SS Eumaeus
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| The British passenger/cargoship Eumaeus was torpedoed and shelled by Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini and sank 118 miles W of Cape Sierra Leone.The records of Lloyds list 23 British fallen and 63 survivors, but the war log of the Cappellini clearly describes a "swarming" of troops getting away from the ship. Apparently this was a troop transport ship directed to Egypt. This image above shows her on the River Mersey on a date unknown, after leaving Wallasey Docks. |
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 My thanks to Sheila & Clive Robinson for the two images of text above |
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email: Feb 2014:
Regarding the sinking of SS Eumaeus, it was indeed a troop carrier as my father, Stanley Marcel Guttridge, was one of the survivors spending 12 hours in shark infested waters watching his friends being taken. He only survived because he returned to his bunk to retrieve a picture of my mum (very romantic) and put his jumper on which protected him from the sun as others ended up suffering terrible heatstroke. There is a letter in the Daily Mirror in the 1960’s (I’m not sure my Dad still has the clipping) from a radio operator who first picked up the distress call. Apparently he had been reading a ‘penny dreadful’ and had not shut his radio off at the correct time and although saving numerous lives was reprimanded. I will try and find the clipping and give you more information. Dad is 92 and still going strong. Kind regards Stella Hunt (nee Guttridge) |
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Above is a painting of the action by the artist David Thorp of www.battlefields-art.com |
Italian Submarine Comandante Cappellini |
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| A strange life, captured by the Japs after the Italian surrender, became a German U boat (UIT 24) and captured by the Japs again in 1945 then by the USA before it was scuttled in 1946. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_submarine_Comandante_Cappellini
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