Five Sailors Memorial - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
N 55° 57.192 W 003° 10.545
30U E 489025 N 6200884
A memorial to five unknown sailors is located in the New Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Waymark Code: WMWRJH
Location: Southern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/07/2017
Views: 0
The inscription on the memorial stone reads:
Five Sailors
of the
1939-1945
War
M.V. "Atheltemplar"
1st March 1941
Known Unto God
"The Commonwealth War Grave to five merchant navy seamen "known unto God" whose bodies were recovered from the sea following an attack on the MV Atheltemplar on 1 March 1941 during World War II."
--Wikipedia
"MV Atheltemplar was a motor tanker built by Lithgows, Port Glasgow.
Atheltemplar’s first recorded voyage during the Second World War was to Abadan on the Persian Shatt al-Arab. She departed home waters with Convoy OB 10 and returned to Gibraltar with her cargo before sailing east again to Port Said.
Atheltemplar returned to Great Britain with Convoy HG 9 which left Port Said on 19 November 1939, but on the afternoon of 14 December 1939, she struck a mine laid by German destroyers off the Tyne Estuary. The destroyers HMS Kelly and HMS Mohawk were sent as escorts for the rescue tugs Great Emperor, Joffre and Langton. During the operation Kelly also struck a mine and sustained damage to her hull. While Mowhawk put a party aboard Atheltemplar, and Joffre and Langton took the tanker under tow, Kelly herself was taken in tow by Great Emperor and returned to the Tyne.
After repairs, Atheltemplar returned to service on 9 April 1940 and sailed to Bermuda before returning to home waters with Convoy HX 42. During late May and early June 1940 she was involved in Operation Dynamo, during which she bunkered Royal Navy destroyers and was attacked by the Luftwaffe several times in and around Dover Harbour. More transatlantic crossings followed, including a homeward-bound voyage in Convoy HX 84 which was attacked by the German German cruiser Admiral Scheer. Atheltemplar and her sister-ship Athelempress managed to escape unscathed.
Atheltemplar then made a series of coastal voyages in home waters before undergoing refit in Smith's Yard, North Shields in the winter of 1940-41. Sailing for Methil Roads on 25 February 1941, she joined the 26-ship Convoy EN 79 which departed Methil on 1 March 1941, bound for the Atlantic convoy marshalling area at Loch Ewe on the west coast of Scotland. Sailing northbound in ballast, Atheltemplar was the convoy's Vice-Commodore ship, positioned at the head of the starboard column of vessels when, with darkness falling, Convoy EN 79 was attacked off the Aberdeenshire coast by Heinkel He 111 bombers from Luftwaffe KG26, a combat group based in Denmark. Atheltemplar bore the brunt of the attack and was struck on the navigation bridge superstructure by two 250 kg bombs; at least five members of the crew were killed instantly (12 crew died during the incident), and a fire swept the vessel forcing the survivors to abandon ship. One of the He 111s was hit by defensive fire from SS Tewkesbury, and subsequently ditched off the Banffshire coast; the crew was captured. Atheltemplar’s survivors were taken aboard the Halcyon-class minesweeper HMS Leda. Another Halcyon-class minesweeper, HMS Speedwell, fought the blaze and then took Atheltemplar in tow. Taken initially to the Imperial Dock at Leith, Atheltemplar later returned to Smith's Dock for extensive repairs; she resumed trading in June 1941. The remains of five unidentified members of her crew ("Known only unto God"), killed during the 1 March 1941 air attack, lie within a marked Commonwealth War Grave towards the south-east corner of New Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh, about 2 miles (3 km) south of Port Leith."
--Wikipedia