War effort is hailed
in all of WWII.
She was sunk off the French port of St Nazaire, while taking part in Operation Ariel, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, only two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation.
Lancastria left Liverpool on June 14, 1940 under Captain Rudolph Sharp, and arrived in the mouth of the Loire estuary on June 16. She anchored 11 miles south-west of St Nazaire.
By the mid-afternoon of June 17, she had embarked an unknown number (estimates range from 4000 up to 9000) of civilian refugees including embassy staff employees of Fairey Aviation of Belgium.
There were also line-ofcommunication troops such as Pioneers and RASC soldiers and RAF personnel.
The ship’s official capacity was 2200 including the 375-man crew.
Captain Sharp had been instructed by the Royal Navy to “load as many men as possible, without regard to the limits set down under international law”.
The ship was nine miles out to sea when the harbour siren sounded and a stream of Junkers 88 bombers swooped down on it.
Travelling at over 250mph, this specialist anti-shipping squadron descended on the helpless vessel and the thousands of passengers packed on its decks, staring up in horror at this nightmare that was pouring out of the sky.
Lancastria was bombed at 1548 hrs by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft from II. Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 30.
Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard, then to port; she rolled over and sank within 20 minutes.
Lifeboats were launched, but there were only enough for less than a third of those on board.
Thousands of men, women and children jumped into the oiland covered sea as the ship began to capsize.
As the ship started to sink, thousands clambered onto the overturning hulk.
They sang ‘Roll out the Barrel’ in defiance of the bombers still buzzing overhead.
Over 1400 tons of fuel oil leaked into the sea, and was set partially on fire. Many drowned, were choked by the oil, or were shot by the strafing German aircraft.
Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900.
Prime Minister Winston
The Lancastria Medal, for all those linked to the tragedy, was issued by the Scottish Government in 2011
Churchill thought the British public had suffered enough bad news at the time this happened, especially after Dunkirk, so fearing any further morale lowering through reporting of the disaster, he ordered the burial of the bad news.
Due to the government-ordered cover-up, survivors and the crews of the ships that had gone to the aid of Lancastria did not discuss the disaster at the time, due to fear of court martial.
The Lancastria Association of Scotland was set up in memory of those who died on that terrible day.
There were 2477 survivors. Many families of the dead knew only that they died with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
The Lancastria Association lists 1738 confirmed deaths.
Other sources believe the number to be over 4000 lives, possibly many more.
The association has in some cases been able to confirm to some families that their family member was indeed on the Lancastria, and has accompanied that family to a grave in western France, so that at last they are able to say their farewell.
More can be found at http:// www.lancastria.org.uk