Hi Graham, No report for SITOEBONO either. I suspect although I am not 100% sure that the ADM series of Survivor's Reports are for British registered ships. What I can tell you for certain is there is no report in the ADM series for her. Regards Hugh
evening Hugh, That's a pity,thanks for telling me. I will continue to search around and see if I can find them.(survivor reports of SS Sitoebono) may not be any? thankyou...........Graham.
Hello Graham, My father was an engineer on the Sitoebondo. This was a Dutch merchant ship of the Rotterdamse Lloyd. The Sitoebondo was also sunk by the U-boat U-371 after they had witnessed the sinking of the Sharistan about one our earlier. What you wrote to Hugh about this is correct and is also all I know about it. My father never spoke about it. From the Azores he went to New York and later to San Francisco and was at sea the whole war. They had to join the American Navy. He returned to the Netherlands in December 1945. If you Google on SS Sharistan you can find it on U-boat.net Best regards, Nely
Hi Nely, Thanks for replying to this thread. I'm still in the process of retyping the survivours reports nearly finished,will upload soon.Havent come across anymore since. Was your father also rescued by the Spanish tanker Campeche? This is the only photo I have of my father throughout his service in WW2.Think it was taken on the Azores,since his war was spent Normandy and NWE, I don't think the british army wore Pith's in NWE.Happy to be corrected on that. regards........Graham.
Hugh, Re: Post 12. Any chance this is Atlantic Standard Time? Tim Edit. Second thoughts that would be a no. When I crossed the Atlantic we altered the clocks in increments of an hour. AT could still be Atlantic Time something. Tim
Tim, According to (worldtimeserver.com) Alantic Standard Time or AST has a UTC offset of -4-00. This means that the time zone is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time.(see the above website for more info) best .....Graham
Yes. I was just trying to think what ATS stood for and got it wrong hence my edit. I now think it may be Atlantic Time Ship. However as far as this thread is concerned Hugh has nailed it with the date difference being a time zone problem. It's a bit like the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour being on 7 December and the invasion of northern Malaya being on 8 December when in fact they took place at the same time. Tim
Hi Graham, In Ponta Delgada it is one hour earlier than in London. So, if the time difference is one hour earlier, the ship was still sunk on the 30th for you. Regards, Nely
Hi Nely, Thanks for the input,these time zones can be very confusing. Just a bit more info about the SS Shahristan.(you may already know this) She was sunk 400 miles WNW of Madeira. position 35.19N, 23.53W -Grid cf 7866. cheers...........Graham.
Do any members know the movement of british naval ships from the Azores, to Freetown, Sierra Leone, during 1/8/1941-20/8/1941 ? Acting on recent information, I believe my father may have been a passenger on one of these vessels. Also looking for confirmation the Dutchess of Bedford left Sierra Leone on 25/9/1941 and discharged at Liverpool 12/10/1941 ? many thanks..........Graham..
Hello Graham, According to Convoyweb, the DUCHESS OF BEDFORD did depart Freetown 25/9/1941 arriving Liverpool 11/10/1941 - get her movement card to confirm - £3.50 to download. BT 389/10/24 Regards Hugh
My father always said he loved Sierra Leone.I have his service record and most of his war diaries throughout ww2 (NWE) and there is no mention of him ever being there. My research tells me, after being torpedoed (post #1) he was picked up by the Spanish tanker Campeche and taken to the Azores and then returned to the UK via the british warship HMS Jupiter. However, a few days before Christmas (2017) a member of this forum sent me a pm which has caused me to have a re-think. He tells me his grandfather was a survivor of SS Shahristan,and was in a lifeboat for 10 days before being picked up by the Spanish tanker Campeche, and like my father was taken to the Azores.There is a possibility he was in the same lifeboat as my father. He also said that,to avoid the possibility of being interred by the Portuguese, which was neutral, his grandfather with others were hidden aboard a british naval vessel and taken from the Azores to Freetown Sierra Leone.(This would back up what my father said) Sadly this members grandfathers health deteriorated after 10 days in a lifeboat, on the Atlantic, he never fully recovered from his ordeal and was discharged 1/4/1942 and died aged 46 in 1953. Graham
Giving this thread a bump, Recently acquired this photo, which complements this thread. Taken sometime between Aug, and the end of Sept 1941. I believe this photo was taken in Sierra Leon (my father is seated on the right Cyril Arthur Adams, Dvr, RASC) prior to being repatriated back to the uk, following his experience on the SS Shahristan, (see previous post #33) Can anyone put a name to the other soldiers in the photo ? Graham.
