Hi Mac,
Have been following the interchange with my sister Denise and wanted to follow up on your questions about which ship my father David was rescued by.
David Murray from Athenia is the 5th.from the left, the man next to him has David's cap ob as he was bald and was getting sunburned.
According to my mother, he was picked up by a luxury American yacht, which we've taken to be the Southern Cross and then transferred to the City of Flint.
Two further vessels he was aboard during the war were torpedoed subsequently .....one of which was the Clan MacFee (not sure of spelling) 16/8/1940. He was picked up, then that rescuing ship (perhaps the VARAG, but not sure) was torpedoed and he spent 6 days in a life boat at sea, during which time a German submarine surfaced, and the CO came out while the German soldiers had their the rifles trained on the survivors. He gave the order to dive, and left them to their fate. Eventually they were rescued (that could have been the VARAG). Dad's discharge papers don't say
The attached photo was from Dublin wharf after they were rescued. (David is 5th from left in the front) His hat is being worn by the other (bald) fellow, who was geting badly sunburned.Am not sure what paper this photo is from or the date of the rescue.
I'd love to know if anyone out there knows anyone else in the photo, or if anyone knows of the German CO who left them alone.
Anyhow he later worked on hospital ships off the Normandy beachhead (Aramanch), rather than Dunkirk. He was a lucky one!
Thanks for your site! Hope to hear from others.
Cheers Josephine Murray
Hello Jo,
Thank you for that, Southern Cross was certainly the luxury Yacht that picked up some Athenia survivors, but City of Flint took her load of survivors to Halifax, so if your Father landed in Ireland he must have arrived in the Norwegian Tanker Knut Nelson.
Clan Macphee was part of Convoy OB 197, and as you state was sunk on the 16th. of August 1940 by U-30 commanded by Fritz-Julius Lemp, by chance the same U-Boat that sank Athenia. Here is some detail of Clan Macphee, as you can see, 41 were picked up by the Kelet, U-Boat UA, commanded by Hans Cohausz, on 19th Aug 1940 sank the 4,295 ton Kelet.
Another 6 from Clan Macphee were lost, and the final 35 were rescued by the Norwegian Varegg, to be landed at Galway. ( I think your picture including your Father might have been at Galway )
The CO of the German submarine that surfaced must have been from UA.
To survive three sinkings is quite remarkable, and then to wind up in a hospital ship, David had a charmed life at sea.
Name Clan Macphee
Type: Steam merchant
Tonnage 6.628 tons
Completed 1911 - Irvine´s Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co Ltd, Middleton Shipyard, West Hartlepool
Owner The Clan Line Steamers Ltd, London
Homeport Glasgow
Date of attack 16 Aug, 1940 Nationality: British
Fate Sunk by U-30 (Fritz-Julius Lemp)
Position 57.30N, 17.14W - Grid AL 3783
- See location on a map -
Complement 108 (67 dead and 41 survivors).
Convoy OB-197
Route Glasgow - Liverpool - Bombay - coast of Malabar
Cargo 6700 tons of general cargo
History Completed in June 1911
Notes on loss At 19.32 hours on 16 Aug, 1940, the Clan Macphee (Master Thomas Philip B. Cranwell) in convoy OB-197 was hit by one torpedo from U-30 and sank about 350 miles west of North Uist, Outer Hebrides. The master and 66 crew members were lost. 41 survivors were picked up by the Kelet, which was sunk by UA (Cohausz) on 19 Aug, 1940. Six survivors from the Clan Macphee were lost, the remaining 35 survivors were picked up by the Norwegian merchant Varegg and landed at Galway on 26 August.
Detail of UA built for Turkey but never delivered.
U-A
Type
Laid down 10 Feb 1937 Germaniawerft, Kiel
Commissioned 20 Sept 1939 Kptlt. Hans Cohausz
Commanders 09.39 - 10.40
11.40 - 02.42
02.42 - 05.42
05.42 - 08.42
08.42 - 03.43
03.43 - 04.44
04.44 - 03.45 Krvkpt. Hans Cohausz
Frgkpt. Hans Eckermann
Krvkpt. Hans Cohausz
Kptlt. Ebe Schnoor
Krvkpt. Friedrich Schäfer
Krvkpt. Georg Peters
Oblt. Ulrich-Philipp Graf von und zu Arco-Zinneberg
Career 9 patrols 09.39 - 03.41 7th Flotilla (Kiel) front boat
04.41 - 12.41 2nd Flotilla (Lorient) front boat
12.41 - 08.42 7th Flotilla (St. Nazaire) front boat
08.42 - 03.43 U-Abwehrschule (Gotenh.) school b.
03.42 - 11.44 4th Flotilla (Stettin) trial boat
11.44 - 01.45 24th Flotilla (Gotenhafen) school boat
01.45 - 03.45 18th Flotilla (Hela) school boat
03.45 24th Flotilla (Eckernförde) school boat
Successes 7 ships sunk for a total of 40,706 tons
including the British Armed Merchant Cruiser Andania (13,950 tons)
1 ship damaged for 7,524 tons
Fate Taken out of service in May 1944 at Neustadt, Holstein. Scuttled on 3 May 1945 at the Kiel Arsenal. Wreck broken up.
The boat was almost ready as the Turkish Batiray (the second of 4 ordered from Germaniawerft, the first, Saldiray, had been delivered in June 1939) when the war in Europe broke out and she was not handed to the Turkish but rather commissioned into the German Navy.
The remaining two boats, Atilay and Yildiray, were laid down in Turkish yards under German supervision. Altiray was commissioned in 1940 but with the German engineers and designers gone due to the war Yildiray was much delayed and was not commissioned until Jan, 1946. Altiray was lost with all hands to a moored mine on 14 July, 1942.
She was briefly named Optimist by the Germans but given her UA name on 21 Sept, 1939. She was the most successful foreign U-boat in German service by far, credited with 7 of the 9 ships sunk by those boats. Cohausz sank all those 7 ships and Eckermann sank one.
Details of U-30, Hans Cohausz also commanded U-30, 1936/1938.
U-30
Type
VIIA
Ordered 1 Apr, 1935
Laid down 24 Jan, 1936 AG Weser, Bremen (werk 911)
Launched 4 Aug, 1936
Commissioned 8 Oct, 1936 Kptlt. Hans Cohausz
Commanders
8 Oct, 1936 - 31 Oct, 1938 Kptlt. Hans Cohausz
15 Feb, 1938 - 17 Aug, 1938 Hans Pauckstadt
Nov, 1938 - Sep, 1940 Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp (Knights Cross)
Sep, 1940 - 31 Mar, 1941 Robert Prützmann
1 Apr, 1941 - Apr, 1941 Paul-Karl Loeser
Apr, 1941 - 22 Apr, 1941 Hubertus Purkhold
23 Apr, 1941 - 9 Mar, 1942 Oblt. Kurt Baberg
10 Mar, 1942 - 4 Oct, 1942 Oblt. Hermann Bauer
5 Oct, 1942 - 16 Dec, 1942 Franz Saar
May, 1943 - 1 Dec, 1943 Oblt. Ernst Fischer
2 Dec, 1943 - 14 Dec, 1944 Oblt. Ludwig Fabricius
17 Jan, 1945 - 23 Jan, 1945 Oblt. Günther Schimmel
Career 8 patrols 8 Oct, 1936 - 31 Aug, 1939 2. Flottille (front boat)
1 Sep, 1939 - 31 Dec, 1939 2. Flottille (front boat)
1 Jan, 1940 - 30 Nov, 1940 2. Flottille (front boat)
1 Dec, 1940 - 30 Nov, 1943 24. Flottille (training)
1 Dec, 1943 - 12 Jan, 1945 22. Flottille (school boat)
Successes 16 ships sunk for a total of 86.165 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 325 GRT
1 ship damaged for a total of 5.642 GRT
1 warship damaged for a total of 31.100 tons
Fate
Used in the last months as a range boat. Scuttled on 4 May, 1945 in Kupfermühlen Bay, wreck broken up in 1948.
Jo, pictures of Clan Macphee, Fritz-Julius Lemp. and U-30 are all attached. This has turned out to be a long email, for which I apologise.
Clan Macphee
Fritz-Julius Lemp
U-30
Best regards,
Mac.
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