The Sinking of the Polzella - Peter N. Fox

THE SINKING OF THE POLZELLA - compiled by Peter N. Fox

One of the earliest tragedies of the second world war to have a significant effect on the Hartlepools was the loss of the S.S. Polzella in January 1940. The vessel of 4,751 tons was built at West Hartlepool in 1929 by Gray's, owned by the Eclipse Shipping and Trading Company Ltd. and managed by J.J. Thomas and Co. of Cardiff. She was registered at Penzance.

On this particular voyage she was travelling home to England from Narvik with a load of iron ore, presumably for the war effort. The crew of 35 included 10 Indian stokers and 17 men from the Hartlepools. The Master was Capt. J. H. THOMPSON of Cardiff and the Chief Officer W.G. JAMES of Cardiff.

The following information is taken from an article in the Northern Daily Mail (now the Hartlepool Mail) at the time that the vessel was first found to be overdue and presumed lost.
Hartlepool members of the crew are:
Second Officer Charles William ELLIOTT (26) of 65 South Parade, West Hartlepool.
Third Officer John Bowlt SHORT (31) of 3 Alma St.,Hartlepool.
Third Engineer N. TRIPP of Hartlepool.
Fourth Engineer C. WARD of West Hartlepool.
Carpenter Joseph ASH (43) of 5 Thomas St., W. Hartlepool.
Bo'sun Daniel McKIVER (38) of 51 Durham St.
Able Seaman George H. JESSON (30) of 10 Dent St.
Joseph Patrick COSGROVE (36) of 20 Hilda St.
George PORTER (45) of 12 Swainson St.
Thomas CLARK (22) of 100 Lynn St., W. H'Pool.
Owen GEENEY (40) of 12 Malton St., H'Pool.
Steward J.J. BRENNAN (32) of Russell St.
Cabin Boy Roy JONES (16) of 19 Southburn Terrace.
Messroom Boy Cyril HUDSON (19) of Southburn Terrace.
E. EVANS, West Hartlepool.
W. R. COLLINS, Hartlepool.
Other members of the crew were:
Wireless Operator J.S. WOOD, West Bridgeford, Nottingham.
Able Seaman G. OLIVER, Horden.
G. UNDERWOOD and C. HUNTER of South Shields.
Chief Engineer J. RAFFRAY,(51), of Cathays, Glamorgan.
Second Engineer F. PERRY, of Hartburn, Stockton, who at 74 proved to be one of the oldest casualties of W.W.2.
T. SWARD, Banstead, Scotland.
Naval Rating DUNLEVY of London.

The relatives of the crew received the following letter from the owners ( I still have that received by my grandparents, Captain and Mrs. ELLIOTT):

1st. February 1940.
Dear Captain and Mrs. ELLIOTT,
Our S.S. Polzella has been overdue in regard to her arrival in this country, and being very anxious as to her safety we have kept in close touch with the Admiralty and the Ministry of Shipping, who have been unable to give us any information.

We have today had further conversations with them, and this evening (5.15) they regretfully inform us they feel compelled to look upon her as being “missing”.

It is with deep regret that we advise you of this, and are still hoping against hope we might hear favourable news in regard to the safety of the crew.

You may be assured when we obtain any further news we will immediately communicate with you.

Yours faithfully,
(The secretary)
For and on behalf of Eclipse Shipping & Trading Co. Ltd.

The”Mail” article then continues with a profile of the local crew members:

The second officer, Charles William ELLIOTT, is the only son of Captain and Mrs. W. H. ELLIOTT of 65 South Parade, West Hartlepool. He attended West Hartlepool Secondary School (Brinkburn) and has made exceptionally good progress in his profession. Only this summer he qualified for his Masters certificate. Before joining the Polzella he served in the Ropner fleet. His father, who is now retired, was a master mariner for many years, and served in that capacity throughout the last war. This was Mr. ELLIOTT's second trip on the Polzella.

The third mate, Mr. John Bowlt SHORT (31) of 3 Alma St., Hartlepool, is a married man with one child aged 2 and a half years. He joined the Polzella in September. He was under fire in the Spanish Civil War whilst serving on the local ship S.S. Thurston. He was also third mate on the Millpool for a time, but left that ship just prior to the voyage on which she was sunk in the North Atlantic. He has been going to sea for 17 years.

NOT GIVEN UP HOPE
“I have not given up hope that my son will be saved”, said Mrs. CLARK, mother of Thomas CLARK of Lynn St., when seen today. “Something tells me he will pull through. He told me not to worry when he went away, and I have a feeling that everything will be all right”.

Mr. CLARK was a member of the crew of the Forthbridge, which some years ago caught fire in mid ocean. He has worked for several companies. Mrs. CLARK is a widow and Tom is her only child. He formerly attended Avenue Road School and Sunderland Junior Technical College.

Mrs. Joseph ASH told our reporter that her husband formerly worked at Grays as a shipwright. During the Great War he served in the Navy and was demobilized in 1920.
“I urged him not to go to sea when he signed on nine weeks ago,” she said, “but his only reply was, ’If I dont go, someone will have to go’. His last words to me were ‘Don't worry, everything will be all right.’ “My 20 year old son also tried to join the Polzella when it was at Middlesbrough. He went several times to see if he could sign on but-fortunately as things have turned out- he was not able to get a job.” Mrs. ASH has six children, three of whom are under 14 years of age.

Joseph COSGROVE is a slight relative of Joseph ASH and they signed on the Polzella together. Mr. and Mrs. COSGROVE have three young children.

Mrs. George PORTER told a “Northern Daily Mail” representative that she also pleaded with her husband not to return to sea. Mr. PORTER served in the Navy 21 years, and during the last war was blown up four times. When his wife urged him not to join the ship, he said: “I came through the last war all right. There’s no need to worry. Everything will be all right this time.” Mr. and Mrs. PORTER lost their two children, aged seven and six, last year.

Roy JONES, the cabin boy, is the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. D. JONES, of 19 Southburn Terrace. The boy was employed at a local printers for some time, but when he fell out of work he accepted an offer by Mr. J. BRENNAN, another member of the crew, to join the Polzella. Roy and his friend, Cyril HUDSON, also of Southburn Terrace, joined the ship together. Roy was recently awarded a prize for engineering at night school, and was promised a job with a local firm on his return. He was formerly a member of the local Sea Cadets.

Dan McKIVER (38) of 47 Durham St., has been going to sea since the age of 14. He was torpedoed during the last war. Mr. and Mrs. McIVER have four children, the eldest aged nine and the youngest six months.

George JESSON (30), able seaman, has been going to sea for 14 years. He is a single man, and lives with his parents at 10 Dent Street, West Hartlepool. It was his second voyage on the Polzella, and his family have received only one short note from him since he joined the ship ten weeks ago. When a “Northern Daily Mail” reporter called at their home this morning he found the family anxiously listening to the B.B.C. news. “It is terrible being kept in suspense like this” said one of them.

Owen GEENEY, of 12 Malton Street, Hartlepool, is a member of a well known Hartlepool seafaring family. He served throughout the last war in the “Q” ships (Submarine decoy vessels), and received a message of sympathy from King George V. when he spent eight days on a raft without food or water after his ship was sunk in the winter of 1915. He was then only 15 years old. GEENEY is a single man, and lives with his parents, Mr. and Mrs H. GEENEY. His two brothers, Laurence and James Edward, are serving in the Navy and the Merchant Navy respectively. James GEENEY was a member of the crew of the destroyer Drake, which was sunk in 1914, and an uncle, David TURNER, survived in the sinking of H.M.S. Indefatigable in 1916. It was GEENEY’s second trip on the Polzella.

Nothing more was heard of the Polzella, she was presumed lost on January 13th 1940 and certificates issued for the crew stating they were presumed lost at sea (death certificates not being permitted as no bodies were found).

Most of the above information comes from the ‘Northern Daily Mail’ 3rd February 1940.

It was assumed that she had been torpedoed, and Captain Otto KRETSCHMER in his book “The Golden Horseshoe” about his exploits in submarine U99 claimed that he had sunk her when in command of U23, but other sources say she was sunk by U25 which was patrolling off Muckle Flugga, Shetland. Her commander claimed to have sunk S.S. Polzella, then S.S. Enid on the 17th and M.V. Pajala on the 18th. U25 moved south to Spanish and Portuguese coasts sinking S.S. Songa en route on the 22nd., then sank S.S. Armanistan on the 3rd. February near Lisbon. She sank M.V. Cahstine Maersk on the 13th near Shetlands. She took part in Operation Hartmut. She joined 1st U-boat Group in April 1940. Moving to the Atlantic she sank H.M.S. Scoutstoun on 13th June, then turned to the English Channel where she sank a tanker on 19th. En route to patrol the west coast of Britain she struck a mine and sank on the 3rd August 1940. There were no survivors.

A Memorial Service for the crew of the Polzella was held in St. James’ Parish Church, West Hartlepool on Tuesday, March 12th 1940 at 7pm. Ticket holders were admitted up till 6-45pm by the vestry door, back Musgrave Street, entrance in Freeman Street. All others were admitted at the main door in Musgrave Street.

I believe the crew members are commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in London, and of course on the war memorial opposite the Civic Centre, Hartlepool, as well as the Seamans Memorial at the Marina, Hartlepool.

Although the sinking of the Polzella was only one of many similar tragedies that happened throughout the war, it devastated the families of the men involved. My own grandfather, hardened old sea-dog that he was, having sailed the world on everything from tea-clippers bringing their cargoes from the far East (particularly the four-masted sailing ship Pegasus) to steamers crossing the Atlantic regularly, never really recovered from the loss of his son and died five years later. His widow kept up her hopes that her son had been taken prisoner and may return at the end of the war, but her hopes gradually dwindled as the years went by. She survived her husband by almost thirty years, living till she was 95 years old. Her eldest daughter, Madge, married to a local builder, had given birth to a son a few months earlier on what was to be William ELLIOTT’s last birthday. That baby was me, and frequently during my childhood my grandmother inadvertently called me William before correcting herself.

Peter N. Fox

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