663's Story - One unit's experience of the sinking of the Lancastria
Part 3
Before the ship came under attack it had been full of servicemen. Here and there a group of refugees huddled, some had walked all the way from Belgium keeping just ahead of the advancing Germans.
At around 1.30pm that afternoon the first of the Luftwaffe raids happened. Sirens from the docks at St. Nazaire sounded. Through a porthole Walter witnessed the Oronsay being hit near her bridge. Debris fragments blew off in all directions. Walter decided it would be healthier topside, and so began to climb the stairs, against orders.
The Bridge of the Oronsay had been almost completely destroyed. The crew rigged up auxiliary secondary steering and the Captain used an old hand compass to navigate back to the Plymouth. The Oronsay which was built on the Clyde in 1925 was herself sunk on 9th October 1942 off West Africa. Four torpedoes from the Italian submarine Archimede sent the 20,000 ton liner to the bottom with the loss of five lives.
The Oronsay in the foreground has already been hit and her bridge destroyed, whilst Lancastria flounders in the background, 17th June 1940
A couple of more raids took place over the course of the afternoon. Lancastria was now full to over capacity. Chief Officer, Harry Grattidge, received a signal from a nearby destroyer that if they were full they should get underway. Grattidge signalled the destroyer "can you escort us if we proceed?" The destroyer never returned a signal and both Grattidge and Captain Sharp did not think it wise to undertake the trip back to England without proper escort.
In the meantime the Luftwaffe returned. Percy Brown had made his way amidships and when the raid began. He made a dash forrad to take cover in an anchor locker he had used during the previous raids. As he ran he realised he wasn't going to make the locker and so dived into a steel hatch bunker next to number 2 hold. As he watched, from what appeared to be a fairly safe haven, he saw a stick of bombs fall. The first of these landed in the water on the Lancastria's port side. The second bomb struck the hatch covering for number two hold, right next to where Brown was taking cover. Percy didn't hear an explosion. Stunned, he sat there shaking his head trying to make sense of what had just happened. The hatch cover, which was only a yard away from his knees, had been blown completely off. The hatch was huge, the size of an average sitting room. 20 feet away lay a decapitated corpse. A contingent of around 800 RAF personnel had been billeted in the hold. Now flames and thick black smoke billowed upwards from the hole where the hatch had been.
The hatch cover of No. 2 hold. Picture taken in 1936. This hatch cover was blown completely off in the attack when a 500kg bomb crashed through it killing hundreds below.
Another bomb appeared to have gone straight down the funnel. Over and over signalmen on the bridge kept repeating, "...engine-room, hello....engine-room". No answering ring came back. Communications had been completely severed. Grattidge stared at Captain Sharp, before grabbing a megaphone and ordering the crew to clear away the boats. As the smoke parted over the foredeck, Grattidge saw the mess of blood and oil and splintered wood littering the deck. As he turned he saw a white core of water roaring from number four hold and realised where the fourth bomb had gone.
After the massive explosion Walter made an attempt to get to near some of the lifeboats, the decks were too crowded however. As one lifeboat was being lowered the ropes on one end got jammed in the supporting davit, a sailor in the lifeboat panicked, stood up and began to cut the ropes at one end of the boat immediately throwing all of the occupants in to the sea. All the time the Luftwaffe kept up their attack opening up with machine guns as the men below began to fight for their lives. Two Bren gunners, positioned at either end of the Lancastria opened up and continued to fire at the circling enemy aircraft.
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