The liberty ship SS Fort Macpherson was hit by a controlled bomb that went through a cabin but failed to explode. Two Royal Engineers were on board and managed to deal with it and dropped it overboard. They were both awarded The George Cross. Has anyone got a photo of the ship?
Aug. 6, 1954 Photograph by Walter E. Frost. Source: S.S. Labrador [at dock] - City of Vancouver Archives
My maternal uncle, Peter Kinsey, was on board during this incident. He joined her on 02.06.1944 - just in time for D-Day and the Normandy Landings on 06.06.1944 for which she carried men and stores. On the 10/11 June she was hit by a bomb which caused damage and penetrated deep into the ship but did not explode. She suffered other bomb damage at various times but my uncle stayed with her for the rest of the war and finally left her on 27.11.1945. Many thanks to Temujin for providing the photo and re-naming details
The SS FORT McPHERSON a liberty ship, was sailing in convoy from London docks to Normandy when it was hit by a guided bomb that went through the aft cabin and ended up in the coal bunker without exploading. On board was 756 Field Squadron Royal Engineers and Captain Burdett and Corporal Jackson tackled it and threw it overboard for which they were awarded the George Cross. I am looking for a drawing that shows a cross section that shows the stern and the cabin and coal bunker. Can you help? Thank you, best wishes
Bala, Canadian built Fort boats, though related to Liberty ships, are different in a number of respects. If you go to resources and look for The Story of the Liberty Ships, which I posted on 20 December you can compare them. The book was called Workhorse of the Fleet New Resource - The story of the Liberty Ship
Intrusting to here that - A couple more bits of info: 11 June 1944 Damaged by bombs at position 50° 2N/00° 36W 26 July 1944 at Victoria Dock, London, damaged by Flying bomb
My father was the Captain Burdett who defused this bomb and with his Corporal Jackson supervised getting it overboard. He was awarded the George Medal not the George Cross.
Another resource on the Canadian built Fort & Park ships including the various RN conversions as Maintenance & Repair ships and the US built Oceans. Fort Ships of WW2 Homepage
