Thread: W.C Teagle Oct 1941 North Atlantic

OK as you know the teagle was 9552 tonnes, and sunk on convoy SC48. she was sunk by UBoat 17 Oct 1941 U-558 Captained by Günther Krech.

Notes from Uboat.net

At 01.31 hours on 17 Oct, 1941, U-558 fired one torpedo at W.C. Teagle in station #103 of convoy SC-48 and sank her about 600 miles west of Rockall. Erviken in station #104 and Rym in station #85 both slowed down to pick up survivors, the latter actually had to alter course to avoid a collision. At 01.49 hours, the U-boat sank the stopped Erviken with a stern torpedo. Seeing this the Rym immediately tried to reach the convoy again at full speed but was chased not only by U-558 but also by U-432 (Schultze), which observed how Krech torpedoed and sank her at 02.14 hours.

The W.C. Teagle (Master Harold Redvers Barlow) was hit on the starboard side aft, caught fire and sank suddenly by the stern after 5 minutes before most of the crew were able to abandon ship. Nine survivors were picked up by HMS Broadwater (H 81) (Cdr W.M.L. Astwood, RN (rtd)), but were lost when the destroyer was sunk the next night. Eventually the only survivor was radio operator Norman D. Houston, who rescued himself on a raft, observed Erviken being torpedoed nearby and was picked up by HMS Veronica (K 37) (LtCdr D.F. White, RNR (rtd)) after about 4 hours and landed at Londonderry. The master, 31 crew members and three gunners (the ship was armed with one 4in and six machine guns) were lost.

So 9 individuals were rescued from the first sinking, not 2.

For the story of the battle of the convoy go to here

For records of survivors picked up have you contacted the naval historical branch? unfortunately as veronica was a flower class corvette then I am afraid her log books were not saved due to the limited storage space during the war so you will need to go around about the houses to discover which survivors were picked up.

Yes Thanks, I was just keeping it brief, I do know that there where more picked up from the teagle and i was consentrating on the Radio operator that survived, and I know he was not picked up onto the Broadwater anyway, I would like to make contact with his son. The report that a Gunner was picked up onto the Broadwater is of great interest as stated there where only two Gunners on the Teagle, one not being reported as being picked up on any of Convoy 48 ships the other onto Broadwater but not named. I want to be able to find original crew lists and any reports stating who was picked up, as this would give final answer to what happened to my Grandad.

Anyone out there a relative of anyone on H.M.S. Broadwater or W.C. Teagle ?

I have the reports of the sinking of both ships and the statement from the Radio operator.

Thankyou very much for your input and am getting bits off everyone that are helping with the little details I am looking for. Julie.

Just noticed on your report you posted it stated 3 Gunners, all my reports state two so I really need to get a crew list.

no , just ignore me. its Veronica that returned with 3 Gunners. Too much info in my mind!

don't worry about it.

The problem is that you are unlikely to get any crew listings. all this happened in Oct 1941. By March 1940 all log books from every merchant ship and Naval ship that was smaller than a Cruiser were automatically destroyed as the Admiralty did not have enough storage space for all of the paperwork.

The only chance you may have is to contact the Royal Naval historical Branch, i just hope they are more helpful on the phone than the RAF branch is. Have you also put this up on Red Duster?

Thanks, I will try the Royal Naval Historical Branch. I believe that there is some form of a list of who was on the Teagle either Naval or Army (he was Royal Artillery) as it was only in 2002 that my father was told by an ex-naval guy who did research for him that my Grandfather was on the Teagle, another Gunner from the same regiment was also recorded as being on the same ship so it must be listed somewhere, sounds like I need to go down the Naval route.

Excuse my ignorance but what is Red Duster?

Kind Regards,
Julie.

OK Red Duster is the nickname for the merchant navy's red ensign. Red duster is also the name of the merchant navy website.

sorry i didn't clock your father was RA, that means he was probably classed as a DEMS Gunner [Defence Equipped Merchant Ship], my bad.

What you need to do is go straight to the RA museum and historical section, and also get hold of your fathers service records, which will give his postings etc.

Aw great, thanks for that, I have seen DEMS written down plenty of times so now I know what that is! Coincidentataly, I have just posted today a request for his service records so I am on the right track. I still believe that information regarding a crew list is available somewhere?? As I know we where given specific information stating that he was on the teagle , this coming from a Ex-naval gent in 2002 who is no longer with us, so we cannot find out where he got his info. I will keep trying untill I find out the whereabouts, it is out there!!

Kind Regards, GREATLY appreciated...will let you know