1. Last Voyage

2. Losses

3. Memorials

4. References

SS Thurso was a cargo steamship operated by Ellerman's Wilson Line. Thurso was built in 1919 by S. P. Austin & Sons in Sunderland as the War Bramble for the Shipping Controller. Displacing 2,436 tons she had a speed of {{convert|9|kn}}. She was sold to Ellerman Lines while still building and remained with them until lost in the Second World War.

Last Voyage

Under Master William Waldie, Thurso was part of Convoy HG 84^[1] which had left Lisbon for Liverpool, and called at Gibraltar on 9 June to join with the 36th Escort Group under the command of Captain "Johnnie" Walker.

At 00.58 and 00.59 hours on 15 June 1942 the U-552, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp attacked convoy HG84^[3] sinking three ships, the Etrib,^[4] Pelayo^[5] and Slemdal.

The convoy was attacked again approximately 300 nautical miles to the west of Cape Finisterre early in the morning of 15 June 1942 by U-552. Following a preliminary skirmish Topp fired three torpedoes at the convoy between 0432 and 0434 hrs. Thurso was sailing in the middle, and was one of two ships hit and sunk; the other being the {{SS|City of Oxford}}.^[9]

According to an oral history recounted by Cpt. "Johnnie" Walker, the Thurso was the first to be struck by torpedoes:

From Captain Waldie's report:

The ship settled gradually by the stern, so the chief officer was ordered to get away the lifeboats. The ship was rapidly taking up a perpendicular position and we abandoned her at 0440. I got into the lifeboat and pulled away clear and saw that the damage to the ships side was considerable. At 0600 the ship finally sank by the stern & at 0620 the survivors, including the two injured gunners were picked up by {{HMS|Marigold|K87|6}} & the casualties were immediately given medical attention."^[2]

"Two gunners were on watch at the time at the 4" one of whom, Nevard, was seriously injured by the blast from the explosion and had his leg broken in two places. Two of the other gunners, Langridge and Dowling, carried the injured man along the deck and up onto the boat-deck and placed him into a lifeboat and were undoubtedly responsible for the saving of Gunner Nevard's life. The gun layer Hagon, who was suffering from internal injuries, managed to crawl unaided along to the boat-deck and into a boat, where he collapsed."^[2]|}}

Losses

Thirteen of Thurso{{'}}s crew of 42 were lost.^[11] The Master, Captain Waldie, 22 crew members and the six gunners survived to be picked up by the corvette HMS Marigold and were landed at Greenock. Those lost were:^[12]

• David John Aitken, Fireman and Trimmer), Son of David and Margaret Aitken, of Liverpool.
• Donnald McInnes Allan, Sailor, Son of John and Catherine Allan, of Tighnabruaich, Argyllshire.
• William James Brown, Fireman and Trimmer,
• Thomas Caren, Fireman and Trimmer, Son of William and Ann Jane Caren, of Liverpool.
• John Currie, Fireman and Trimmer.
• Ernest Faland, Able Seaman, Son of Charles and Elizabeth Faland; husband of Mary Faland, of Bebington, Cheshire.
• Stephen Glespen, Sailor, Son of John P. and Agnes S. Glespen, of Athy, Co. Kildare, Irish Republic.
• Micheal Larkin, Able Seaman, Husband of C. Larkin, of West Derby, Liverpool.
• Arthur Lobley, Greaser.
• John Momo, Ordinary Seaman.
• James Riley, Fireman and Trimmer, Son of James and Catherine Riley; husband of Mary Ann Riley, of Liverpool.
• Norman Cedric Wareing, Sailor, Son of Thomas and Jane Wareing, of Woolston, Lancashire.
• William Wren, Ordinary Seaman.

These men are listed on panels 107-108 of the Tower Hill Memorial that commemorates men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both World Wars and who have no known grave. It stands on the south side of the garden of Trinity Square, London, close to The Tower of London.^[13]

Memorials

A sailor on board an escort ship wrote: {{quote|"We had great respect for the Merchant seamen. I think they were underestimated, especially now by the British public today, because they talk about the Battle of Britain. Granted the pilots did a marvellous, marvellous job, but when you stop and think, how did they get the fuel across to fly those planes, it was the Merchant seamen.....And, honestly, I think they're the bravest men out, the Merchant Navy."|}}

Admiral Lord Mountevans wrote after the war: {{quote|"Those of us who have escorted convoys in either of the great wars can never forget the days and especially the nights spent in company with those slow-moving squadron of iron tramps - the wisps of smoke from their funnels, the phosphorescent wakes, the metallic clang of iron doors at the end of the night watches which told us that the Merchant Service firemen were coming up after four hours in the heated engine rooms, or boiler rooms, where they had run the gauntlet of torpedo or mine for perhaps half the years of the war. I remember so often thinking that those in the engine rooms, if they were torpedoed, would probably be drowned before they reached the engine room steps..."^[14]|}}

Historian John Keegan wrote: {{quote|"The 30,000 men of the British Merchant Navy who fell victim to the U-boats between 1939 and 1945, the majority drowned or killed by exposure on the cruel North Atlantic sea, were quite as certainly front-line warriors as the guardsmen and fighter pilots to whom they ferried the necessities of combat. Neither they nor their American, Dutch, Norwegian or Greek fellow mariners wore uniform and few have any memorial. They stood nevertheless between the Wehrmacht and the domination of the world".^[15]|}}

References

• Herzebrock-Clarholz
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• Herzegovinian
• Herzegovinian Croat
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• Herzegovinian list of flags
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• Herzel
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• Herzelia, Israel
• Herzel Yankel Tsam
• Herzen University
• Herzfeld
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• Herzgruft
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• Herz Homberg
• Herzhorn
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• Herz-Jesu-Kirche