik. In the late evening "Crispin" was torpedoed and sunk at 56^o52'N. 20^o22'W., NNW of Rockall, she had detached from convoy OB280 for her patrol area, with "Philante", "Arbitus" and "Copeland". Two more ships were sunk in Hessler's first patrol, the third was the ss "Maplecourt" on the 6th of February and the fourth, another Ocean Boarding Vessel, the "Manistee" sunk on the 24th.

"Crispin" in peace time. (From a newspaper cutting supplied by Mr B. Tait.)

HMS "Crispin" was built by Cammell-Laird at Birkenhead in 1935, the thousandth ship out of the yard. She was 405ft long and weighed 5051 tons, her peacetime task was carrying passengers and cargo for the Booth Line. She went down eight miles from the convoy under the command of Acting Commander Bernard Moloney DSO who died, along with nineteen other officers and men. HMS "Harvester"with HMS "Camellia" reported picking up 121 survivors, while eight were picked up by the rescue ship "Copeland".

Gunter Hessler went on to become the Kriegsmarine U-boat arm's Chief-of-Staff, after winning the Knight's Cross for his exploits off the West African coast.

The U-107, usually operating from Lorient, sank a total of 38 ships totalling 217,000 tons, also sharing the credit for three more. She holds the record for the most ships sunk in one patrol, sinking fourteen vessels off West Africa in mid-1941. U-107 met her end on August 18th 1944, bombed and sunk by a RAF 201 Squadron Short Sunderland flying boat, commanded by Flt.-Lt. Les Baveystock DSO, DFC, DSM, west of La Rochelle. Flt.-Lt. Baveystock was the only Sunderland pilot to sink two U-boats, although he was in command when U-107 was sunk ,he was busy rushing back from the latrine!*

Stephen Whiteside is commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent. Panel 49,3.

I must offer my thanks and acknowledge the invaluable assistance given to me by Mr. Brian Tait of Victoria, Australia, whose father, then Sub-Lt. E Tait, survived the sinking of HMS Crispin and Mrs. C. Harper of the Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence.

* The power of the World Wide Web was vividly brought home to me when I received an email from Jerel Whittingham, with the photograph reproduced above attached. His uncle, Aubrey Heath was a crew member of the Sunderland which sank U-107, he kindly photographed the log book and sent the picture to me.