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It Was the worst maritime disaster of World War 2. As many as 5,000 soldiers, sailors and refugees died in less than an hour. The sinking of the liner Lancastria off the French coast in the summer of 1940 was even covered up by the British Government. Now, a new book has shed light on the rescue ship disaster. The Sinking Of The Lancastria by Jonathan Fenby will definitely be required reading for one Aberdeen man. Ernest Archibald's father was on board the doomed ship when it came under attack from Luftwaffe dive bombers. The White Star liner had been drafted in as a troopship. In the summer of 1940, thousands of Allied soldiers were saved during the famous military evacuation from Dunkirk. Two weeks later, on June 17, Lancastria was waiting five miles off the French coast at St Nazaire. The ship had as many as 9,000 people crammed above and below decks. Soon afterwards, the Lancastria and her escorts came under heavy attack. A Luftwaffe pilot put a bomb straight down the liner's funnel and she sank within 30 minutes. Ernest's father, also named Ernest, had been ferried to the Lancastria, hoping to escape the relentless German approach. The former Royal Engineer died in Aberdeen seven years ago but told his son much of the experience. Ernest jnr, 60, who recently retired from Aberdeen's Maritime Museum, said: "It must have been absolutely horrendous - the sheer panic and the flames. "My father just jumped overboard. The ship was sinking so fast, you had to get as far away as possible or be sucked under the waves. "My father had been on deck, but a lot of his friends were trapped below." As lifeboat crews worked tirelessly to rescue men from the sea, some fired emergency flares. Many of these hit the oil-soaked ocean, causing huge swathes of the sea to burst into flame. Ernest jnr, said: "It must have been a truly horrific sight. "It was sheer panic - the sea was a mass of flames, awash with burning oil." As the terrible scale of the tragedy became clear, Winston Churchill banned any mention of it in British newspapers. More than 2,000 men from the Lancastria arrived back in Portsmouth, returning to their families with chilling tales. Ernest said: "My father was listed as missing in action which must have been awful for my mother. "People always talk about the Titanic, but the sinking of the Lancastria really was the worst sea disaster of modern times."
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