When the collision occurred he, and all others on the bridge, had clung to whatever was nearest.Naval Historical Society of Australia Inc.

Info found on the HMS CURACOA can be found in the WAR AND PEACE EXHIBITION North PIER, OBAN (curator Bill Grant).
Copyright © 2020This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.HMAS Sydney II and the HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites It was every man for himself as survivors clung to floating wreckage. Because of war-time security the official inquiry was delayed until the war in Europe was over. My great uncle, George Westray, was the youngest seaman, aged 19, on the Curacoa and sadly did not survive the tradegy. Only the hardiest lived long enough to land in Londonderry the next day. Later he gained the DSO and MID. To his horror, she continued to swing and was soon on a collision course. He was obeying orders that under no circumstances was he to stop until the “Queen Mary” had safely delivered the troops to Britain. Later he gained the DSO and MID. Some hours later, HMS Bramham and another ship returned to the scene and rescued just 101 survivors, including Captain John Wilfred Boutwood, from the Curacoa’s crew of 439 souls. The Cunard White Star liner was commanded by Captain C. Gordon Illingworth, who had his … Boutwood said the “Curacoa” steamed at some 3 knots slower than the larger vessel which had been in the process of overtaking at the time of the collision. On 2nd October 1942 about 60 km north of the coast of Ireland HMS Curacoa (D41) was escorting the ocean liner RMS The incident occurred as the result of several factors. The vessel was setting a zigzag course to help evade U-boats and long-range German bombers. The Curacoa was manned with a crew of 338 as she sailed with the Queen Mary, the Queen making a zig-zag course to foil U-Boat torpedo attacks. His only option had been to signal nearby British destroyers to rescue survivors.Two reacted to his message and steamed toward the wreckage where two hours after the collision, they found many bodies of sailors who had died of hypothermia. There is a book on the sinking written by the only officer survivor Patrick Holmes and a former naval officer David A Thomas called QUEEN MARY AND THE CRUISER 1997 by Lee Cooper, Barnsley. Courtesy of …

HMS Curacoa was a C-class light cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War.She was one of the five ships of the Ceres sub-class and spent much of her career as a flagship.The ship was assigned to the Harwich Force during the war, but saw little action as she was completed less than a year before the war ended. To sail on was probably the toughest decision “Queen Mary’s” captain, Cyril Illingworth, ever had to make. The “Curacoa’s” captain, John Boutwood, had given evidence to a RN inquiry and was acquitted without a reprimand. In normal rules of the sea, an overtaking ship must yield to the ship it is overtaking, but apparently the haughty Captain … Even as they surfaced they watched in horror as the stern quickly sank taking with it the men trapped behind the water-tight doors. Boutwood said the “Curacoa” steamed at some 3 knots slower than the larger vessel which had been in the process of overtaking at the time of the collision.

The HMS Curacoa, under the command of Captain John W. Boutwood, was charged with protecting the liner as she made her way to Gourock, Scotland. The “Curacoa’s” captain, John Boutwood, had given evidence to a RN inquiry and was acquitted without a reprimand.


The WW I veteran had many years of experience by the time he had risen to become Cunard White Star’s senior commander and master of the “Queen Mary”.

They were about 20 nautical miles off the Irish coast which, had boats or rafts been launched, would have meant they were within easy reach of safety.The survivors believed the “Queen Mary” would turn back to pick them up; it was with obvious despair that they watched her disappear over the horizon.

The HMS Curacoa, under the command of Captain John W. Boutwood, was charged with protecting the liner as she made her way to Gourock, Scotland. By the end of the war it is estimated the “Queen Mary” had carried more than 800,000 servicemen.On a near perfect afternoon on 2nd October, 1942 the troopship carrying 15,000 US troops, was off the Irish coast.

The “Queen Mary”, 20 times larger than the cruiser, had been travelling at top revs giving her a speed of 28.5 knots. Then, in June 1945, only a few weeks after VE Day, the Admiralty Commissioners sued Cunard White Star Line claiming the “Queen Mary” had been responsible.It appeared to be a clear-cut case. The “Queen Mary” had caught up with her 4,290 tonne escort vessel, the RN’s “Curacoa”, and was set to overtake her.Aboard the “Curacoa”, seaman Ernest Watson, was admiring the “Queen Mary’s” majestic lines when he noticed the bow was swinging toward the cruiser. Of the “Curacoa’s” 430 personnel only 99 seamen and two officers survived.

The impact swung the “Curacoa” broadside on and the troopship sliced through her 10 cm armour plating. Over twenty bodies were carried North in the tidal streams and their graves are to be found at Lower Breakish in Skye, Arisaig and Morar.

The for’d section followed soon after, leaving the men in the murky water surrounded by debris, oil and drowned or mutilated bodies. But when asked at the first hearing if he felt Illingworth had made the right decision, the captain of the “Curacoa” said, “I would say, yes”. The case took almost four years to resolve.


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