Ship Sinking???

[Tonym]

I have two Nursing Sisters died at sea 21st December 1942. One is buried in Le Petit Lac Cemetery, Algiers. Can anybody suggest a ship , possibly Hospital Ship, sunk off North Africa on that date. Was that 'Operation Torch'?

Grateful for any advice.

Tony

[Peter Clare]

Hi Tony, all I could find is the following ......

21 December 1942.

Near Oran the troopship Stathallan 23,722 t (P&O SN Co liner) was torpedoed by U 562 and sank on 22 December after a fire broke out while under tow; she had been carrying over 4,600 troops and nurses and 430 crew but it reported that only four of her crew died.

As far as I can see only two other ships were lost on that day....
The Queen City east of Para, Brazil and the Montreal City east of Newfoundland.

Regards.
Peter.

[spidge]

Hi Tony,

This ship lost four crew only according to this site:

The Strathallan Story - History of The Strathallan

[spidge]

This site gives six crew casualties with all other crew, Soldiers and the 250 nurses surviving.

Ahoy - Mac's Web Log - SS Strathallan torpedoed by U-562 December 21st. 1942, 250 Nurses and 4,000 troops are rescued

They may have died on land or a ship being bombed that did not sink.

[ADM199]

Originally Posted by Tonym

I have two Nursing Sisters died at sea 21st December 1942. One is buried in Le Petit Lac Cemetery, Algiers. Can anybody suggest a ship , possibly Hospital Ship, sunk off North Africa on that date. Was that 'Operation Torch'?

Grateful for any advice.

Tony

Hi Tony,
where is the other casualty Buried or Remembered.

[ADM199]

Originally Posted by Tonym

I have two Nursing Sisters died at sea 21st December 1942. One is buried in Le Petit Lac Cemetery, Algiers. Can anybody suggest a ship , possibly Hospital Ship, sunk off North Africa on that date. Was that 'Operation Torch'?

Grateful for any advice.

Tony

Hi Tony,
the casualties were definately from the Strathallan. There were possibly 4 or so other Nursing Casualties who are remembered on the Brookwood Memorial.

Hope this helps

[spidge]

1 DAVIDSON, JANET MacFARLANE, J M Sister 234420Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service21/12/1942 29 Plot E. Row D. Grave 27.
The British Journal of nursing has notified only the above killed on that day.

http://rcnarchive.rcn.org.uk/data/VO...91-may1943.pdf

[ADM199]

Originally Posted by spidge

1 DAVIDSON, JANET MacFARLANE, J M Sister 234420Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service21/12/1942 29 Plot E. Row D. Grave 27.
The British Journal of nursing has notified only the above killed on that day.

http://rcnarchive.rcn.org.uk/data/VO...91-may1943.pdf

Hi Geoff,
The British Journal Of Nursing appears to be out of date with their Records.Perhaps they just refer to Burials.
The Brookwood Memorial records the death of four others on that date. --Sister Teresa Doran No.231752 -- Sister Esther Hadridge N.234968 -- Sister Edna May Mawston No.223620 -- Sister Helen Porterfield No.246676. All are Remembered on Panel 22 Column 2.

[Tonym]

Thanks Peter - Spidge & ADM199

Hope you don't mind me giving a general answer, should cover all your points.

I do have two sisters recorded - Sister Helen Porterfield (Brookwood Memorial) and Sister Janet MacFarlane (Algeria). Hadn't got around to trawling the Brookwood Memorial burial records will have to do that next.
I did Google and found details of SS. Strathallan but they gave no implication of nursing fatalities.
One of the accounts had a picture of a Sister Anne Dullard who, I have since learnt, survived the war.
It therefore appears that there were five nursing casualties that we know of; one, Sister MacFarlane, I have to assume was rescued and died ashore so what, I wonder, happened to the others?
I note from some of the reports that Destroyers were picking up survivors from the sea, so one has to assume that the other unfortunate ladies drowned.
I know that 'assumption' is a forbidden word in research but in this case, unless someone can come up with another major incident on 21.12.42, we will have to 'assume' that they were casualties of the Strathallen incident.

Thanks for your help chaps

Tony

[ADM199]

Originally Posted by Tonym

Thanks Peter - Spidge & ADM199

Hope you don't mind me giving a general answer, should cover all your points.

I do have two sisters recorded - Sister Helen Porterfield (Brookwood Memorial) and Sister Janet MacFarlane (Algeria). Hadn't got around to trawling the Brookwood Memorial burial records will have to do that next.
I did Google and found details of SS. Strathallan but they gave no implication of nursing fatalities.
One of the accounts had a picture of a Sister Anne Dullard who, I have since learnt, survived the war.
It therefore appears that there were five nursing casualties that we know of; one, Sister MacFarlane, I have to assume was rescued and died ashore so what, I wonder, happened to the others?
I note from some of the reports that Destroyers were picking up survivors from the sea, so one has to assume that the other unfortunate ladies drowned.
I know that 'assumption' is a forbidden word in research but in this case, unless someone can come up with another major incident on 21.12.42, we will have to 'assume' that they were casualties of the Strathallen incident.

Thanks for your help chaps

Tony

Tony,
the Brookfield Memorial has been trawled.What I have given you is all the Q.A.I.N.S. Casualties for that date. There are others Remembered on different dates.The ones that stand out most are ; 12/2/44 and 7/12/42.
Sister MacFarlanes remains were obviously recovered for burial.
When some one is Remembered on a Memorial this indicates that no Identifiable remains were recovered. This doesn't necessarily mean they haven't got a grave as they could be buried in an unmarked grave.
Hope this clears the point up.

Brian