Survivor Report
The following is a report given by Able-Seaman George Ragless, on the 25th November 1943.
The report is held at the Public Records Office.
Report filed by Able-Seaman Ragless:-
We were bound for Aden with a cargo of coal, and were armed with 1x4 inch, 1x12pdr.,2 Oerlikons, 2 Twin Marlins and 4 P.A.C. Rockets. The crew numbered thirty-nine, including four Navy and four Army Gunners. Of this number, thirty two are missing, the seven survivors being 2nd Officer Logan, Naval Gunner Denman, an Army Gunner, Donkeyman, Greaser, Galley-Boy and myself. The confidential Books went down with the ship. Degaussing was off.
We left Durban on 8th July 1943, in convoy dispersing after two days and proceeding independently. I believe warning was given, before we left Durban, of submarines operating in the area, but we subsequently received no diversion to course and proceeded as routed without incident, until 15th July.
At 16.01 on 15th July 1943, when in position 260 miles from Madagascar, steering a northerly course at a speed of 10 knots, we were struck by two torpedoes from a U-Boat. There was a very rough sea at the time, with southerly wind, force 7. The weather was overcast, but visibility good.
The two torpedoes struck the ship practically simultaneously on the port side in No. 1 hold, with a dull explosion. No flash was seen, but a column of water was thrown into the air, together with a huge quantity of coal and several hatch covers. I had just turned in, but on hearing the explosion and feeling the ship begin to lift almost immediately, I rushed up on deck, not stopping to find my lifejacket. When I arrived on deck, I saw a few members of the crew making frantic efforts to release the lifeboats, but without success, as the ship reared up on end and went straight down by the head, within thirty seconds of the explosion, taking all lifeboats with her.
I was taken down by the suction, but after some difficulty managed to swim clear. The sea was extremely rough, and although at first I saw lights in the water, and heard whistles, I believe many men subsequently died. Six rafts had fortunately floated clear of the ship as she sank, but two of them were old, and were kept on the hatches as spares, having been condemned before we sailed.
Whilst in the water, I saw the automatic light of a raft some distance away and started to swim towards it. Meanwhile the submarine surfaced, passed some two hundred yards clear of me, and closed a raft which held a few other survivors. The submarine looked very large, with a big conning tower, and was painted a light silvery grey. I believe it was either a German or an Italian. A man stood by a machine gun on the conning tower, and the Commander could be seen standing by a larger gun on the fore deck. He looked of rather small stature, and had a dark beard. I heard later that the Commander questioned the 2nd Officer on the raft, asking him the name of the ship, where she was from, and where bound. The submarine then circled the area then went away, without offering any assistance to the men on the raft.
After swimming for about three-quarters of an hour from the time I left the ship, by which time it was quite dark, I managed to climb on to the nearest raft, which I found to be one of the condemned rafts. It was partially wrecked, and contained no food stores. I sat on it all night, until daybreak when I saw another raft some two or three miles away. I waved a piece of wood to attract attention, and the survivors on board paddled towards me. When they were within fifty yards of me, I dived overboard, and swam over to this raft, on which was the 2nd Officer, a greaser, a naval gunner, and a galley boy. This raft was not one of the latest models, being of the old square type, but it was much better than the one I had left. We could see no other survivors, and did not find out until we reached land that one army gunner and a donkeyman had also managed to get onto a raft.
We had a fairly good supply of food; six tins of biscuits containing 5 lbs. each, 5 lbs. Of Horlicks tablets, 5 lbs. Of chocolate and about 13 tins of pemmican, but only eight gallons of water. We had no compass, but decided to make for Madagascar, steering a Westerly course by the stars and the sun. We erected a mast from a piece of wreckage and cut up a canvas sleeping bag to make a sail, using a rope at each corner to steer. To make ourselves more comfortable, we made flooring from wreckage of an old raft, and canvas; we were left with only three sleeping bags, but found we could share them quite comfortably, and managed to get some sleep at nights, taking turns to keep watch.
For the first three days the weather was bad, with a wind from the eastward, and progress was slow. During the short rainy periods, we caught a little rain in a sleeping bag, but there was never enough to fill the water tank. The 2nd Officer and greaser worked out our food stores, and we were rationed to one biscuit per meal, with one piece of chocolate at breakfast time, pemmican at midday, and chocolate again for the evening meal. Just before nightfall, we each ate six Horlicks tablets.our water ration was 2 ozs., twice a day. I tried to catch fish, using a line from the sea anchor, but the fish would not look at my baits of silver paper and bent nails.
On the 28th July, after about thirteen days adrift, we sighted land, but our progress was so slow that we did reach land until five days later, on about the 2nd or 3rd of August. By this time we were all losing weight, the galley boy was becoming weak, and suffering with his feet. We did not suffer from thirst until the last few days, when we sighted land and started to tow with the paddles. We eventually got into the breakers and were washed up on shore, landing just north of Farafangana, on the East coast of Madagascar. Throughout this time we had seen nothing, and rather wondered what had happened to the air patrol. We learned later that one Air Force patrol plane had picked up 17 American survivors, but could not take off with such a heavy load, so taxied some 40 miles to Madagascar, resulting in the plane being wrecked.
There was no sign of habitation where we landed, so the 2nd Officer, naval gunner and myself decided to walk inland, leaving the greaser and the galley boy on a grassy patch near the beach, as they were not feeling fit enough to walk. After walking a little way we came across a small village where a native woman was cooking a dish of vegetables. She offered us food, but before eating we went back for the greaser and the galley boy, and assisted them to the village. The food tasted very good, and we made ourselves a hot drink by boiling up water with the remainder of our Horlicks tablets and chocolate.
A French missionary next arrived, and sent us by bush railway to Farafangana, where the 2nd Officer cabled our agents in Durban, also the British Consul in Teneriffe, who sent us some money. From Farafangana we travelled to Teneriffe, via Army lorry and train. We had to wait a month in Madagascar for a ship, with some other 100 other survivors from torpedoed vessels, but eventually embarked in an American ship to Durban. From Durban we went by train to Capetown then sailed for England in convoy, landing on the 5th November, 1943.
I heard, whilst in Madagascar, that the army gunner and donkeyman, on another raft, landed at Madagascar at approximately the same time that we had struck the shore, but about 30 miles further south.
Despite the eighteen days on the raft, all felt quite fit, and only the galley boy suffered with swollen feet.