S.S. ARANDORA STAR - THE COLONSAY CONNECTION

WAR GRAVES ON COLONSAY AND ORONSAY

Any visitor to the graveyard at Kilchattan or the Priory on Oronsay could not fail to notice the presence of simple headstones marking the graves of men who died at sea during both world wars. The ships on which they served came to grief in the North Atlantic and thus their bodies, carried by tides and currents, came to rest along the western shores of the two islands which were to become their final resting place. In addition to these, there are the graves of three islanders who died whilst serving their country and whose bodies were returned to their place of birth and buried in the island graveyard at Kilchattan

Gunner 196250 John Brown of the Royal Field Artillery who died on 13 April 1917 age 41.

Able Seaman J/54033 Hector McMillan of the Royal Navy who died on 21 August 1918 age 30.

ACW2 464634, Catherine Smith Patterson of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, who died on 17 December 1942 age 21

Another islander, who is remembered on the war memorial at Scalasaig, sadly died of ill health after demobilisation and is buried in the graveyard at Kilchattan. His grave however is unmarked.

Deck Hand 2638 Angus McPhee of the Royal Naval Reserve, who died on 9 February 1920 age 26.

[Left] Kilchattan graveyard, Colonsay [Alan Davis] [Right] Oronsay Priory graveyard [Alan Davis]

S.S. Arandora Star

Founded in 1917 by Sir Fabian Ware, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was set up by Royal Charter. The main aims of the Commission were to mark and maintain the graves of those who had died and to build memorials to those who had no known grave. The basic principles were that each of the dead should be commemorated on an individual headstone or memorial and that these should be permanent. In addition, it was decided that all headstones should be uniform and that no distinction should be made in terms of rank, race or creed.

Each headstone had engraved upon it at the top, the regimental badge followed by the rank, name, unit, date of death and age of the individual, plus a religious emblem such as a cross. At the base of the headstone an additional inscription was often provided, chosen and paid for by relatives.

In chronological order the war graves on Colonsay and Oronsay are as follows:

HMS VIKNOR - Sunk on 13 Jan 1915.

Petty Officer 170915 Royal Navy. W.H. Boland . Age 39. Kilchattan

Seaman 1034/X Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve. John B. Mercer .Age 22. Kilchattan.

Private PO/10910 Royal Marine Light Infantry. Edward Palmer . Age 31. Kilchattan.

Engine Room Artificer 1523/EA Royal Naval Reserve. A. Fisher . Oronsay Priory.

HMS TRANSYLVANIA - Sunk on 10 Aug 1940.

AB P/ESD/X91 Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. James Kellacher . Age 33. Kilchattan.

Barkeeper, Naval Auxiliary Personnel [M.N.]. James McIntosh . Age 43. Kilchattan.

Trimmer, Naval Auxiliary Personnel [M.N.]. Frank Nevin . Age 32. Kilchattan.

Chief Petty Officer P/239946 Royal Navy. Fred Norgate . Age 50. Kilchattan.

Donkeyman Naval Auxiliary Personnel [M.N.]. Robert Stewart . Age 28. Kilchattan.

SS EMPIRE TIGER - Sunk on 27 Feb 1941.

AB. D/JX 189694 Royal Navy. James Loveridge . Age 24. Kilchattan.

SS BROSUND [SS CRUSADER ] - Sunk on 14 Nov 1941.

Seaman, Danish Merchant Navy. Birger Oest Larsen . Found 6 Jan 1942. Kilchattan.

UNKNOWN SAILORS.

British Seaman - found 1 March 1915. Kilchattan

Merchant Navy - Found 11 Aug 1940. Kilchattan.

Petty Officer, Royal Navy - Found 19 Aug 1940. Kilchattan.

Merchant Navy - Found 20 Aug 1940. Kilchattan.

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Royal Navy - Found 21 Aug 1940. Kilchattan.

X2 Merchant Navy - Found Aug 1940. Kilchattan.

X2 Merchant Navy - Found 26/28 Sept 1944. Kilchattan.

Merchant Navy - Found 10 July 1946. Oronsay Priory.

Finally, whilst most of the headstones state (where known) the name of the vessel upon which the individual served, there are two which can be found in the graveyard at Kilchattan that bear no such clues:

Private 5619428 J.A Edmonds, of the Devonshire Regiment who died on 2 July 1940 age 30. Jack Alva Edmonds was born on 16 August 1909 in the district of Llandaff in Cardiff , South Wales .

Walfrido Sagramati, whose body was found on 16 August 1940. All that is currently known about Wilfrido is that he was born on 19 October 1910 in Rome and had been living in London , apparently working as a sous chef at the Savoy Hotel.

[Left] W Sagramati headstone [Alan Davis] [Right] J Edmonds headstone [Alan Davis]

So what happened to bring these two men together, one a British soldier and the other an Italian civilian, to their final resting place on Colonsay in the summer of 1940 when the country was at war? Their lives and backgrounds had been very different; circumstances beyond their control brought them together so briefly in life, yet also so sadly in death. They were just two out of over 1600 men en route for Canada aboard the SS "Arandora Star" whose tragic loss on 2 July 1940 is still remembered with great sadness by many of the older islanders and which has become an inseparable part of Colonsay's more recent history. As a consequence, the island is now regarded by many as a symbolic focal point for the remembrance of all those who lost their lives on that terrible day, especially for families whose loved ones have no known grave.

S.S. Arandora Star

THE STORY OF THE SS ARANDORA STAR

Built by Cammell Laird & Co. Ltd. of Birkenhead , the SS "Arandora" was launched on 4 January 1927 for Blue Star Line [1920] Ltd.  She was a 1st Class Cruise Liner capable of carrying up to 400 passengers and was initially employed as a fast passenger and refrigerated cargo service to

South America . After a refit, she operated as a cruise liner for pleasure trips to Norway , the Mediterranean and the West Indies . Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. of Glasgow carried out the refit in 1929 and it was then that she was renamed as SS "Arandora Star" . In 1934 and 1935 she was given further refits when the mainmast was removed and the accommodation areas were extended. In 1937 she was transferred to Frederick Leyland & Co. Ltd [Blue Star Line Ltd. Managers]. With her palatial surroundings and a Louis XIV style dining room she soon became very popular with the rich and famous and earned the nickname 'chocolate box' or 'wedding cake' due to her white hull and scarlet riband.

The SS 'Arandora Star' [Blue Star Line]

After the outbreak of war she returned from a trans-Atlantic voyage to New York and was ordered by the Admiralty up to Liverpool . Under destroyer escort, she was initially involved in taking men and equipment to disembark in the Norwegian fjords and later assisted in the evacuation of troops and refugees from the French ports of Brest and Bayonne . Arriving in Liverpool on 29 June, her final voyage was to transport Italian and German internees plus some prisoners of war to St. John's , Newfoundland where they were destined to be held in camps for the duration of the war.

In the early days of the war, the Government had decided that foreign nationals living in Britain would be assessed according to their potential threat to the nation's security. It was decided that those who were thought to pose some considerable risk were to be interned overseas and thus tribunals were set up to examine each individual case. By spring 1940 the tribunals had examined 78,000 cases of which just one percent had been classified as high risk and therefore subject to internment. By June 1940, German forces had invaded the Channel Islands and Italy had declared war on Britain - consequently Prime Minister Winston Churchill, fearing that an invasion was imminent, did not want to risk the presence of a fifth column of Nazi sympathisers on British soil. So ignoring the tribunal arrangements set up by the Home Office since the beginning of the war, on 10 June he issued the order,  'Collar the lot' . That night, Special Branch

S.S. Arandora Star

Officers arrested several hundred Italians living in London , most of whom were restaurateurs, chefs and waiters who had been living in Britain for most of their adult lives. Throughout the rest of England, Scotland and Wales, many more were arrested and taken to transit camps where they joined some 9,000 German and Austrian nationals, all destined for internment camps in Canada and Australia. In addition to these civilian internees, there were a number of Prisoners of War including for example, Captain J. H. Burfeind plus some of his officers and men from the German merchant ship Adolf Woerman which had been intercepted by the British destroyer Neptune in the South Atlantic on 22 November 1939.

At 4.00 am on 1 July 1940 the SS "Arandora Star" left Liverpool under the command of her Master, Captain E.W. Moulton and headed northwards up the Irish Sea on what was to become her final voyage. In addition to her crew of 182 officers and men, she was carrying over 1,300 German and Italian nationals together with a military guard of 254 officers and men under the command of Major C. A. Bethell. As dawn broke on 2 July, the SS "Arandora Star" found herself some 75 miles north-west of Bloody Foreland, County Donegal , barely one day into her voyage to St. John's , Newfoundland , when she was spotted by lookouts aboard a German U-boat which was cruising slowly on the surface. Zigzagging towards them in the light rain, they observed a large ship steaming at 15 knots, alone and unescorted yet making regular changes of course - a tactic used to avoid submarine attack.

U-47 was at the time commanded by Kapitanleutnant Gunther Prien, one of Germany 's top U-boat aces, who was making his way back to base at Wilhelmshaven after a successful patrol in the North Atlantic where he had sunk eight allied merchant ships. Prien had only one torpedo left and after diving and approaching to within 2500 metres, at just before 7.00 am he fired, striking the SS Arandora Star amidships. Seeing the vessel starting to settle towards the stern and the first lifeboats being lowered, Prien and the crew of U-47 continued on their way believing that they had achieved another successful strike, yet totally unaware as to the destination, nationality and status of the passengers aboard the stricken vessel. At 7.20 am the SS "Arandora Star" rolled over and with her Captain and senior officers still on the bridge, plunged stern first down into the sea carrying with her no doubt many other souls who had been either unable or unwilling the leave the vessel. Today the wreck of the SS Arandora Star lies in just over 2000 metres of water in the Rockall Channel, position 56'30N, 10'38W.

Much has been written about what happened during those frantic minutes which elapsed before the SS "Arandora Star" finally sank, with official versions and press reports of events differing significantly from those related by some of the survivors. Stories of insufficient lifeboats with neglected tackle, panic amongst the passengers and crew, even fighting between the various nationalities all added to the controversy that surrounded the event for many years to come. Certainly many of the passengers were unable to gain access to the lifeboats, in particular those who were old and sick or who were on the lower decks of the ship. Fortunately however, the sea was calm and the ship's SOS message was picked up by the radio station at Malin Head. An RAF Sunderland flying boat was quickly dispatched to assess the scene of the sinking and to drop a box containing food and water as well as a message to say that help was on the way. The nearest vessel was the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent which changed course and arrived at 1.30pm. Over the next 10 hours Commander H. G. de Wolf and his crew rescued over 850 survivors of the sinking, some huddled together in the ship's lifeboats and others clinging to small rafts and pieces of floating wreckage. The rescue efforts continued until 4.00 pm and those who had survived were eventually landed at Greenock the following morning at 6.30am on 3 July.

NB The figures quoted in this and the following section are believed to be as accurate as is possible. Different reports and authors give a variety of figures relating to the total numbers of those on board, those who survived and those who were lost - none seem to add up perfectly,

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due perhaps to inaccuracies in record keeping at the time. An explanation of the figures quoted here will appear in later sections.

The sick and injured were treated at Mearnskirk Hospital in Glasgow and by 10 July over 200 of the survivors had been transported back to Liverpool where the following day they were sent aboard the SS Dunera, this time bound for Australia . Ironically, just one day into her voyage, The SS Dunera was attacked by U-56 whilst just off the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides but fortunately both torpedoes failed to hit their target. On 6 September, the SS Dunera arrived in Sydney , Australia after what many described later as an horrendous journey.

THE AFTERMATH OF THE SINKING

Out of the total number of crew, military guard and internees who left Liverpool on 1 July 1940, almost half were lost, presumed drowned. The total figure includes Captain E.W. Moulton and 12 officers together with 45 of the officers and crew, 94 of the military guard, 470 Italian and 243 German nationals. During the weeks and months which followed the sinking, bodies were found in the coastal waters and washed up along the shoreline around the western seaboard of Ireland and the Scottish mainland as well as the islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides . Whilst only a few of the victims could be identified, the finding of lifejackets and even lifeboats bearing the name of the ship gave clues as to the nature and scale of the tragedy. One such life boat was found on the island of Mull where it was visited in 1995 by Margaret Jack of Oban who kindly allowed us to use her photographs.

Arandora Star Lifeboat on Mull [Margaret Jack]

On 10 August 1940, following a spell of strong north- westerly gales, the Western People newspaper of County Mayo carried the headline '100 Dead Bodies Floating In The Sea Off Inniskea.' The sea was so rough that attempts at recovery had to be abandoned and even when bodies were eventually found close to shore, local people took considerable risks in bringing them onto dry land. Similar stories appeared in newspapers serving the counties of Sligo and Donegal and it was obvious that these small, very poor communities were completely inundated

S.S. Arandora Star

by the scale of the disaster - to the extent that it was not possible to carry out an inquest in a majority of cases, let alone provide a coffin or headstone.

The victims of this tragic event were buried in churchyards close to where their bodies were found although, after the end of the war, at the request of their families some were taken home for reburial. The graves of British casualties were initially marked with a simple wooden cross bearing any details which were known and this was later replaced by the familiar headstone of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

In the case of those with no known grave but the sea, their names are commemorated on a variety of memorials to the missing such as at Brookwood in Surrey and Tower Hill in London . The Arandora Star Memorial Chapel at Bardi in Italy commemorates the loss of 42 local men and there are memorials in other small Italian communities. The German Military Cemetery at Glencree in the Irish Republic is understood to contain the remains of 46 unknown German casualties as well as 5 whose bodies were recovered and identified. These, having been buried locally, were re-interred in the late 1950's and early 1960's after an agreement was reached between the two governments in 1959 and responsibility was handed over to the Volksbund Deutsche Kreigsgraberfursorge [German War Graves Commission].

Details of all known burials and memorials will follow in later sections.

Although the bodies of several victims were recovered from the shores of Colonsay and Oronsay in the months following the sinking, details are only known about four of them. As well as Private Jack Edmonds who was one of the military guard and Walfrido Sagramati, one of the Italian internees, the body of Giuseppe Delgrosso was found by islander Donald McNeill and his son whilst they were out gathering sheep along Colonsay's wild western coastline. Giuseppe was born on 20 April 1889 and was a native of the small town of Borgo Val di Taro in Tuscany . At the time of his arrest he had been living in Hamilton near Glasgow , running the family business. He was identified from a scrap of paper bearing his name which was found in his pocket and he was buried near to where he was found at a place called Leum a' Bhriair. His grave was marked with stones and a wooden cross and later, flowers were placed there by islanders and a photograph sent to his family in Hamilton to where his body was returned after the war. It is on the cliffs close to where Giuseppe was buried, that on 2 July 2005, a small inscribed granite plaque in memory of him, his fellow countrymen and all those who died, was unveiled. A memorial cairn was constructed nearby and each year a wreath is laid on the anniversary of the tragic event. [Full details of this will follow]

[Left] Giuseppe Delgrosso Grave 1940 [NationalArchives] [Right] Giuseppe Delgrosso Grave today [Alan Davis]

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Memorial Plaque [Alan Davis]

The fourth victim was found by islanders on Eilean nan Ron, a small islet off the southwest coast of Oronsay . Edmondo Armando Sottocarnola was born on 2 April 1897 in the community of Gargallo in Italy and had been living in London . The tragic event was witnessed by and recently recounted by Francis Troup, an island resident at the time.

"With two other boys I was left on the Oronsay shore while the men went to Eilean nan Ron to see to the sheep, there not being room in the boat if sheep were to be brought across. We saw them carrying something in a tarpaulin up onto the grass. I visited Eilean nan Ron quite often in subsequent years and the name on the cross has remained clearly in my mind. It was Edmondo Armando Sottocarnola. After the war I was told that his body had been removed and, it was thought, taken home to Italy by his relatives. It was generally believed that he had been a chef in London , as indeed so may have been Walfrido Sagramati. The irony and pointlessness of this man's lonely death made a strong impression on me as a boy of 12, an impression that has remained with me for 60 years".

It is now known that Edmondo's body was not returned to Italy and in October 2002 the original simple wooden cross marking his grave was replaced by a replica made and gifted by islander Finlay McFadyen.

POSTSCRIPT

Finally, what happened to the U-Boat which sank the SS Arandora Star on that terrible day in July 1940? In the early days of the war, Kapitanleutnant Gunther Prien had made his name in German naval history as the U-boat commander who, on 14 October 1939, sailed into the heavily defended Scapa Flow Naval Base and sank the British battleship HMS Royal Oak . For this he was decorated personally by Adolf Hitler and thus became the first U-boat Commander to win the Knight's Cross. During his 10 patrols with U-47 between December 1938 and March 1941, he and his crew accounted for the sinking of 31 British ships with a further eight damaged. 

On 7 March 1941 he was killed when U-47 was lost with all hands [45 crew] in the North Atlantic near the Rockall Banks, ironically not far from where the SS Arandora Star was sunk just 8 months earlier. The exact circumstances are still unclear today, however at the time it was thought that U-47 was sunk following a depth-charge attack by the British destroyer HMS Wolverine . The more likely possibility remains however that the fate of U-47 was due to a collision with a mine or perhaps being struck by one of her own torpedoes.

S.S. Arandora Star

Kapitanleutnant Gunther Prien [U-Boat.net]

Kapitanleutnant Prien only discovered the truth about the sinking of the SS Arandora Star when he arrived back at his base four days later. He had fired his final torpedo at a ship which was defensively armed, using a standard evasive tactic and thus as far as he was concerned, had presented itself as a justifiable 'enemy' target.

Eastern Atlantic Chart

S.S. Arandora Star