Llandovery Castle
The Sinking of the Canadian Hospital Ship
One of the more controversial events during the Great War was the sinking of the Canadian Hospital Ship, Llandovery Castle, by a German submarine, U-86, on 27 June, 1918 (Macphail 236). The ship was returning to England after having brought Canadian casualties back to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Being a Hospital Ship, it was clearly identified as such, with a brightly illuminated Red Cross, was unarmed and running with full lights. On board, the crew consisted of one hundred and sixty-four men, eighty officers and men of the Canadian Medical Corps, and fourteen nurses, a total of two hundred and fifty-eight persons (Macphail 236).
According to the Hague Convention, an enemy vessel had the right to stop and search a Hospital Ship, but not to sink it. U-86 made no attempt to search the ship, but rather torpedoed it.
Even though the Llandovery Castle sank within ten minutes, a number of boats were lowered successfully and the ship was abandoned in a calm and efficient manner. Three lifeboats ultimately survived the sinking of the vessel undamaged and proceeded to rescue survivors from the water. They were interrupted by U-86’s commander, First-Lieutenant Helmut Patzig, who intercepted the boats and started interrogating crew members to obtain proof of the misuse of the hospital ship as an ammunition carrier (Macphail 236). When no proof could be obtained, Patzig gave the command to make clear for diving and ordered the crew below deck.
Patzig, his first and second officers, Ludwig Dithmar and John Boldt, and the boatswain’s mate, Meissner, stayed on deck. The U-boat did not dive, but started firing at the life boats in order to kill all witnesses and cover up what had happened. In his effort to conceal this event, Patzig extracted promises of secrecy from the crew, and faked the course of U-86 in the logbook so that nothing would connect U-86 with the sinking of the Llandovery Castle.
Only one lifeboat survived the attack. It was picked up by the destroyer Lysander on the morning of 29 June, 36 hours after the attack. Twenty-four people survived both the sinking of the Llandovery Castle and the attack on the lifeboats, including six members of the Canadian Army Medical Corps (Macphail 236). All 14 Nursing Sisters on board lost their lives (Macphail 361).
After the war, the British initiated a War Crimes trial against the officers of U-86. The commander, Helmut Patzig could not be found and was never brought to trial. The two other officers, Ludwig Dithmar and John Boldt were tried and convicted as accessories (Macphail 236). The men were sentenced to four years of hard labour, but escaped while en route to the prison. It is unclear if they were ever recaptured, but it is certain that they never served more than four months.
Extracts from the official report, as printed in Our Bit: Memories of War Service By a Canadian Nursing Sister, by N.S. Mabel B. Clint can be found here.
The Canadian Survivors
The six Canadians that survived, along with 18 of the Llandovery Castle crewmen.
- Major T. Lyon
- 528654 Sergeant A. Knight
- 536288 Private G. R. Hickman
- 69 Private W. Pilot
- 522907 Private F. W. W. Cooper
- 536437 Private S. K. Taylor
The Canadians Who Lost Their Lives
The Canadian Army Medical Corps personnel who lost their lives in the attack on the Llandovery Castle are as follows.
Officers:
- Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Howard Macdonald
- Major Gustavus Mitchell Davis
- Captain William James Enright
- Captain Arthur Vincent Leonard
- Captain George Luther Sills
- Honourary Captain Donald George MacPhail
Nursing Sisters:
- Matron Margaret Marjory Fraser
- Nursing Sister Christina Campbell
- Nursing Sister Carola Josephine Douglas
- Nursing Sister Alexina Dussault
- Nursing Sister Minnie Asenath Follette
- Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue
- Nursing Sister Minnie Katherine Gallaher
- Nursing Sister Jessie Mabel McDiarmid
- Nursing Sister Mary Agnes McKenzie
- Nursing Sister Rena McLean
- Nursing Sister Mae Belle Sampson
- Nursing Sister Gladys Irene Sare
- Nursing Sister Anna Irene Stamers
- Nursing Sister Jean Templeman
Enlisted Men:
- 536451 Private John Anderson
- 421053 Private Hubert Tyndall Angus
- 536234 Private Albert Baker
- 33281 Private Frank Barker
- 2568 Private John Arthur Bentley
- 50972 Lance Corporal Hugh Bonnell
- 524507 Private James Frederick William Bristow
- 2098951 Sergeant Daniel Brown
- 526511 Private Neville Raymond Stevenson Carter
- 962 Private William Frederick Cates
- 536231 Private Frederick Clark
- 536448 Private William Clark
- 536023 Private Walter Cowie
- 526671 Private John Henry Curtis
- 536282 Private Kenneth Daley
- 823269 Lance Corporal William Albert Dawson
- 536338 Private David William Duffie
- 418883 Private Alexander Livingstone Dunlop
- 50379 Private John Eaton
- 523837 Private Harley Clifton Elsley
- 34408 Staff Sergeant Herbert Harold Evans
- 645609 Private Robert Douglas Falconer
- 50946 Private James Benedict Foley
- 522922 Private Wilfred Howie Gemmel
- 535505 Private Myer Philip Goldberg
- 770053 Private James Hannah
- 33354 Private Matthew Henry Harlock
- 33079 Private Bertram Harris
- 536276 Private Harry Harrison
- 524248 Private George Edward Harvey
- 40310 Private Clifford Hugh Hoskins
- T/815 Private Sidney Isaac
- 33653 Corporal William Jackson
- 535449 Private Wilfred Lawrence James
- 195880 Private Robert Carman Kelly
- 536277 Private Edward Moore Macpherson
- 27150 Private Frederick Leo McAnally
- 526600 Private James Henry Murray McDermott
- 2098858 Private Leonard Hugh McDonald
- 525169 Private John McGarry
- 644511 Private George Edward Nash
- 213383 Private Norman Robert O'Neil
- 467562 Private John Cooper Pateman
- 81693 Private Herbert Arthur Patton
- 1390 Private Frederick Pollard
- 525545 Private John Porter
- 50089 Private John Arthur Purcell
- 524579 Private Alfred Renyard
- 523324 Private Percy Richards
- 910940 Private Kelby Roseboro
- 536477 Private Walter Bramwell Sacre
- 644708 Private Victor Sanders
- 527999 Private Walter Harry Sanders
- 536403 Private Robert Andrew Sanderson
- 862726 Private Frederick Jacob Sayyae
- 536249 Private Clement George Scribner
- 524307 Private Lewis Shipman
- 527654 Private Ernest Crosby Smith
- 3676 Private David Radcliffe Smuck
- 536315 Private John Spittal
- 400171 Private Robert Alexander Steen
- 536236 Private Frank Chandler Williams
- 530063 Private Robert Williams
- 527674 Private Andrew Wilson
Extracts from the Official Account of the sinking
Deliberate in its conception, every circumstance connected with the incident reveals the German in the light of the cunning murderer, who employs every foul means to destroying all trace of his despicable crime… systematic attempts of the sub-marine to ram, shell and sink the lifeboats, and wreckage, on which floated helplessly the 248 unfortunate victims, 116 miles from land, off the coast of Ireland…. only one boat with 24 survivors escaped. Six were saved out of 97 C.A.M.C. personnel…. A stirring record of the perfect discipline of all ranks, and the loading of the lifeboats in the face of every possible obstacle… Official verification of the facts confirms the supreme devotion and valiant sacrifice of the medical personnel and the ship's company, whose courage and resignation were in keeping with the proudest traditions of the Army and Merchant Marine Services…. This crime surpassed in savagery the already formidable array of murders of non-combatants by the Germans…
The ship went down within ten minutes of being struck, and for upwards of two hours the submarine repeatedly attempted to blot out all traces of the deed by rushing to and fro among the wreckage, and firing twenty shells or more from the large gun they carried. Three efforts were made to run down the boat that escaped, after shelling it. The hour was 9.30 P.M. Without any warning a terrific explosion wrecked the after part of the ship, killed the engine room crew and all lights went out. The scene was appalling. On all sides survivors were crying for help… The submarine commander ordered one boat to leave the drowning, and put a C.A.M.C officer on board his vessel… (The enemy later fired into and sank several boats.) One man who climbed on to the submarine was thrown off the deck.… The 'U' boat remained on the spot for two hours, and made no response whatever to the cries for help coming from all directions.
“Unflinchingly and calmly, as steady and collected as if on parade, without a complaint or outward sign of emotion, our fourteen devoted Nursing-sisters faced the ordeal of certain death… a matter of minutes… . as our lifeboat neared the mad whirlpool of waters where all human power was helpless. Our boat had been quickly loaded and lowered, but there was great difficulty in cutting the ropes, and the oars were all broken in preventing it from pounding against the ship's side. Finally we commenced to drift away in the choppy sea, and were carried towards the stern, when suddenly the poop-deck seemed to break away, and the suction, tipping the boat over sideways, drew every occupant under. We had been in the boat about 8 minutes. It was the last I saw of the Sisters, and though they all wore lifebelts, it is doubtful if any came to the surface again." (Story of the Sergeant in charge of the boat, who sank three times, but was Rescued.)
Through all this record, nothing stands out more brilliantly than the coolness and courage of the Sisters, whose sacrifice under the conditions described will serve to inspire men and women throughout the Empire with a yet fuller sense of appreciation of the deep debt of gratitude this nation owes to the Nursing service.
Works Cited:
B: Macphail, Andrew. Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914-19: The Medical Services. Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1925. link
N: Andrew Macphail, Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914-19: The Medical Services (Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1925),
SN: Macphail, Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914-19,
Links to more information on the Llandovery Castle:
Newspaper Transcripts
Sinking of the Llandovery Castle
The War Crime Trial - Llandovery Castle. Excerpt from The Leipzig Trials, by Claud Mullins, which describes the War Crime Trials of the U-Boat crew who sank the Llandovery Castle.
Last Updated: February 2000.