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Archiver > NOTTSGEN > 1998-06 > 0897059281


From: Douglas Caunt <>
Subject: [Fwd: HMT Lancastria]
Date: Fri, 05 Jun 1998 08:08:01 -0700


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Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 12:45:43 -0700
From: Douglas Caunt <>
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The liner Lancastria was being used as troopship to rescue British
forces from Dunkirk. On 17 June 1940 she was bombed at anchorage by the
Lufwaffe with around 6000 people on board. The vessel took a direct hit
by 500 pound bombs in number 2 hold and down the funnel. My uncle
Horace Clarke RAF of Tredegar Monmouthshire was probably in the hold as
there was a large contingent of RAF personnel bunked in there. His body
was never recovered. During rescue operations the Luftwaffe continued to
attack the ship and the people in the water with strafing and incendary
bombs in an attempt to set fire to the oil floating on the water. The
casualties were enormous. The Lancastria sank quickly with thousands of
non swimmers still on her superstructure and a Welsh voice was heard
singing "Roll out the Barrel we'll have a barrel of fun" A defiant
refrain taken up by others still on the ship and in the water. The
accompanying instuments were machine guns as they spewed murderous fire
at the helpless struggling people in the water. In the book "Lancastria"
it is reported by an eye witness survivor that fire and smoke poured
from No. 2 Hold and there was little chance of any one surviving the
bomb blast which blew away men on the hatch cover, the ladders to the
hold, and a 14 foot by 12 foot hold was blown in her side. What chance
flesh and blood when a steel hull cannot withstand the power set against
it. Ropes were thrown down into the hold and miraculously a few did get
out. Many did not survive swimming in the oily water and the continuos
attacks. Whoever thinks war is n't hell should read the book.
A question remains in my mind as why with all the money spent on making
war films and the Titanic disaster no one has thought of making a film
of the loss of the Lancastria. The loss of life was greater than the
Titanic
and there was some real flesh and blood heroes. Among the personell on
board were men from the Royal Welch Fusiliers and the Sherwood
Foresters.

I met Uncle Horace Clarke once when I was a child when he visited his
sister my mother in Skegby Nottinghamshire. The next thing I knew of him
was when my mother read a letter from her sister Olwyn telling her
Horace had been killed on the Lancastria. I have remembered him all my
life since though he has no known grave to visit.

I have no idea how many Welshmen were on board but from the names
mentioned in the book there would have been a goodly number.

Doug Caunt

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