663's Story - One unit's experience of the sinking of the Lancastria
Part 4
The Lancastria began to slowly go down, bow first, before gradually rolling over on to her Port side. Chaos ensued. Sapper Percy Brown, soon decided it was time to make the plunge. Grabbing a rope he made his way over the side of the ship assailing down the side, he slipped in to the water. He started swimming towards the two destroyers (HMS Highlander and Havelock) he could see away off in the distance. He was passed by one of the other 663 men, Jimmy Hurd who said "You all right Brownie?", "Yes", he replied, "Where are you going?", said Percy, "I'm swimming all the way", said Jimmy.
Sapper Hirst decided it was time to take the plunge. He was a non-swimmer but had the luxury of the "pillows" he had picked up earlier. Some men, with lifejackets on, had already jumped into the sea at some height and had immediately broken their necks as the jacket had risen up on impact with the water.
Hundreds of men fight for their lives as Lancastria rolls over to port
The sea by this stage had become saturated with thick crude oil from the ruptured tanks of the Lancastria. Walter was covered in it. He kicked off from the side of the sinking Lancastria and on his back watched the former Cunard liner, roll completely over on to her portside. At one point a black Labrador swam past him, perhaps one of the refugees' dogs.
Hundreds of men were now standing on the hull. Most did not have lifejackets and all of the lifeboats that had been successfully lowered away were now gone. Walter kept kicking his feet, all the time thinking, "got to get away from the suction of the ship".
Suddenly the men began singing "Roll out the Barrel", which was a big hit at the time. It was a truly macabre spectacle. The Germans still kept diving out of the sky, dropping incendiaries in a bid to light the fuel oil which was now everywhere. Fortunately they did not succeed.
One officer standing on the upturned hull calmly pulled out his revolver from its holster before shooting his companion in the forehead and then turning the gun on himself. In the water a frantic struggle began amongst those with lifejackets and those without. The horror of what was happening to those outside the ship was of course nothing to the fate which awaited those who were still trapped inside the hull. Some of the men standing on the hull could see inside the portholes to the men trapped. There was nothing that could be done for them.
Finally, at eight minutes past four, exactly 20 minutes after first being hit, the Lancastria sank. With her went over 4,000 men, although the exact total will never be fully known. Some 2500 survivors were eventually picked up. For the next month bodies continued to be washed ashore along the St. Nazaire and Pornic coastline. The locals made sure that the men were given a decent burial, and there are more than a dozen cemeteries in the area that hold the dead of the Lancastria.
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Survivors aboard HMS Highlander
Many of the victims did not have time to escape the ship. In June 1998 members of the Lancastria Association made a pilgrimage to St. Nazaire, as they did again in 2000, the 60th anniversary. The Association is made up of survivors and relatives of victims and survivors of the disaster, the worst in British Maritime history. During the 1998 pilgrimage the Royal Navy arranged for four patrol boats to take members of the Association out over the site of the wreck, for a wreath laying ceremony. Walter Hirst's son, John, played "Last Post" as wreaths were laid on the water. The weather conditions were almost exactly the same as those on that day of the sinking, back in 1940.
Walter Hirst survived the sinking and retold the story regularly to relatives and friends. Chick Napier also survived, as did Percy Brown and Major Morgan. In December 1977 Walter Hirst passed away, and the numbers of survivors has decreased regularly each year. Only two members of 663 Artisan Works Company, Royal Engineers, are known to still be alive; Sapper Chick Napier and Sapper Percy Brown. More than 90 men from 663 did not survive the sinking.
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John Hirst (Walter's son) and Charles "Chick" Napier - 2003
There were 103 different British Army units aboard the Lancastria when she was sunk. Most of the survivors were prevented from talking about the disaster because Winston Churchill had placed a "D-notice" on the sinking. This prevented any knowledge of the sinking becoming public. Churchill believed that news of the disaster would further damage the morale of the people back home. In his highly acclaimed book "The Second World War" there is one reference to the Lancastria and Churchill's thoughts on the disaster which appears on page 663. On hearing the news Churchill, still reeling from the capitulation of France which was announced on the same day said:
"The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today at least."
Later Churchill said:
"I had intended to release the news a few days later, but events crowded upon us so black and so quickly that I forgot to lift the ban, and it was some years before the knowledge of the horror became public." - extract from "The Second World War"
Some of the survivors still feel their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their comrades has never been properly acknowledged.
The loss of life aboard the Lancastria was certainly worse than that of the Titanic and Lusitania combined, tragic though those losses were. The sheer scale of the disaster on 17th June 1940 is what makes the sinking unique.
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