The origin of the Nutmeg
I have asked Dave Clark’s permission to reprint this fascinating email he sent me regarding the possible origin of my lifeboat, the Nutmeg of Consolation. The only documentation I have concerning her parent ship is a certificate indicating that she belonged to the HMS Queen Ann. I knew this ship had been damaged by a German sub in WW2 but I didn’t know the details. Read on….
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Thomas,
Hello. I’m relatively new to the Flat Earth Society (actually I just joined) but I have been fascinated with your blogs…especially concerning your lifeboat/recording studio. You had written that she came from the HMS Queen Anne , a motor merchant ship built in 1937. I did some research on the Queen Anne and discovered some rare photos of her (see attached). She was anything but glamorous, but beautiful in her own right. Apparently she was a work-horse during her short life—not to mention solid, reliable, and beloved. It looks as though she had two lifeboats on the starboard side, however, the lifeboat in the forward position is smaller than that located behind it, but that may either be the camera angle or my eyes. On her port it looks as though she carried only one lifeboat; and this too looks like the larger one located at the same position on the starboard side. I believe that one of these two aft lifeboats is your Nutmeg of Consolation . If so, there is a fifty-percent chance that your boat was responsible for rescuing over a score of sailors after a German U-Boat attack.
The Queen Anne had left Manchester on 9 February 1943 with Master Charles Hicking Radford at her helm. She was bound for Beirut, Lebanon by way of Capetown, South Africa and was scheduled to make stops at the port of Aden (in today’s Yemen) and Alexandria, Egypt. She was carrying 6,126 tons of government stores and 698 tons of general cargo including explosives. She was never to reach her final destinations. Early in the morning of 10 February 1943, the Queen Anne was attacked by a German U-Boat, U-509, commanded by German naval Captain Werner Witte. Between 26 October 1942 and 2 April 1943, U-509 had attacked 9 British vessels, sinking 6 and damaging 3 others. The Queen Anne was the smallest vessel destroyed by Witte’s torpedoes (which, for some reason, makes me all the more proud of her). Witte attacked the Queen Anne just after her departure from Capetown and she descended to her watery grave just eight miles south-southwest of Cape Agulhas, South Africa.
After sinking the Queen Anne, U-509 was attacked by the ASW trawler St. Zeno . The St. Zeno opened fire on Captain Witte with both gunfire and seven depth charges…but to no avail. U-509 survived unscathed. The St. Zeno rescued 18 sailors from the Queen Anne. It is difficult to know for sure if the sailors were plucked from the water or from a lifeboat. It is certain, however, that 22 more survivors from the Queen Anne did make landfall—via lifeboat—at Bredasdorp near Cape Agulhas. Sadly, the Queen Anne’s master, Charles Radford, along with two crew members and two gunners were lost in the attack and are believed to have gone down with their ship. As for German Captain Witte, he was killed along with his entire crew, 54 men, in the mid-Atlantic on 15 July 1943 by homing torpedoes from “Avenger” aircraft belonging to the USS Santee.
When I look at the pictures of your beautiful Nutmeg of Consolation I only wish she could speak to you and tell you her stories. Perhaps her life was more exciting after 10 February 1943, but I doubt it. I see that since her tenure as a lifeboat she has taken on a both a cabin and wheelhouse and she is more lovely than ever. I once heard a quote long ago that if we ever find ourselves in a lifeboat we must remember to sing! How very ironic. As she looks out to the North Sea from her dry-land home, I don’t sense she misses it much—even when she sees the other ships float past. She did her duty. She sits proud with new paint and a new life. I know that you love her and care for her—perhaps better than she has ever been—and may she ever care for and inspire you! Take care.
Dave Clark
Annotated Bibliography:
The pictures of the Queen Anne were found at http://www.photoship.co.uk/. This fascinating site has four photographs of the Queen Anne as well as countless additional photos of hundreds (if not thousands) of other vessels. The site also includes links to additional databases. For the Queen Anne’s original entries in Lloyd’s Register of Ships see the searchable database at http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/ship.php?ship_id=33064&name=Queen Anne. There are copious amounts of online information regarding German U-Boats, but one of the best is at www.uboat.net. For information on U-509, Captain Werner Witte, and the Queen Anne please see http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2646.html. More on Captain Witte and U-509 may be found in Rainer Busch and Hans-Joachim Roll’s German U-Boat Commanders of World War II: A Biographical Dictionary. This book details the service records of some 1,400 officers of the German Kriegsmarine. See page 291 for U-509.
Fascinating story! Another personal connection to submarines… a bit eerie.
Two questions:
1. How did the Nutmeg make it back to England?
2. Is it really possible for a ship to get from Manchester to Capetown in one day??
Beech
Hmmmm.. fear of flying but no fear of water. I wonder if Thomas had a nautical connection in a previous life (if one subscribes to those beliefs)?
A great email and thanks for posting.
….. opps sorry Thomas – must get back to work
How about this mysterious X files connection then …. placing any lifeboats nearer America………which might make sense given the Nutmeg’s accliamed history.
‘In 1939, a British luxury liner, the SS Queen Anne, was in the Bermuda Triangle when it suddenly disappeared without a trace. Though the boat was never located, stories began to circulate that provided possible explanations for the vessel’s disappearance, including one story that the ship had been torpedoed by a German submarine. (TXF: “Triangle”)’
The Netherlands connection make sense from a salvage perspective and also the subsequent inclusion of houseboat type features – the stove etc.
Interesting that the event was notorious and resonant enough for the X files to pick up on it many years later …..
Beech – thanks to LRIT we know its not !
Beech:
You’re right. It would take several days to get from Manchester to South Africa. A manifest copy appears to show she had departed on 9 Feb. 1943 (perhaps Capetown)? Hard to tell for sure. She was sunk @ 0219 on 10 Feb. Still, I should have known better. Those merchant ships weren’t known for their lightning-fast speed! Also, I found that Capt. Witte had sunk another vessel slightly smaller than the Queen Anne (I stated that the Queen Anne was the smallest). It was the Brittany which weighed 4,772 tons to the QA’a 4,937 tons. The Brittany was sunk on 30 Oct. 1942. Still, it has been fun piecing this together despite the sparcity of details
Dave Clark
very, very cool stuff.
isn’t it about time for the 2nd EP of new tunes?
A
Fascinating. Great pictures to hang on the wall!
There appears to be some modifications to the bridge superstructure between the two photos. Zooming in at the top photo, there is indeed a forward lifeboat on the port side, but it is partially occluded by a steel wall that also appears to be present on the starboard side in the same picture. In the lower starboard side picture, this wall is not shown on either side, and the davits appear to be different. It appears to be the smaller size lifeboat, which would match the other side.
A few more possible clues might come from the condition of your boat. Considering that the lifeboats are exposed more to one side or the other depending on which side of the boat it was on, is it possible to tell from any original fittings whether or not one side of your boat had more corrosion than the other? Also, since we know your boat was deployed in distress, there may be some repairs done to one side or the other due to being in contact with the ship as it was lowered.
@Dave, do you know which side of the Queen Anne and even better at what location that the torpedo hit? It might give another clue.
Duglmac:
Great questions and observations all! There is definately an addition to the top of the bridge superstructure that is present in the top picture, but absent in the bottom pic. There were no dates on the pictures so it is impossible to tell if this was an addition to the QA or a piece of the original structure that was later removed.
I see the forward lifeboat on the port side that you mention but wonder if this is indeed the aft rear lifeboat on the starboard side showing up due to the angle of the photo? There are two other photos of the QA that I’ll look at. Also, since lifeboats normally had “fixed” positions on ships it was great call that one side (seaward side) of the lifeboat would be more weathered or corroded than the inside which, if it could be determined would give an indication of which lifeboat is the Nutmeg. Who knows, however, about her history after her tenure as a lifeboat…those clues might be lost forever due to wear and tear and weather in the almost 70 years away from the QA!
Also, there must exist (probably hidden somewhere deep in some musky archives) reports–official or otherwise–both German and English–that detail the attack. Ie; where the torpedo(s) hit, when they were fired, how long she struggled to remain afloat, etc. I found no specifics in my search…but I search on!
Very intriguing! The Nutmeg has significantly more rot on the starboard side. In fact, the reason the previous owners sold her is that she was considered unseaworthy due to serious leaks on the starboard side. When I tood delivery of her the membrane within the double diagonal carvel planking was torn or rotted away in many places, the seams were coming apart, and there was quite a lot of rot in the beams themselves. That’s why I decided to knock a big hole in the starboard rear side of the hull, and build a strong reinforced doorway which now takes the weight and strengthens that part of the hull. But I had assumed that either (a) she had been bashed up against her canal moorings by wake and so on or (b) at some point in her history she had lived in a tidal harbor that dried out leaving her resting on one side. But It had never occurred to me till today that any ship’s lifeboat is likely to be more exposed on one side than the other—duh!
When I look at the pics of the Queen Ann I am intuitively drawn to the rear starboard lifeboat. Don’t know why, I guess I’m just so used to staring at her that her shape and proportions are burned into my retina.
Great work Dave!!..
Reminds me of the highly enjoyable days I spent researching the details of the sinking of Thomas’ “Uncle Sprice” in one of our submarines!!..I hope Thomas was able to “glean” all that info when I posted it up on his forum.. here’s the “short version”
After speaking with TD for details about his uncle at the show in ATL, I obtained a copy of “One Of Our Submarines” by Edward Young. it is in fact
Dedicated To The Memory Of
Those Who Did Not Return From Patrol
And Especially Of
GEORGE COLVIN
AND
“SPRICE”
The book has a mention of Lt. Steven Spring Rice on page 95 & states that he perished “early in 1943 in sub P.45, just before he was to return to England for his C.O.’s course”
These were some VERY misleading statements in tracking down details as it turns out that he ACTUALLY died on Dec 25 1942 in HMS P 48 during an attack on a convoy in the Mediterranean.
Some of the confusion comes from the fact that his date of death is listed in official records as Jan 5 1943 since that was the date that his sub was OFFICIALLY declared missing.
that U-boat.net site IS unbelievably deep in detail isn’t it??.. it even has lots of info on Allied subs as well.. including “Sprice’s” sub the HMS P48
Again good work coming up with both data AND photos of the beloved “Nutmeg” in her “other” life!!
C_C
found at http://www.uboatarchive.net/About.htm
“When U-boat Headquarters was captured in the last days of World War II, the War Diary, records and Log Books of almost all the U-boats that returned safely to port were saved and taken to London England. When the war ended, these records were microfilmed. Copies of these microfilms may be viewed on the fourth floor of the Archives. Finding aides consist of a book which lists the U-boats by number and gives the number of the roll of microfilm that contains the logbooks for a particular boat.”
U-509 returned safely to port following the sinking of the Queen Anne. It was sunk on it’s subsequent voyage. So it is possible that the war diary and logbook is on microfilm somewhere on the fourth floor in the U.S. National archives in Maryland.
“I once heard a quote long ago that if we ever find ourselves in a lifeboat we must remember to sing! [...] As she looks out to the North Sea from her dry-land home, I don’t sense she misses it much—even when she sees the other ships float past. She did her duty. She sits proud with new paint and a new life. I know that you love her and care for her—perhaps better than she has ever been—and may she ever care for and inspire you! Take care.”
Doesn’t this sound like a song text from TMDR – at least what a wonderful motif for a song text.
What a fascinating piece of history Thomas! Turns out the Nutmeg is a perfect place for songs to be sung. Ur, maybe re-mixes of “One of Our Submarines’ should be done elsewhere possibly, lol.
Mais seriousement, this is a really interesting read about the Nutmeg and then theres the matter of how the Nutmeg made it back to England after it helped save the shipwrecked sailors of the Queen Ann. Oh and “Love is a Loaded Pistol” is all the more vivid a visual when I add in the imagery of you working late into the night with your song-writing on the Nutmeg, singing a song about Billy H, and the congruency of the dates of Billy H.’s performances and the Queen Ann/Nutmeg’s service to the British navy. Layers my man, you understand so well the need to instill layers into the tapestry of your art. I’ve enjoyed this about your writing for years.
Ok I’m adding ‘recording an album of fully orchestrated songs in the Nutmeg with Thomas Dolby producing’ to my recent bucket list (piles of cash for the producer of course!) Cheers Thomas and thanks for sharing this and all of your amazing blogs!
RMB (Toronto ON Canada)