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PRESS PACK – LANCASTRIA ASSOCIATION OF SCOTLAND
Media Contact: 0774 8937201 (24 hours) - Dedicated Lancastria Association of Scotland number: 01738 800150 - (Voicemail)
Introduction:
The Lancastria Association of Scotland is the leading campaigning organisation which aims to raise awareness of the sacrifice made on the 17th of June 1940 when an estimated 4000 people lost their lives when the Clyde built troopship Lancastria was sunk of the French coastal town of St. Nazaire by German bombers. The former Cunard liner sank in just 20 minutes. It is the worst disaster in British maritime history and the worst single loss of life for British forces in the whole of World War 2. The number of victims claimed in the Lancastria disaster was greater than the combined death toll of the Titanic and Lusitania sinkings combined.
The Lancastria Association of Scotland was formed in August 2005 with an aim to raise awareness of the sacrifice, campaign to have the maximum protection possible given to the site of the Lancastria and designation as an official maritime war grave under UK law. The Association also aims to establish a permanent memorial to the victims of the Lancastria and is currently in discussion with the Scottish Government to that end. One of the main points of focus however is to hold an annual memorial service and in June 2006 it held the largest remembrance service in the UK at St. George’s Church West, Edinburgh. Members are drawn from across Scotland, the UK, France, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and is made up of survivors, relatives of survivors and victims and those who wish to remember the sacrifice made. The Lancastria Association of Scotland has no formal links to the HMT Lancastria Association based in London, which is primarily concerned with organising pilgrimages to France, although most members have dual membership. The Lancastria Association of Scotland maintain the largest online archive of Lancastria material available on the Web; www.lancastria.org.uk
Historical summary:
- Estimates on the number of victims range from 2500 to 6000. The most common figure quoted is 4000, twice the number lost on Titanic and the Lusitania combined. The exact death toll will never be known. It has been established however that the loss of Lancastria is the worst disaster in British maritime history and the worst single loss of life for British forces in the whole of World War 2.
- Lancastria was built on the Clyde in 1922 and was an elegant and for her time, state-of-the-art cruise ship.
- Originally named Tyrrhenia she was renamed Lancastria in 1924 as American passengers had difficulty pronouncing her maiden name. Seamen felt this was a bad omen, given the maritime superstition that it was bad luck to change the name of a ship.
- Her main cruise route before the war were transatlantic, the occasional Mediterranean trip and tours of the Baltic, which included sailings to Leith, Edinburgh.
In March 1940 she was requisitioned as a troopship, painted battleship grey and one of her first operations was to deploy British troops to Norway.
- In early June she was sent back to Norway as the Germans overran the country. After disembarking the British troops in Orkney and Greenock she was sent to Liverpool, her home port, to get a well needed overhaul, however within a few hours her crew were recalled and the ship sailed for St. Nazaire to help in the evacuation of the remaining 150,000 British troops still left in France. Popular history infers that the British Expeditionary Force were all evacuated through Dunkirk, but hundreds of thousands of men and their equipment were still in France a full 2 weeks after the Germans over ran the country and the last small boat had left the beach at Dunkirk.
- The Lancastria anchored approximately 6 miles from the French coastal town of St. Nazaire, in the Loire Estuary at approximately 6.00am on Monday 17th June 1940.
- Soon after to Royal Naval officers boarded and gave the following order to Captain Sharp: “You are to load as many men as possible without regard to the limits set down under international law”. That was to prove a fatal order for the thousands who subsequently boarded Lancastria.
- The units included a large contingent of RAF ground crew, many from the Bouguenais airport at Nantes but were generally support troops made up of Royal Engineers and Army support and logistical corps. There were smaller detachments of troops from frontline infantry units like the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Fife and Forth Yeomanry and Kings Own Scottish Borders. An unknown number of Belgian and French Refugees were also aboard.
- At 3:48pm the Lancastria was attacked by German Junkers 88 bombers which specialised in anti-shipping operations. 3 bombs directly hit the liner, and many witnesses claim one went down the funnel although it has since been established from statements from crewmen in the engine room immediately below the funnel that this was not the case.
- Lancastria sank in approximately 20 minutes. Witnesses recall men clinging to the turning hull began to sing which the German bombers continued the attack by strafing men in the water and on the slowly upturning vessel.
- 2477 men were recorded as being rescued.
- Several witnesses who spoke with the Chief Purser claim there were 9000 embarked when Lancastria was attacked.
- On learning of the disaster late on the 17th of June Winston Churchill banned all news coverage of it for fear it would damage public morale further, following the capitulation of France which also occurred that day. Churchill later claimed he simply forgot to lift the ban. An American newspaper was the first to publish details of the loss of Lancastria late in July 1940.
Technical media support:
There are numerous high definition/resolution images of Lancastria available ranging from tourist pictures of the vessel taken during peace time on one of her many cruises and most notably of the attack on the vessel on the 17th of June 1940 which documents Lancastria’s final moments.
Interviews with survivors and relatives of victims and survivors are available on request.
Television footage from the award winning French documentary “Lancastria, Histoire D’un naufrage confidential” by Christophe Francois recorded on Betacam SP are available on request through Mark Hirst, courtesy of Atlantic TV/France 3. Clips from this film are for use with associated news coverage only and include interviews with survivors, memorial services in France and archive footage of Lancastria taken during the 1930s. The film won international maritime film of the year in 2004 in Toulon and has since been shown in 85 countries worldwide apart from the UK.
Achievements of the Association to date:
- In November 2005, 3 months after its establishment the Association held an exhibition at Scottish Parliament aimed at highlighting the tragedy to MSPs and journalists. MSPs from all of Scotland’s 6 political parties signed a specially made book of condolence in memory of the victims. 2 parliamentary motions in the name of Christine Grahame MSP aimed at highlighting the sacrifice also received cross party support.
- In December 2005 the Commissioner for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Alan Meale MP gave his backing to our calls to have Lancastria designated an official war grave. The Association also called on all members and supporters to lobby their MPs, MSPs and MEPs to urge the Government to bring about designation.
- In January 2006 the maritime museum in at Braehead Glasgow, “Clyde built”, opened a special exhibition of Lancastria photographs and pre-war artefacts.
- In May 2006 the French Government placed a 200-meter exclusion zone around the wreck of the Lancastria to prohibit diving activity on the wreck. (On June 16th the British Government claimed credit for this development even though papers obtained under Freedom of Information revealed their growing annoyance with the issue. The papers also revealed that despite public claims that they could not designate Lancastria under the Protection of Military Remains Act internally officials were conceding that this could happen.)
- On June 17th 2006 the Association organised and held the largest memorial service in the UK to the victims of the Lancastria at St. George’s Church West, Edinburgh. The service was attended by the Deputy French Consul General, the Scottish Government Minister the Lord Advocate Colin Boyd and Christine Grahame MSP who gave the eulogy. Lt. Commander Chris Walsh from the Royal Navy Base at Faslane gave the “Ode to the fallen” and Captain Yves Beaujuge of St. Nazaire port authority made a contribution on behalf of the Mayor’s office and the people of St. Nazaire.
- February 2007 - The Scottish Government gave consent, subject to the design specification, for a significant memorial to the victims of the Lancastria to be erected in the grounds of the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, the site where Lancastria was built in 1920.
- On March 3rd, 2007 the Association presented a petition of almost 4000 signatures to Number 10 Downing Street calling on the Prime Minister to bring about designation of the Lancastria as an official maritime war grave. Mr Tony Blair refused to respond directly and instead passed it to a junior official to respond.
- In November 2007 the Association petitioned the Scottish Parliament calling on MSPs to commission a commemorative Lancastria medal. The Scottish Government finally agreed to proceed with this. The Scotsman newspaper, the day after the petition was heard, launched its own campaign in support of the Association leading with this on their front page 7th November 2007.
Outstanding objectives of the Association:
- Whilst the Association welcomes the additional protection that the French government has given to the wreck site and the support they have offered for many years, the Association remains of the view that the British Government should still designate the wreck an official war grave and the members of the Association continue to campaign for this.
- The Association is committed to establishing and erecting a lasting memorial to the victims of the Lancastria. The site of the Golden Jubilee Hospital at Clyde bank is the preferred option for two reasons. This is the site where Lancastria was built and secondly the grounds are owned by the Scottish Government and include extensive gardens and a memorial would not be out of place if situated in what is presently a tranquil and peaceful part of the country.
- The Association aims to hold an annual service each year in Edinburgh. There is also a well attended annual memorial service organised by the French in St. Nazaire each year which some of our members will be attending.
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