The Aguila Wrens

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The Aguila Wrens

⚓️ Chief Wren Cooper was from Mumbles, Swansea⚓️

When, in 1941, the Royal Navy permitted members of the WRNS to serve overseas for the first time, the first assignment of twenty one Wrens was sent to Gibraltar for cypher and wireless duties. They embarked at Liverpool on the Aguila (Master Arthur Firth) a 3,255 ton steam passenger ship. She sailed on 13 August 1941 with Convoy OG71 as the Commodore ship, with 22 ships bound for Gibraltar.



The convoy was attacked by U-boats on 19 August and the Aguila was hit by a torpedo from U-201 (Schnee) and sank in under two minutes, taking with her 152 souls, amongst whom were most of the Wrens. There were only 16 survivors, 10 were picked up by HMS Wallflower and 6, including the surviving Wrens, were picked up by the Empire Oak, a 484 ton steam tug.

Three days later, on 22 August, the Empire Oak itself was torpedoed and sunk by U-564 (Suhren) with the loss of 19 lives, among whom were the Wrens. In all, eight ships from convoy OG71 were sunk and none of the twenty one Wrens survived.

[Note: It is often stated that there were 22 Wrens, but one of these was a Queen Alexander Royal Naval Nursing Sister, Kate Ellen Gribble.]

Bacon, Phyllis, aged 21 (Chief Wren),
Barnes, Margaret Watmore, aged 18 (Chief Wren),
Benjamin, Cecilly Monica Bruce, aged 20 (Chief Wren),
Blake-Forster, Cecelia Mary, (Third Officer),
Bonsor, Dorothy, (Chief Wren),
Chappe-Hall, Margaret Eulalia, aged 26 (Third Officer),
Cooper, Madeleine Alice, aged 31 (Chief Wren),
Grant, Mary, aged 26 (Chief Wren),
Joy, Alix Bruce, aged 24 (Third Officer),
Macpherson, Florence, aged 35 (Third Officer),
McLaren, Victoria Constance, (Third Officer),
Miller, Kathleen, aged 34 (Third Officer),
Milne Home, Isabel Mary, aged 23 (Third Officer),
Norman, Mildred Georgina, aged 21 (Chief Wren),
Ogle, Christine Emma, aged 34 (Second Officer),
Reith, Josephine Caldwell, aged 28 (Third Officer),
Shepherd, Elsie Elizabeth, (Chief Wren),
Slaven, Catherine Johnston, aged 19 (Chief Wren),
Smith, Beatrice Mabel, aged 30 (Chief Wren),
Waters, Ellen Jessie, (Chief Wren),
Wells, Rosalie, aged 33 (Chief Wren).

In 1941 serving Wrens donated a day’s pay and the money was put towards the building of HMS WREN and a new RNLI lifeboat to be named Aguila Wren. On commissioning the Aguila Wren served at Aberystwyth where she saved 14 lives. She moved to Redcar in 1964 where she saved another 28 lives.

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On This Day in 1941, British steam passenger liner SS Aguila was sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic. The Aguila Memorial at the Arboretum commemorates the 21 ‘Wrens’ of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and one Naval Nursing Sister who lost their lives that day.

Aguila was one of 23 ships that formed Convoy OG 71, which left Liverpool bound for Gibraltar on 13 August with at least 86 Royal Navy personnel and six civilian passengers on board. Aguila's naval contingent included the Convoy Commodore, Vice Admiral PE Parker DSO, and his staff.

When a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor sighted OG 71, it became the first convoy to be attacked by a U-boat 'wolfpack'.
On 19 August the Aguila was hit by a torpedo from U-201 (Schnee) and sank in under two minutes, taking 152 people with her, most of whom were Wrens. There were only 16 survivors: ten were picked up by HMS Wallflower and six, including the surviving Wrens, were picked up by the Empire Oak, a 484-ton steam tug.

Three days later, on 22 August, the Empire Oak was torpedoed and sunk by U-564 (Suhren) with the loss of 19 lives, including the Wrens. In all, eight ships from convoy OG71 were sunk and none of the twenty-one Wrens survived.