Source:
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~treevecwll/airattack.htm
Salvage by HMS SPEEDWELL
They could not go
alongside her weather side because the swell was too bad and an
added complication was that she had a boat swung out on the lee
(port) quarter. Despite the swell Cdr Youngs managed to poke the
Speedwell's bow up against the tanker's quarter without too much
damage to herself and two of the hands managed to scramble across.
These two men lowered the tanker's lifeboat to the waterline to
act as a fender when Speedwell got alongside the lee, which was
soon accomplished with the aid of the two ratings who secured her
wires to the tanker.
The first lieutenant, Percy Stoner, then took
a party aboard who proceeded to fight the fire. It was found that
the Atheltemplar definitely had water ballast on board so all
available hands were set to in both ships to get the fire out with
hoses rigged from the Speedwell. The tanker's crew came on board
Speedwell but they had no heart for the operation and so
Speedwell's crew just turned them in in their messdecks.
After 4½
hours of strenuous work the fire was out and they made
preparations to tow. Cdr Youngs decided on a long tow rope made up
of Speedwell's two sweep wires which had a combined breaking
strain of 30 tons. The prize crew was put on board, the tow passed
and off they went but it took an hour to get the tanker round on
the course for the Firth of Forth. The main trouble was that when
the tanker had been hit she had had five degrees of rudder on, the
steering gear was electric, there was no power to work it and so
all the time she wanted to go off in a different direction. If she
did take charge she pulled them with her and had to be turned
right round nearly 360° as she wouldn't go against her rudder. At
length Cdr Youngs got the better of her and Neale had a go while
Youngs was on the bridge and got the hang of it so Youngs could go
below for some food. Any tendency to yaw had to be checked at once
before the tanker took charge and parted the tow but they settled
down to it and managed to tow her at five knots. Admiral Ramsay
sent out an escort of Hurricane fighters to ward off enemy bombers
and later a large tug to take over the tow, leaving the Speedwell
and the "Hunt" destroyer to act as escorts.
Return and Repair
Just 36 hours after
SPEEDWELL had first sighted her, on the morning of 3rd March, with
her flag at half mast, the ATHELTEMPLAR arrived at anchorage off
Methil. [ Sixteen survivors were landed at Methil for breakfast.] Mr S. Hill, Second Officer of the ATHELSULTAN, bombed off
May Island three weeks previously and returned to North Shields
for repairs, was instructed to travel up to Methil to bring the
ATHELTEMPLAR back to the Tyne. She too was to spend a further
period under repair at Smith’s Dock having the entire amidship
accommodation rebuilt. It was not until June 1941 that the
ATHELTEMPLAR sailed and passed once again up the East Coast to
resume her sailings across the Atlantic.
Sources
Jack Neale, Sea Breezes - Feb 1989.
Atheltemplar (Athel Line, United Molasses) by
Captain Tom Gorst
PRO: ADM199 16 (EN79), ADM199 13 (WN91), ADM199
401
(Aberdeen and Peterhead war diaries of NOIC).
Information from MOD (N), Whitehall, regarding
Medal Citations.
Lloyd’s records of awards of Lloyd’s War Medal
for Bravery
at Sea, in Lloyd’s Secretarial Department.
PRO: AIR25 250 (WAR DIARY of 14 Group Fighter
Command)
WO166 2129 (3rd AA Division war
diary)
WO208 (POW interrogation)
Aberdeen City Archives: Register of Air Raids
and Alarms for 1941
Register of Casualties CE87/4/41 (Customs &
Excise Dispositions of Wrecks)
Scottish Record Office: HH50/160 (Record of
Missiles dropped)
Source: Third Supplement to London Gazette of Tuesday 13th May 1941, dated Friday 16th May 1941
www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveViewFrameSetup.asp?webType=0&PageDuplicate=n%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&issueNumber=35164&pageNumber=0&SearchFor=&selMedalType=&selHonourType=
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Source: London Gazette Issue 36282, Dated 10th
December 1943
www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveViewFrameSetup.asp?webType=0&PageDuplicate=n%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&issueNumber=36282&pageNumber=0&SearchFor=atheltemplar&selMedalType=&selHonourType
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