laconia cruise ship fire

Cruising The Past Cruise News

Rms titanic – photos talen onboard on the last voyage, the tsms lakonia….

Posted by: Michael Grace April 23, 2012

Fire at sea… the last moments for the TSMS LAKONIA.

The passenger ship TSMS Lakonia, sailed by Greek Line, was sailing on a Christmas cruise on December 22, 1963 around 11 pm while the ship was about 180 miles north of Madeira when fire broke out.

There were 646 passengers and 376 crewmen on board: a total of 1,022 people. All but 21 of the passengers were British citizens, and the crew members were mostly Greek and German. The captain of the Lakonia was 53-year-old Mathios Zarbis.

The Lakonia looking simply superb and ready for another cruise.

Evacuation of the ship was extremely difficult. Some lifeboats burned before they could be lowered. Two of the lifeboats were swamped, spilling their occupants into the sea; one when it was lowered only by one end, and the other when its davits broke off. Chains had rusted in many of the davits, making boats difficult or impossible to move. In the end, just over half of the lifeboats made it safely away from the Lakonia, some of them less than half full. Several people who dived overboard struck the side of the ship on the way down, killing them before they hit the water.

When all of the boats were away, there were still people adrift in the water and over 100 people left on board the burning ship. The Lakonia continued to burn fiercely and was rocked by violent explosions. Those who remained on board flocked to the glass-enclosed Agora Shopping Center at the stern of the ship. After several hours, the flames closed in on them, and they were forced to descend ropes and rope ladders into the ocean. The port and starboard gangways were lowered as well, and people walked down the gangways single file into the sea.

At 3:30 a.m., four hours after the first distress call, the 495-foot (151 m) Argentine passenger ship Salta arrived on the scene. The Salta, under the command of Captain José Barrere, had been on its way from Genoa, Italy to Buenos Aires. The 440-foot (130 m) British tanker Montcalm arrived half an hour later at 4:00 a.m. The majority of the survivors were saved by these two ships. The Salta rescued 475 people and took aboard most of Lakonia’s lifeboats.

In the hours that followed, the Belgian ship Charlesville, the Brazilian freighter Rio Grande, the British passenger ship Stratheden and the Panamanian freighter Mehdi all arrived to take part in the rescue. Each of the rescue vessels dispatched boats to pluck survivors from the water. Also, four United States Air Force C-54 planes were sent from the Lajes Air Base in the Azores. The planes dropped flares, lifejackets, life rafts and survival kits to people in the water.

A total of 128 people died in the Lakonia disaster, of which 95 were passengers and 33 were crew members. Only 53 people were killed in the actual fire. The rest died from exposure, drowning and injuries sustained while diving overboard

Lakonia had originally been the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt operated by Netherland Line and later by Holland America Line.

Read more by clicking here…

Popular Articles

May 1, 2024

Coulter’s Steamlined Modern Department Store Miracle Mile Los Angeles

April 3, 2024

THE LARK – All-Pullman Sleeper Train – Overnight – San Francisco to Los Angeles

April 1, 2024

California’s Old Movie Palaces New Video

March 12, 2024

Berlin’s Famous Hotel Adlon Five Stars

March 1, 2024

Judy Garland Premiere of A Star Is Born

February 14, 2024

© 2024-2025 Cruise The Past All Rights Reserved.

Any copying or reproduction of images or media herein is strictly prohibited.

• CONTACT MICHAEL GRACE
• Refine your search results by reviewing SEARCH TIPS
• Site tech support provided by Ted Angel

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

This Day In History : September 12

Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows

The Laconia is sunk

A German U-boat sinks a British troop ship, the Laconia, killing more than 1,400 men on September 12, 1942. The commander of the German sub, Capt. Werner Hartenstein, realizing that Italians POWs were among the passengers, strove to aid in their rescue.

The Laconia, a former Cunard White Star ship put to use to transport troops, including prisoners of war, was in the South Atlantic bound for England when it encountered U-156, a German sub. The sub attacked, sinking the troop ship and imperiling the lives of more than 2,200 passengers. But as Hartenstein, the sub commander, was to learn from survivors he began taking onboard, among those passengers were 1,500 Italians POWs. Realizing that he had just endangered the lives of so many of his fellow Axis members, he put out a call to an Italian submarine and two other German U-boats in the area to help rescue the survivors.

In the meantime, one French and two British warships sped to the scene to aid in the rescue. The German subs immediately informed the Allied ships that they had surfaced for humanitarian reasons. The Allies assumed it was a trap. Suddenly, an American B-24 bomber, the Liberator, flying from its South Atlantic base on Ascension Island, saw the German sub and bombed it—despite the fact that Hartenstein had draped a Red Cross flag prominently on the hull of the surfaced sub. The U-156, damaged by the air attack, immediately submerged. Admiral Karl Donitz, supreme commander of the German U-boat forces, had been monitoring the rescue efforts. He ordered that “all attempts to rescue the crews of sunken ships…cease forthwith.” Consequently, more than 1,400 of the Laconia 's passengers, which included Polish guards and British crewmen, drowned.

Also on This Day in History September | 12

Mae jemison becomes first black woman in space, tea party protest draws thousands to washington, d.c., harlem globetrotters’ 8,829-game winning streak snapped.

This Day in History Video: What Happened on September 12

New floating bridge opens in seattle; i-90 stretches from coast to coast, nikita khrushchev elected soviet leader.

Wake Up to This Day in History

Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. Get all of today's events in just one email featuring a range of topics.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

Violence erupts in Boston over desegregation busing

Lascaux cave paintings discovered, sugar ray robinson wins back belt, john f. kennedy marries jacqueline bouvier in newport, rhode island, hopalong cassidy rides off into his last sunset, singer-songwriter barry white is born, poets elizabeth barrett and robert browning elope, first season of “entourage”—a tv show about life in hollywood—comes to an end, hurricane gilbert slams jamaica.

Lakonia Disaster (1963)

The Greek cruise ship TSMS Lakonia left Southampton on 19 December 1963 for an 11-day Christmas cruise of the Canary Islands. She carried 646 passengers and 376 crew: a total of 1,022 people.

The ship’s first scheduled stop was to be the island of Madeira.

A fire broke out onboard at around 11.00 pm on 22 December when the ship was about 180 miles north of Madeira. Most of the passengers were in the ship’s ballroom and as the fire spread, alarms sounded too softly to be heard by most people aboard.

As smoke began to fill the ballroom at about 11.30 pm, the band stopped playing and the frightened passengers were ushered to the boat deck. The upper deck was ablaze within 10 minutes.

The direction to abandon ship was given shortly before 1.00 am but the evacuation was hampered by the overcrowding of lifeboats and the loss of several boats to fire.

Just over half of the lifeboats made it safely away from Lakonia , and some of them less than half full.

128 people were killed in the disaster. Some deaths were caused by the fire itself, others by accidents when abandoning ship, and others by exposure or drowning in the sea. Several people who dived overboard struck the side of the ship on the way down, killing them before they hit the water.

On 24 December ocean tugs took Lakonia in tow and tried to tow her to Gibraltar. But the ship had developed a list and on 29 December, she sank in the Atlantic, 230 nautical miles southwest of Lisbon, Portugal.

A board of inquiry traced the fire to faulty electrical wiring but strongly criticised the maintenance of equipment, thoroughness of lifeboat drills, and the standard of supervision. The board of inquiry ruled that the order to abandon ship was given too late, operations on deck were not supervised by responsible officers, and the crew – except for a few acts of self-sacrifice – failed to rescue sleeping passengers from their cabins below decks.

Eight of the ship’s officers were charged with negligence.

The Lakonia was originally launched in 1929 for Netherland Line as the ocean liner Johan van Oldenbarnevelt . She served in the Second World War as an Allied troopship. She was refitted several times and in 1962 she became the Greek Line cruise ship TSMS Lakonia , operating cruises out of Southampton.

Related Posts

Comments are closed.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

The Sinking of the Laconia

September 12, 1942. During the Second World War, a German U-boat sinks the RMS Laconia, killing over 1,600 of the British liner’s passengers.

It’s September 12th, 1942, and the RMS Laconia, a British ocean liner, is making its way up the Atlantic coast of Africa. Fourteen-year-old Josephine Frame sits in her family’s cabin, upset. Her parents have gone dancing, but she is been told to remain behind to watch her little brother Alex. Jo is bored to tears. Their trip from South Africa to England has already felt like a lifetime. And the one chance she gets to experience something exciting—beautiful dresses, music, and dancing, and she is forced to babysit in a cramped cabin. She’s half made up her mind to leave her brother on his own and head to the ballroom… when Jo is knocked off her feet.

The entire ship rattles and shudders. Before she can make sense of what has happened... another explosion rocks the cabin. The sound is deafening. And Jo’s ears ring. She jumps to her brother’s side and holds him tightly.

Only moments later, the cabin door bursts open, and Jo’s father, still dressed for the ballroom, is in a panic. He orders Jo and her brother to put their life jackets on over their pajamas and come with him.

Her right hand gripped tight in her father’s, and her left hand holding her brother, Jo rushes out of the cabin. She can feel the ship listing to the right, the hallway ahead tilting like a funhouse. A frightened crowd streams to the deck and begins lining up to board lifeboats. With shaking arms, Jo’s father lifts her and her brother up and over the gunwale. Jo’s mother, already in the boat, snatches them close and holds them tight. But Jo’s father doesn’t climb in. He and many of the other men stay behind as the lifeboat begins to lower, only to jerk to a stop as another mother or child begs to be let on.

All around is chaos. As their raft lowers, the lifeboat next to Jo accidentally tips, causing a woman to drop her baby into the sea. Her screams are inhuman, a terrible sound Jo feels in her spine.

By the time Jo’s boat touches water, there are some sixty people aboard, twice the intended capacity, with even more in the sea, clinging to the sides. All around them, bodies float and bob. Jo shuts her eyes, but she can still hear the screams and wails all around her. And then… another explosion, but this time from the ship’s hissing boilers as they fill with seawater.

Jo’s eyes blink open and she sees the ship’s stern heave out of the water. Steam and oil geyser from tears in the hull, until the whole ship slips under the surface.

The RMS Laconia is a victim of a U-boat attack, struck by two German torpedoes. As Jo and hundreds of others struggle to survive in the churning waters, the U-boat’s captain will make two decisions—one to rescue as many lives as he can, and a second, to issue a cry for help that ultimately dooms far more to a watery end than just those aboard when the Laconia sank on September 12th, 1942.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily .

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is September 12th, 1942: The Sinking of the Laconia.

Act One: The Captain

It’s September 12th, 1942, aboard German U-boat 156 Plauen, and Captain Werner Hartenstein is on the hunt. Tonight, Captain Hartenstein’s U-boat is patrolling the Atlantic, 900 miles south of Freetown, Sierra Leone. He keeps the vessel under the surface of the water, silently stalking a shipping lane for his next prey. Admiral Karl Donitz, the supreme commander of the German Navy's U-boat fleet, has given Captain Hartenstein his orders - sink any ships carrying troops or armaments heading to Great Britain. Germany fears a military build-up in England could enable the Allies to invade German-occupied Europe. So on Admiral Donitz’s orders, Hartenstein picks off Allied ships one by one. Already, he’s sunk over 20, and significantly damaged an American warship - the USS Blakeley. In all, he has sunk almost 100,000 tons of Allied weapons and material. Just one more tally mark and Hartenstein knows he might receive the Ritterkreuz, or Knight’s Cross, the highest German military honor.

Then, just after sunset, one of Hartenstein’s lookouts notices a plume of smoke on the horizon. The Captain orders battle stations and sets a course toward the unsuspecting target, the RMS Laconia.

The Laconia was once a luxury liner which catered to Britain’s elite. Built in 1921 as part of the same fleet as the infamous ships Titanic and Lusitania, the Laconia is now in the sunset of her life on the sea. At the start of the war, the vessel was commandeered by the British Navy as a troop vessel. Fitted with defensive guns, it has since been ferrying British troops to the fight in Northern Africa. Now returning from its most recent voyage to Egypt, the Laconia makes a long voyage around Africa. With rumors of U-boats in the area, the captain of Laconia steers her on a zig-zag course, hoping to evade attack because on this trip, the Laconia is not just carrying troops, but hundreds of Italian prisoners of war, and just as many civilians. But tragically, the crew has failed to properly mark the ship to indicate it carries women, children, and POWs.

So as U-156 gets into visual range and Captain Hartenstein peers through his periscope, he can clearly see the Laconia’s gun mountings and the ship’s zig-zag maneuvers. It must be a British Navy vessel. And once he stealthily gets his U-boat into range, the Captain gives the order to fire. Two torpedoes glide through the water and strike their target in horrible explosions Captain Hartenstein can feel from thousands of yards away. The Laconia lurches, shakes, and begins sinking fast. Eager to tally the cargo of the ship before it sinks, Hartenstein orders his U-boat to the surface. He climbs the ladder and opens the hatch. But when the Captain lays his eyes on the wreckage, he is horrified. 

Floating among burning debris are two thousand survivors. Some are crammed tightly into lifeboats, while others scream for help as they try to keep their heads above water. Captain Hartenstein’s heart drops when he realizes that many are civilians, and some are women and children. He would never have fired on the ship if he had known.

But the situation only gets worse when Captain Hartenstein discovers that the Laconia was also transporting almost eighteen hundred Italian prisoners of war, allies of Germany, many went down with the ship. But those who did manage to make it to the surface now cry out for rescue and attempt to board the lifeboats—but British survivors push them back into the sea. They fear the Italians will capsize their boat, or worse, take it over. So as the Italians scramble to get a hold of the gunwales of the boats, British passengers hack at their hands with axes. Blood fills the water, and sharks arrive, hungry and expectant. Captain Hartenstein knows he must act.

He orders his men to pull as many survivors from the water as they can. The German crew gathers additional lifeboats from the wreckage of the Laconia and then fills them with as many people as they can haul up from the sea. Simultaneously. Captain Hartenstein sends a message to U-boat command informing them of the dire situation.

Because of the large number of Italian POWs among the survivors, German Admiral Donitz immediately orders three other U‑boats to join the rescue effort. By daybreak on September 13th, Captain Hartenstein’s crew have pulled more than 190 survivors from the water. They crowd the top of his U-boat. In tow, four lifeboats hold another 200 men, women, and children. But there are even more still in the water.

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of survivors, Captain Hartenstein will make a fateful decision to broadcast an urgent plea to anyone who might receive his message, Axis or Ally. He will pledge not to attack any ship that arrives to assist the Laconia survivors, but he will not get the same guarantee in return.

Act Two: The Hero

It’s September 16th, 1942, and Captain Hartenstein peers over the water for some sign of relief for the survivors and his crew. It's been four long days since he made the tragic mistake of torpedoing the Laconia. Now he leads a convoy of German subs slowly ferrying a small fleet of lifeboats toward rescue. They have managed to save some 1000 passengers, and the humbled Captain has done his best to try and earn their forgiveness and care for their needs. But his efforts have not been without loss. The night after the Laconia sank, waves capsized one of the rafts, losing several passengers to the depths. And with each loss of life, Captain Hartenstein can’t help but feel responsible.

Many of the survivors feel the same, and at first, they did not trust the German Captain, insisting that they try to make the 900-mile journey to Freeport on their own. But Captain Hartenstein convinced them that such a trip would be suicide, and with great kindness and respect proved to them that they were all safer in his care. He brought the sick and injured aboard his U-boat for treatment. The crew shared their cigarettes with the survivors, and took special care with the women and children, ensuring they had plenty of food, drink, and medicine. Captain Hartenstein could not have been more hospitable, even in peacetime. But he doesn’t know how much longer he can feed and care for so many. So as the 1000 survivors bake in the sun, Captain Hartenstein desperately hopes that someone has heard the distress call he'd broadcast, and watches anxiously, scanning the horizon for signs of relief.

But across the vastness of the ocean, there is nothing—until a small speck appears in the sky. A plane approaches, and soon Captain Hartenstein is able to identify it as an American B-24D Liberator.

The British, French, and Americans all heard Captain Hartenstein’s call for help. But British forces in Freetown thought it must be a trap, and did not send assistance. French authorities of the German-allied Vichy government also heard the message. Though they had ordered two French warships to assist, they were far off and have not yet arrived. The Americans sent out an aircraft.

And as it approaches, Captain Hartenstein urgently orders his crew to unfurl a Red Cross flag atop the U‑boat’s bridge, hoping the bomber will see that they are on a rescue mission. He tries to communicate with the crew of the Liberator by Morse code but is unsuccessful. The bomber flies past the convoy and fades away, as does the Captain’s hope for assistance.

But aboard that B‑24 bomber, the crew is composed entirely of new recruits. They radio the nearest allied base to ask for orders of how to proceed with what they’ve seen and they receive back just two words, “Sink sub.”

Captain Hartenstein sees the plane turn in the distance, and wonders if he has gotten their attention. But then he sees the bomb bay doors open. Before he can properly react, three bombs drop from the plane. The ocean explodes all around the convoy, barely missing their targets. Captain Hartenstein knows he must order his U-boats to dive, but he can’t drag the lifeboats down with him. As the plane makes a wide turn to come around for a second run, Captain Hartenstein orders his crew to cut the lifeboats free. He then shouts for the survivors atop the U-boat’s decks to put on their life jackets and jump into the sea. Some survivors, like fourteen-year-old Josephine Frame, are hurried below deck before the hatch is sealed and the sub goes into a steep dive. The other U-boats scatter and dive, too—but Captain Hartenstein is not fast enough. Two more bombs fall, one striking his U-boat’s control room. Smoke billows from the sub as it vanishes beneath the ocean, leaving the lifeboats adrift.

When German Admiral Donitz hears the news of the attack on Hartenstein’s sub, he smolders with fury. He orders Hartenstein and the others to resurface as soon as they are able and unload all survivors who are not Italian prisoners of war. That order is soon followed, and to Captain Hartenstein’s dismay, the rescue effort is abandoned, and the British survivors are left to drift at sea. The following day, on September 17th, 1942, Admiral Donitz issues a second, more consequential command: there will be no rescue of any future survivors of ships sunk by the German Navy. Soon known as the “Laconia Order,” this directive will be responsible for countless deaths throughout the rest of the war, ensuring that even after the survivors are rescued, the sinking of the Laconia will continue to cost lives.

Act Three: The Honored

It’s Tuesday, September 12th, 2017 in the town of Plauen, Germany, and with her granddaughter’s help, 89-year-old Josephine Frame, now known as Josephine Pratchett slowly makes her way to St. Paul’s Church. Though she is exhausted from her flight from England, she is determined not to be late for the ceremony. As one of the last living survivors of the Laconia incident, Jo is here to pay her respects at the unveiling of a plaque, made in honor of one of the church’s former members, Captain Werner Hartenstein—to whom Jo owes her life. 

Many years ago, Jo and some of the other survivors from the Laconia met in Plauen to celebrate Captain Hartenstein’s kindness. Sadly, it was the only way they could give him their thanks, as Captain Hartenstein did not survive the war. He died on March 8th, 1943, when a U.S. Navy seaplane dropped a depth-charged and sank U-boat 156. Many years later, in 2002, Jo and others created a charity in his honor, named the International Submarine Connection U 156 Plauen, or ISCP. And ever since on September 12th, ISCP members made a visit to Plauen—the German town which lent its name to Captain Hartenstein’s U-boat. Now, on the 75th Anniversary of the sinking of the Laconia, a plaque is being dedicated to honor the memory of the Captain who saved so many lives.

Jo is welcomed by Captain Hartenstein’s nephew, as well as the families of other survivors whom she has gotten to know over the years. Jo’s granddaughter is amazed at how many families there are—and then suddenly realizes that there would be none if it weren’t for Captain Hartenstein.

When they unveil the plaque, commissioned by the British survivors of the Laconia, it brings tears to Jo’s eyes. The inscription reads, “Dedicated to the memory of Captain Werner Hartenstein…whose bravery and humanity in time of war saved the lives of more than 1,000 people after the sinking of the troop ship ‘Laconia’ on the 12th of September, 1942.”

Next on History Daily.  September 13th, 1987 after a canister containing radioactive material is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Brazil, four people die.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily , hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mischa Stanton.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Erik Archilla.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.

Recent Episodes

• The Supreme Court Abolishes Segregation in Public Schools
• The First Woman to Climb Mount Everest
• The First McDonald’s Opens
• Louis XIV Becomes King of France
• The Attempted Assassination of Pope John Paul II
• Saturday Matinee: Warlords of History
• The First Phone Call from the White House
• Dana International Wins the Eurovision Song Contest
• John S. Pemberton Sells the First Glass of Coca-Cola

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Alan Bleasdale drama sets the record straight on heroic U-boat captain

One of the unsung heroes of the allied effort in the second world war was a German U-boat commander. This is the unlikely truth to be revealed in a two-part television drama by Alan Bleasdale – his first for a decade. The Sinking of the Laconia , which begins on BBC2 on Thursday, tells of the extraordinary events that took place in the South Atlantic in September 1942. The story has been put together by Bleasdale after five years of research and in the face of opposition from those whose reputations are damaged by his account.

The drama is an account of the bravery of Commander Werner Hartenstein, the German submariner who put his own life and the lives of his U-boat crew at risk to save hundreds of passengers on board the RMS Laconia, a requisitioned cruise liner armed and bound for Britain, which had been torpedoed on Hartenstein's orders 600 miles off the coast of west Africa.

"No U-boat captain who would sit on the surface all that time and risk his own life is a bad man," said Commander Geoffrey Greet, an English survivor of the Laconia, recalling the events of 1942 this weekend. "I didn't think much of him at first – after all, he had killed 2,000 of my fellow passengers. But by the end, I admired him."

Greet, 91, believes that Bleasdale's drama, filmed on location in the South Atlantic, will set the record straight about one of the most controversial maritime incidents of the war.

After firing two torpedoes at the unsuspecting Laconia on the evening of 12 September, Hartenstein realised that many of the 3,000 people on board were civilians, women, children or Italian prisoners of war. In a series of urgent telegrams to Nazi high command, the U-boat commander announced his intention to rescue as many as he could. British naval forces distrusted Hartenstein's pleas for help and later, in a terrible miscalculation, US bombers attempted to sink his submarine, the U-156, even though it was laden with survivors and draped with a red cross.

"From time to time I go back over it all in my mind and I think for Hartenstein it was a little bit of 'the brotherhood of the sea'. He was trying to help the women and children and the Italian prisoners," said Greet. "I can remember his face so clearly. I would describe him as slightly hatchet-faced and very serious all the time. He desperately tried to convince us he was doing something that was for our own good."

Hartenstein is played by German actor Ken Duken in Bleasdale's film, while Andrew Buchan, the star of Garrow's Law , plays a British officer, Thomas Mortimer, based on the Laconia survivor Thomas Buckingham.

"So many of the nationalities involved in this incident didn't want the story to be told," said Buchan, who met survivors after making the film. "I believe the Americans in particular didn't want the facts to come out. Whether or not the crew of the B-24 bomber did or did not see the red cross remains hazy."

Greet, who was returning home to England on the Laconia after three years serving on a converted troop ship, clearly remembers the moment the first torpedo struck as he was waiting for his evening meal by his bunk on the fourth deck.

"I knew very well what a torpedo sounded like and I knew we would sink because, if not, the U-boat would have fired some more. I had spent three years constantly waiting on being hit and I didn't panic. I showed the soldiers how to put on lifejackets and I was the last one out."

By the time Greet made his way to the deck the ship was listing heavily to starboard. "It was pandemonium. I could see everyone trying to get boats out. I was determined not to get too mixed up with all that lot, so I went to the guard rail on the other side. I was going to lower myself down on a rope and then drop in. Then I looked up and I could see a lifeboat sliding down above me."

Greet and two companions lowered the lifeboat, laboriously pushing it away from the side of the ship as they went. "When we got to the sea it was hard to release the lifeboat from the ship and we had swimmers leaping into the boat from all directions. We had five Italian prisoners, and Polish soldiers who had been guarding them. None were sailors except me. We were trying to row away because when a big ship like that goes down, it creates a lot of suction."

Some of Greet's darkest memories are of the scene on the starboard side: "The sea was absolutely dark with dead bodies. We were looking for people who might be alive, but we had 64 in a boat designed for 32. We fixed up a rope some could hang on to, but they were not there in the morning. That was the longest night of my life. I remember seeing a young blonde girl with her hair floating around her on the sea and next to her was a woman with her hat on. Both were dead. It was macabre."

Many went down in the ship, too injured or shocked to escape. The U-boat surfaced and Hartenstein instructed the survivors in English, taking injured women and children below deck for treatment and serving soup and water to all in strict rotation.

"Hartenstein spoke very good English. He assured me there were boats coming from Dakar. It became obvious he was a much better man than we had thought," said Greet, who was eventually taken aboard a ship from Vichy France and then put in an internment camp in Morocco. "I am pleased this story can be told properly now," he said. Six months after the Laconia incident, Hartenstein's U-boat was sunk with the loss of all hands.

The Sinking of the Laconia, BBC2, 6 and 7 Jan at 9pm

• The Observer
• Second world war

Most viewed

ROYAL MARINES HISTORY.com

• Simon Biggs
• Dec 22, 2018

Royal Marines Search for Survivors of the Lakonia Disaster 1963

Royal Marines Bandsman from HMS Centaur search for survivors from the Lakonia Disater which caught fire and sank north of Madeira on 22 December 1963, with the loss of 128 lives.

TSMS Lakonia was a Greek cruise ship 609 feet in length and 20,300 tons. She had sailed from Southampton on the 19th December bound for Madeira, the first stop in a cruise round the Canary Islands carrying 1022 on board, 646 passengers, all but 21 British, and 376 mainly Greek and German crew members. Smoke was first seen coming from the hairdressing salon and fire spread with ever increasing speed although passengers were unaware that the quietly-ringing bells heard for just a short time were trying to warn of the horrors to come. It was still dark as Centaur arrived at the scene at "dead slow", making just enough headway to keep her bow into the stream. As the sky began to lighten on that Christmas Eve, evidence of the shambolic evacuation of a ship in trouble was spotted in the heavy swell as the first body was seen in it's brightly-coloured lifejacket.

It was decided to launch the first of Centaur's cutters to search for survivors crewed by a junior officer as skipper, a stoker/engineer, a coxswain and two medics.......i.e. Royal Marine Bandsmen! These were Musn Richard "Bagsy" Baker, euphonium and cello and BR "Willi" Watson, horn player, Neptune House pals as boys with Baker the elder by just a few months. They were "2nd Watch" that day and, grabbing their "medical" kit, they embarked on the pitching cutter and set out into the heavy Atlantic swell.

The first body found and pulled aboard the cutter surprised the two bandies by how heavy it was. Full of sea-water it took a great deal of strength to haul it over the gunwale and as they succeeded they heard a loud groan coming from the victim, raising their hopes that there could be life there. It soon became apparent that movement and weight exerted pressure that forced air past the dead person's vocal chords... and they were to hear this dismal sound many times during the day.

Read more of the account from Willi Watson ex RMB 3599: HMS CENTAUR 1963/64HMS CENTAUR and the "LAKONIA" DISASTER, DECEMBER 1963. A 50th ANNIVERSARY RECOLLECTION.

• Merchant Navy
• Royal Marines History

Recent Posts

Action on Dead Mans Ridge/ Razor Back Hill Gallipoli

The Raid on Zeebrugge - 23 April 1918 - 'For England and St George!'

Trincomalee War Cemetery

Lakonia Rescue

By daniel l. haulman.

A few days after sailing from Southampton, England, the 609-foot Greek luxury liner Lakonia caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean about 180 miles north of Portugal’s Madeira Islands. Just after midnight on December 23, the crew broadcast distress signals as more than 1,000 people, including over 600 British tourists, abandoned ship. Since the ship’s lifeboats could not accommodate all of the passengers, many passengers wearing life jackets floated in the cold ocean while awaiting rescue.

On December 23 and 24, the 57th and 58th Air Rescue Squadrons flew six HC–54 airplanes to the burning ship from Lajes Field in the Azores and Wheelus AB, Libya. The planes dropped 42 life rafts and survival kits to Lakonia survivors and circled overhead to locate other victims and direct ships to the scene. They dropped 400 blankets to five ships that arrived by dusk on December 23 to pick up the 896 survivors and 91 bodies.

Thanks to those guys! I was 9 at the time it was all a bit of an adventure. Took sometime to realize my dad wasn’t coming back.

I was in a lifeboat full of water and eventually rescued by a merchant ship after being transferred to another boat. Lifted onboard the merchant ship I was whisked to the galley and stuck in a sink of hot water. The crew gave up their bunks to the survivors and donated their clothes to those who had nothing more than nightwear. We were all taken to Madeira. Regrettably I do not recall the vessel’s name.

Thank you for your comment, Christopher!

Russian cruise ship M.V. Lomonosov burns in Arkhangelsk region

A fire broke out on the upper deck of the M.V. Lomonosov cruise ship in the Arkhangelsk region (Russian Federation). This ship has caught fire before, according to the Russian Emergencies Ministry and Russian media.

According to the Russian ministry, the upper deck of the ship, covering an area of 936 square meters, is on fire. The ship is currently under repair.

Efforts are being made to extinguish the fire using 12 pieces of equipment, with 42 firefighters working at the scene.

Local authorities have stated that there are no people inside the ship.

On May 13, the Northwestern Transport Prosecutor's Office announced that an inspection had been organized due to the fire on the cruise ship.

M.V. Lomonosov was burning a year ago

According to the news edition Fontanka.ru, the fire on the M.V. Lomonosov cruise ship was extinguished approximately a year ago in May 2023.

The fire occurred in the engine compartment on the lower deck while the ship was in dry dock at the Arkhangelsk repair and maintenance base. The fire was classified as 1-bis, indicating a risk of fire spreading. Reports indicate that people evacuated the area on their own.