Number of Survivors

In the book: "Lifeboat Number Seven" written by Commander Frank West M.B.E., it appears that there were 77 survivors from the S.S Britannia picked up by the Cabo de Hornos:

• 63 people (including my father F Bower and 4th Officer Wm Leitch) from Lifeboat Number Three commanded by Commander S Spurgeon R.A.N.
• 3 people from a raft (Lt A H Rowlandson R.N., Lt R.E.G. Cox (Indian Army) and Lt A Davidson R.N.R.
• 4 people from 2 rafts with two men on each
• 7 people from Lifeboat Number Ten commanded by Lt A D Hunter (?)

(49 service personnel were interned provisionally in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, 28 went on to Cadiz)

Signatures of the Survivors on Ship's Menu

My father obtained approx 82 signatures; some of the writing may be greetings. The signatures some of which are difficult to read were in 6 columns:

Column One
P Jarvis
J Lacey
B A Pearce
A K Winfield
C L Grogan
A J Ewings R.N.
T G Kirkpatrick
D Luck (?)
R N Dobinson
G Nixon
F G Ashman
B Lees
V D Jenkins
A Easton (?)
E Daltrey

Column Two
F Bower
C M Britton
W G Brookes RAF
J T Arkinstall
J P Peet
A Thomas (?)
J Baylic dB
Marciano D'Sa
Santana Marquis
Cuslodio Pereira
D J Pinto
C H or M Fernandis
Ladovic B Fernandez
J M Fernandez
Jose Mascarenhas
Fiedadi Barrello
Anatal P. Caldelino (?)

Column Three
P E Nixon
T D M Dunn RAF
W J Heath R.N.
C W Look A/F.L.
Shizman Khan
Emysoof M Kassim
Ismail Hassan
Mukaram
R T C Cox
P D Costa

Column Four
John D Rhodes
A H Rowlandson
A. Davidson
? May be greeting
Naim Barzel
C Steuart
Charles Clark
G L Das Gupta
N C Patel
? May be greeting
J Huire (?)
H W Alden (?)
H Smith 2/LT
I P Vorce (?)
Andrew S Matheson

Column Five
R E Grinan-Cox Lt I.A.
Felipe Puidiston (?)
?
Isowic Farimon (?)
Captain of Cabo (?)
S Spurgeon
E I Gale (?)
A Wright
H David Burge
?
T J Lansley
J R Noyce
E N Thatcham (?)
J Wheater
Wm Leitch
D MacDonald

Column Six
S Mynott
D G Brown R N
H Large
Nesta J L Morgan
P L Shipton
E Cane, Stewardess
Ad'ET Sangsta (?)
Keiel
R J Tadhunter RNR

Identification of Some of the Signatures

Some of the survisors stayed in the Grand Hotel in Gibraltar awaiting a ship out:

• F Bower - Column 2
• C Steuart - Column 4 (lived in Winchester)
• Andrew S Matheson - Column 4
• Wm Leitch - Column 5
• H Large - Column 6
• D Macdonald - Column 5

Another two stayed at the Rock Hotel in Gibraltar:

• Miss P L Shipton - Column 6
• Miss Nesta J L Morgan - Column 6 (lived in Penarth)

Others identified

Column 2

• DaSilva (lived in Lisbon)

Column 4

• Lt A H Rowlandson R N (survivor of raft)
• Lt A Davidson R.N.R (survivor of raft)
• Naim Barzel (lived in Baghdad)
• Charles Clark (worked for Cargills in Colombo)
• G L Das Gupta (lived in Calcutta)
• N C Patel (lived in Bombay)

Column 5

• Lt R E Grinan-Cox I.A. (survivor of raft - lived in Fareham and whose harrowing story was reported in papers)
• Commader S Spurgeon R.A.N. (commanded Lifeboat Number 3)
• H David Burge (lived in Barnstaple)
• J Wheater (trumpeter in ship's ad hoc band)

Column 6

• Mrs E Cane, Stewardess (lived in Glasgow)
• R J Tadhunter RNR (commanded Lifeboat Number 10 (?))

Alphabetical List of Survivors (with column in brackets)

Alden (?) (4)
Arkenstall (?) (2)
Ashman (1)
Barrello (2)
Barzel (4) *
Bower (2) *
Britton (2)
Brookes (2)
Brown (6)
Burge (5) *
Cane (6) *
Clark (4) *
Costa (3)
Cox (3)
Cox (5) *
Daltrey (1)
Das Gupta (4) *
DSa (DaSilva ?) (2) *
dB (?0) (2)
Davidson (4) *
Dobinson (1)
Dunn (3)
Easton (?) (1)
Ewings (1)
Farimon (?) (5)
Fernandez (2)
Fernandio (2)
Gale (?) (5)
Grogan (1)
Hassan (3)
Heath (3)
Huire (?) (4)
Jarvis (1)
Jenkins (1)
Kassim (3)
Keiel (6)
Khan (3)
Kirkpatrick (1)
Lacey (1)
Lansley (5)
Large (6) *
Lees (1)
Leitch (5) *
Look (3)
Luck (?) (1)
MacDonald (5) *
Marquis (2)
Mascarenhas (2)
Matheson (4) *
Morgan (6) *
Mukaram (3)
Mynott (6)
Nixon (1)
Nixon (3)
Noyce (5)
Patel (4) *
Pearce (1)
Peet (2)
Pereira (2)
Pinto (2)
Puidiston (?) (5)
Readelino (?) (2)
Rhodes (4)
Rowlandson (4) *
Sangsta (?) (6)
Shipton (6) *
Smith (4)
Spurgeon (5) *
Steuart (4) *
Tadhunter (6) *
Thatcham (?) (5)
Thomas (?) (2)
Vorce (?) (4)
Wheater (5) *
Winfield (1)
Wright (5)

 

* some individual notes above

Colin Bower
28 February 2007

Links to:
Britannia Index