The Strathallan Story
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Jim Gormley Website Founder 1920 - 2003 |
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Image of The Gloster Gladiator from the Second World War |
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Anne Dullard - Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service |
| Location of Sinking | |
 Click on image to enlarge |
Eric Smith of Polperro Cornwall
gave comprehensive information for The Strathallan Story and U-562
which can be found throughout this web site. He pinpointed the
exact location where the Strathallan is lying on the ocean bed 36Æ
52’ North 00Æ 34’ West which is off the coast
of Algiers in The Mediterranean Sea. Eric gives the exact date &
time as 21st December 1942 at 0231hrs from British records. |
| An interesting story of a hour
lapse was cleared up after 60yrs. Survivor Jim Gormley said that he
could swear on a stack of bibles that the torpedo struck at 0130hrs,
he was up to his waist in water looking at a clock that had stopped
on torpedo impact. He was correct in one sense Eric Smith solved the
enigma. We quote his words "During the war there was such a thing as double summertime but as the time quoted by both Allied and German records are in GMT. It would seem that the ships clock was 1hr behind for that international zone and never reset". Basically there was human frailty in not changing times on G deck where Jim Gormley was billeted. An Agatha Christie mystery which put Jims mind at rest after 60yrs. |
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Must be a unique photograph 21st
December 1942..........HMS Panther alongside SS Strathallan taking
off survivors after torpedo attack. In 82 year old survivors possession
not previously published. Click on image to enlarge. |
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Eric Papps & Brian Rich - The Gloster Gladiator |
Faces Behind The Gloster Gladiator |
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Ken Chambers |