Archive compensation papers reveal Cunard have no locus over Lancastria bell
Following the sinking of the Lancastria the ship's owners Cunard were fully compensated for the loss of the vessel and therefore have no rights of ownership over its final destination Mark Hirst of the Lancastria Association of Scotland has said. Following contact with the Public Records Office at Kew, Surrey and discussions with Lloyds of London the Association has been able to establish that Cunard were fully compensated for the loss of the ship under the Compensation Act 1939.
In June 2005 the bell was returned via an anonymous donor who understood the vast emotional significance of the bell to survivors and relatives. The bell still held the original name of the ship, Tyrrhenia.
Initially however the view of the HMT Association to whom the bell was handed was that ownership still rested with Cunard as owner of the vessel, but according to officials at the Public Records Office the shipping line were fully compensated for the ship's loss and if anything the bell belongs to the Government and through them British taxpayers.
Mark Hirst of the Lancastria Association of Scotland said:
"There was some doubt initially where the bell would end up. It was the view of our Association that the bell should be cleaned up, mounted and placed in St Katherine Cree Church to be rung once a year on the anniversary. We certainly did not want to see it returned to Cunard not least because we had concerns it may disappear, unseen into some vault or repository.
Lancastria's bell was returned in June 2005. The original name of the Clyde built liner "Tyrrhenia" which changed its name in 1924 to Lancastria is visible in this photograph taken by Mark Hirst >
"This bell has so much significance attached to it and it should be held in trust on behalf of the people by the remaining relatives and survivors. Whilst we can argue the rights and wrongs of why or who took the bell off the wreck in the first place I think it is clear that had they known it would go back to Cunard instead of the survivors and relatives then we would never have seen it."
It is believed the HMT Lancastria Association will, sometime in the New Year, make a decision on the final resting place of the bell.
