SS Anglo Saxon (1929)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
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| Owner: | Nitrate Producers' Steamship Company (Lawther, Latta & Company), London |
| Operator: | Requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport |
| Route: | Newport, Wales to Bahia Blanca, Argentina (part of Convoy OB 195) |
| Builder: | Short Brothers Ltd., Pallion, Sunderland |
| Yard number: | 437 |
| Launched: | 1929 |
| Identification: | Official number: 161279 |
| Fate: | Sunk 21 August 1940, west coast of Africa (800 miles west of the Canary Islands) |
| Status: | Wreck |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 5,596 GRT |
| Length: | 130 m (430 ft) |
| Beam: | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Height: | 16.7 m (55 ft) |
| Installed power: | Quadruple expansion steam engine, 453 nhp |
| Propulsion: | Single shaft, one screw |
| Crew: | 41 |
SS Anglo Saxon was a cargo ship carrying coal from Wales to Argentina that was sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser Widder on 21 August 1940. Several of the crew managed to get in a jolly boat, an all purpose small boat that could also be used as a lifeboat. It carried the surviving members of the ship's crew west across the Atlantic Ocean for seventy days, before finally landing in Eleuthera. By the time the jolly boat made landfall, only two of the seven survivors of the attack were still alive.
The 5,596 ton merchant ship SS Anglo Saxon filled up with coal at Newport Docks and left for Bahia Blanca, Argentina on 6 August 1940 with 41 officers and crew. She had a single deck gun. A day later she called at Milford Haven, and on 8 August joined the outward-bound Liverpool Convoy OB 195.
On 21 August 1940, some 800 miles west of the Canary Islands at 2020 hours, the Widder approached the Anglo Saxon in pitch darkness and opened fire from a range of approximately one mile. The first salvo of 5.9 in (150 mm) shells landed on Anglo Saxon's poop and gun platform aft and ignited ammunition for the deck gun. This salvo killed most of the crew located in forecastle. As the Widder approached closer, she open fire with flak, killing more of the crew, and holing the lifeboats the crew were attempting to launch on the starboard side of the ship.
More 37mm and 20mm flak destroyed the wireless room, and no signal was sent from the merchantman. Another salvo 5.9 in (150 mm) shells penetrated the boiler room and exploded the boiler. The Anglo Saxon's captain, Paddy Flynn had been killed whilst throwing the ship's confidential paperwork overboard and the order went out to abandon ship.
The coup de grâce from Widder came from a torpedo and the Anglo Saxon quickly sank stern first. Survivors record the Widder strafing lifeboats with machine gun fire before steaming eastward having not searched for any survivors.
Seven crew members managed to get into the port side jolly boat, unseen by the Widder. These men were: Barry C. Denny (mate, 31), Lionel H. Hawks (engineer, 23), Leslie J. Morgan, (cook, 20, injured foot), Francis G. Penny, (Royal Marine gunner, 44, shot through right arm and right leg), Roy H. Pilcher, (radio operator, 21, injured from gun fire), Robert G. Tapscott (able seaman, 19) and Wilbert 'Roy' Widdicombe (able seaman, 24)
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