Part of the
Acorn Archive
Hearts of Oak
Athel Line
Ships
Return
To The Atheltemplar Page
Atheltemplar
in
The Air Attack
on Convoys
EN79 and WN91
Saturday, 1
March 1941
Bernard de Neumann
writes : Coastal convoys came under regular attack (every two or three days)
from Mid February 1941 until that June when much Luftwaffe strength was
withdrawn to the Eastern Front. There
were several hot-spots off the East Coast of Scotland of which Kinnaird Head/Rattray
Head area, where the swept channel inside the minefield was narrow, was
one. Here shipping was forced into a
narrow channel, convoys passing within five miles of each other. In the narrow swept channel up the East
Coast, convoys were always marshalled into two columns about a quarter of a
mile apart (colloquially known as tram lines).
Convoys passed each other to starboard with much care in these waters,
as a small error could lead to hitting a mine, or running aground. In the Pentland Firth, the tide which runs
at up to six knots, caused particular difficulties for long, two column
convoys. Schedules were tight and,
should the convoy be delayed by weather, it would become strung out over many
miles with the last ships struggling against a contrary tide.
EN79
departed Methil at 0630 on 1st March 1941.
TEWKESBURY as
Commodore-ship led the port column.
ATHELTEMPLAR as
Vice Commodore-ship led the starboard column.
Escorts
were
HMS
FOWEY (L.15, Shoreham Class
Escort Sloop – 1,105 tons)
HMT
HUGH WALPOLE (FY.102, 498 tons,
A/S)
HMT
INDIAN STAR ( FY.208, 463 tons,
A/S)
Convoy WN91 (opposing route to EN79) was
en route on the evening of 1st March, and was attacked by aircraft
off Fraserburgh. Reconnaissance flights by the Luftwaffe in the morning
(reports at 0923 and 1305) would have charted the speed of both convoys and
forecast their arrival together off the Aberdeenshire coast. Three aircraft
were commonly employed in such attacks and would have split-up off-shore,
approaching the shore in line-abreast, about 15kms apart, to search for shipping.
If an aircraft missed the convoy, it usually attacked coastal targets. Thus the
middle aircraft, which would have passed between the WN91 and EN79, bombed
Cruden Bay and Slains.
Air Attack
The convoy EN79 progressed through a stiff north-easterly
wind and sea, without incident until dusk that day. Sunset in the area would
have been at 1738 GMT (1838 local time), and it was three days after a new
moon, with the moon in the western hemisphere, setting at 2225. Thus the moon,
if it was visible, was showing less than a quarter, and was close to its
zenith. The weather over most of the UK was cloudy with poor to moderate
visibility. Air cover of three hurricanes was provided throughout the daylight
hours, and was withdrawn, as was normally the case 30 minutes after sunset.
Then 45 minutes after sunset, with Girdle Ness bearing 276°, distance 7½ miles,
the convoy was attacked by enemy aircraft. Initially an aeroplane was sighted
by HUGH WALPOLE [Range 2 miles, bearing NNW] approaching from the North, and
challenged by her. The aircraft altered course and headed for HUGH WALPOLE who
opened fire with Lewis guns when the aircraft was in range. A small object
dropped from the aircraft, fell into sea and did not explode. The aircraft
opened fire with machine guns, and after passing over HUGH WALPOLE headed for
the convoy. Two minutes later a Norwegian ship was spotted by FOWEY showing her
fore steaming light, so FOWEY began turning to order her to desist. During this
turn ATHELTEMPLAR was hit on the navigation bridge and bridge deckhouse by
three bombs. The enemy aircraft, a Heinkel 111 heavy bomber, was heard in the
vicinity about two minutes before the attack, and then observed rapidly bearing
down from right ahead at a height of approximately 250 feet, towards
ATHELTEMPLAR at the head of the starboard column. The bombs that struck her
exploded instantly and caused an immediate devastating fire.
The Master, Capt A. Waterson, and all executive officers
except Chief Officer J.M. Scott were killed, and the Chief Officer was severely
injured as he was blown from the bridge to the forecastle by the blast.
Fire and
Rescue
ATHELTEMPLAR was off Whinnyfold, Cruden Bay and on fire. The
fire was spotted by HMS SPEEDWELL as she headed northwards, from over the
horizon, and when she pulled alongside the fire was still considered to be
extremely hazardous. There was a huge fire in the bridge and living
accommodation. Atheltemplar had just left Smith's North Shields yard following
repairs, so her tanks would have been empty and gas free, so the only source of
fuel for the long-lasting intense fire was the bunkers. It would appear that
the fuel in the fore peak had to be pumped via a deck line to the bunkers in
the vicinity of the engine-room. The conditions at the time were reported as
being "north-easterly wind and sea". No senior executive officers,
except the Chief Officer who was badly injured and could not report on events,
survived, and so it is conjectured that the trim of the Atheltemplar was being
adjusted by pumping fuel from the fore tanks at the time of the attack. With
such destruction in the bridge deck-house area of the ship, and the deck fuel
line broken and feeding the fire, no-one was able to turn off the pump. Twenty
minutes after the attack on the Atheltemplar, she was described as being
"very much afire amidships but still maintaining her course and
speed", and this suggests that as there could have been no more
engine-room telegraph orders, and the helm position was destroyed, the ship
continued on her way until the Chief Engineer, probably, ordered the engines to
be stopped. When sufficient way was lost, attempts would have been made to
lower the aft life-boats. Only one was successfully launched, and those whose
accommodation was aft would have disembarked into it. Those in the forecastle
had no means of escape, and the surviving lifeboat could not get to them
because of the sea. They were eventually taken off by HMT INDIAN STAR, who
picked up the others from the lifeboat. Several of the survivors in the
forecastle were badly injured, and great credit is due to those who rescued
them by lowering them to the deck of INDIAN STAR. All were later transferred to
HMS LEDA who later landed the survivors at Aberdeen.
Salvage by HMS
SPEEDWELL
They could not go alongside her weather side because the
swell was too bad and an added complication was that she had a boat swung out
on the lee (port) quarter. Despite the swell Cdr Youngs managed to poke the
Speedwell's bow up against the tanker's quarter without too much damage to
herself and two of the hands managed to scramble across. These two men lowered
the tanker's lifeboat to the waterline to act as a fender when Speedwell got
alongside the lee, which was soon accomplished with the aid of the two ratings
who secured her wires to the tanker. The first lieutenant, Percy Stoner, then
took a party aboard who proceeded to fight the fire. It was found that the
Atheltemplar definitely had water ballast on board so all available hands were
set to in both ships to get the fire out with hoses rigged from the Speedwell.
The tanker's crew came on board Speedwell but they had no heart for the
operation and so Speedwell's crew just turned them in in their messdecks. After
4½ hours of strenuous work the fire was out and they made preparations to tow.
Cdr Youngs decided on a long tow rope made up of Speedwell's two sweep wires
which had a combined breaking strain of 30 tons. The prize crew was put on
board, the tow passed and off they went but it took an hour to get the tanker
round on the course for the Firth of Forth. The main trouble was that when the
tanker had been hit she had had five degrees of rudder on, the steering gear
was electric, there was no power to work it and so all the time she wanted to
go off in a different direction. If she did take charge she pulled them with
her and had to be turned right round nearly 360° as she wouldn't go against her
rudder. At length Cdr Youngs got the better of her and Neale had a go while
Youngs was on the bridge and got the hang of it so Youngs could go below for
some food. Any tendency to yaw had to be checked at once before the tanker took
charge and parted the tow but they settled down to it and managed to tow her at
five knots. Admiral Ramsay sent out an escort of Hurricane fighters to ward off
enemy bombers and later a large tug to take over the tow, leaving the Speedwell
and the "Hunt" destroyer to act as escorts.
Return and Repair
Just 36 hours after SPEEDWELL had first sighted her, on
the morning of 3rd March, with her flag at half mast, the ATHELTEMPLAR arrived at anchorage off
Methil. Mr S. Hill, Second Officer of the ATHELSULTAN, bombed off May Island three weeks previously and
returned to North Shields for repairs, was instructed to travel up to Methil to
bring the ATHELTEMPLAR back to
the Tyne. She too was to spend a
further period under repair at Smith’s Dock having the entire amidship
accommodation rebuilt. It was not until June 1941 that the ATHELTEMPLAR sailed and passed once
again up the East Coast to resume her sailings across the Atlantic. She
delivered four cargoes to Naval Bases at Portland, Iceland and Scapa Flow.
With Thanks to
Bernard de Neumann
for providing the text to compile the above narrative.
Sources
Jack Neale, Sea Breezes - Feb 1989.
Atheltemplar (Athel Line, United Molasses) by Captain Tom
Gorst
PRO: ADM199 16 (EN79), ADM199 13 (WN91),
ADM199 401
(Aberdeen and Peterhead war diaries of NOIC).
Information from MOD (N), Whitehall, regarding
Medal Citations.
Lloyd’s records of awards of Lloyd’s War Medal
for Bravery
at Sea, in Lloyd’s Secretarial Department.
PRO: AIR25 250
(WAR DIARY of 14 Group Fighter Command)
WO166 2129 (3rd
AA Division war diary)
WO208 (POW
interrogation)
Aberdeen City
Archives: Register of Air Raids and Alarms for 1941
Register of
Casualties CE87/4/41 (Customs & Excise Dispositions of Wrecks)
Scottish
Record Office: HH50/160 (Record of Missiles dropped)
Return To The Atheltemplar Page
Raymond
Forward