Post by Administrator on May 7, 2021 15:03:45 GMT
Today in history 7th May 1945:
Cargo ship Sneland I, 1,791grt, (Rich. Amlie & Sverre Amlie) On the evening of 7th May 1945, the unconditional surrender by Germany to the Western Allies was signed at Rheims. The same day the coastal Convoy EN-491 was making her way northward past the Firth of Forth, one mile East of May Island. As the country was celebrating well into the night the final peace in Europe, at around 22.45 hours, two massive explosions rolled in from across the sea into the Firth of Forth. The Ladies at the Methil Seaman's Mission knew the sound only too well and hurriedly prepared blankets and hot soup for any possible survivors.
U-2336 had found its mark on two Merchant ships, the British Avondale Park killing two crewmembers and the Norwegian Sneland I, bound for Belfast with a cargo of coal. which sank within two minutes in position 56’ 09N 02’ 30W with the loss of seven crewmembers including a young British Merchant Seaman age sixteen, who happened to be the very last British casualty of the U-boat war.
The survivors from both ships were rescued by the naval trawlers HMS Valse and HMS Leicester City and eventually landed at Methil. The sinking’s happened three days after Admiral Karl Dönitz had given the U-boats the order to stop all enemy action and return to port. The U-boats had finished their war as they had started it nearly six years before, with an unprovoked attack on the men of the "Forgotten Fourth Service"
Commemorated Tower Hill Memorial:
ELLIS, Mess Room Boy, WILLIAM HENRY, S.S. Sneland I. (Norway). Merchant Navy. 7th May 1945. Age 16. Son of Violet Alice Ellis, of Walvury Grove, Hilton Grange, Hull. (CWGC state 17 when he died, but Deaths at Sea Register recording date of birth shows he was 16, just six days short of his 17th Birthday)
ANDERSON, Chief Engineer Officer, GEORGE, S.S. Avondale Park (Montreal). Merchant Navy. 7th May 1945, of Low Spennymoor, Co. Durham.
HARVEY, Donkeyman, WILLIAM, S.S. Avondale Park (Montreal). Merchant Navy. 7th May 1945. Age 44. Son of Adam and Eleanor Harvey; husband of Sarah Jane Harvey, of South Shields, Co. Durham.
Lest We Forget !!
Billy McGee.
Cargo ship Sneland I, 1,791grt, (Rich. Amlie & Sverre Amlie) On the evening of 7th May 1945, the unconditional surrender by Germany to the Western Allies was signed at Rheims. The same day the coastal Convoy EN-491 was making her way northward past the Firth of Forth, one mile East of May Island. As the country was celebrating well into the night the final peace in Europe, at around 22.45 hours, two massive explosions rolled in from across the sea into the Firth of Forth. The Ladies at the Methil Seaman's Mission knew the sound only too well and hurriedly prepared blankets and hot soup for any possible survivors.
U-2336 had found its mark on two Merchant ships, the British Avondale Park killing two crewmembers and the Norwegian Sneland I, bound for Belfast with a cargo of coal. which sank within two minutes in position 56’ 09N 02’ 30W with the loss of seven crewmembers including a young British Merchant Seaman age sixteen, who happened to be the very last British casualty of the U-boat war.
The survivors from both ships were rescued by the naval trawlers HMS Valse and HMS Leicester City and eventually landed at Methil. The sinking’s happened three days after Admiral Karl Dönitz had given the U-boats the order to stop all enemy action and return to port. The U-boats had finished their war as they had started it nearly six years before, with an unprovoked attack on the men of the "Forgotten Fourth Service"
Commemorated Tower Hill Memorial:
ELLIS, Mess Room Boy, WILLIAM HENRY, S.S. Sneland I. (Norway). Merchant Navy. 7th May 1945. Age 16. Son of Violet Alice Ellis, of Walvury Grove, Hilton Grange, Hull. (CWGC state 17 when he died, but Deaths at Sea Register recording date of birth shows he was 16, just six days short of his 17th Birthday)
ANDERSON, Chief Engineer Officer, GEORGE, S.S. Avondale Park (Montreal). Merchant Navy. 7th May 1945, of Low Spennymoor, Co. Durham.
HARVEY, Donkeyman, WILLIAM, S.S. Avondale Park (Montreal). Merchant Navy. 7th May 1945. Age 44. Son of Adam and Eleanor Harvey; husband of Sarah Jane Harvey, of South Shields, Co. Durham.
Lest We Forget !!
Billy McGee.