WW2: Jervis Bay and San Demetrio - Brave Ships

[@sean_d]

Point of information: Those San Demetrio sailors did actually find some food to sustain them on their voyage, they found some onions and potatoes. One of the engineers remembered how he used to boil wash overalls by bleeding steam from the boiler into a bucket so they used this method to get hot meals. Lost that bit in the edit somehow. San Demetrio ended up being torpedoed off the east coast of the US in March 1942 by a German u-boat.

[@pammassung3148]

My Grandfather, Oswald Preston was aboard the San Demetrio when it was attacked on 05 Nov 1940. He was the Canadian born American Seaman.

[@sean_d]

A couple of people with connections to people on board have commented. I never expected relatives would see it when I made this video. Thanks for the feedback Pam.

[@terrythomas8482]

My grandfather was a survivor of the San Demetrio when it was shelled by the German cruiser Admiral Scheer. I still have all his medals & paperwork including seamans books.

[@sean_d]

That's a great piece of family history Terry. You should get yourself a copy of Calum MacNeil's book. Your grandad might be mentioned. Save a search at Abebooks.co.uk (a network of second hand bookshops) if they don't have one and they will email you when one turms up.

[@terrythomas8482]

@@sean_d I will look into it thanks for the heads up.

[@bexskinner]

Great info, my grandmother’s first husband went down with HMS Jervis Bay, RNR Leading Seaman Thomas Joseph May. He was 32 went he was lost at sea and didn’t get to meet his newborn daughter. Thank you

[@sean_d]

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Never occurred to me when I made the video that family members would see it, glad you liked it.

[@gm6hgw]

Many thanks for your narrative. Sadly, many forget the sacrifices made by the UK’s Merchant Navy and other merchant marines during WWII. It angers me that Merchant Navy Day (3rd September) passes every year with no mention in the main stream media. Had it not been for the MN, there would have been no Battle of Britian, D-Day and the country forced into starvation. Few appreciate the MN losses in the Falklands conflict and that there were more MN vessels than RN ship involved. Thanks again.

[@sean_d]

@gm6hgw Thanks for taking the time to say that. And yes, very under-appreciated.

[@daibhiseaghdha153]

my dad John O'Shea was on board the San Demetrio, when it was torpedoed, and sank, he got on to the lifeboat, and the survivors were picked up by an USA tanker, he joined the merchant navy in 1930, and left it in 1946, he was born in Dolphin's Barn, Dublin in 1913, my uncle was also in the merchant navy at the same time, they got an extra 4d per hour as danger money. if you were on board an oil tanker, he use to sing " life on the ocean waves, is better than going to sea, but I do remember the rest of the lyrics.

[@sean_d]

Thanks for that Daibhí. Nice connection to history. Glad he survived. There were 19 men lost and 32 survivors when she was sunk off the coast of Virginia by U404, the tanker SS Beta was the ship that picked up the survivors. Interesting lyrics to that song, suggesting it was full of irony, pity you can't remember the rest.

[@michaelmatthews5540]

My dad was in the Castilian, without the San Demetrio coming into the spotlight of the Scheer the Castilian would have been shelled and sunk as she carried ammunition. Respect to all

[@petersone6172]

I think Graf Spee couldn’t make it to a friendly port because one of Exeter’s 8” shells had damage its fuel processing equipment which meant a lot of Graf Spee’s fuel was contaminated with sea water.

[@marshall1896]

You should absolutely talk about the SS Stephen Hopkins

[@MarshFlyFightWin]

Another account of a ship going against great odds, could be said even worst odds than HMS Jervis Bay. That being the HMS Glowworm who went against two German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which would sink the Glowworm after attempting to stall the German battleships off Norway

[@sean_d]

Thanks. I might do one on Glowworm. Appreciate you taking the time to comment.

[@MarshFlyFightWin]

@@sean_d Appreciate the reply, been looking for more videos on Admiral Scheer or HMS Jervis Bay as I research the ship to do a model of the German heavy cruiser. Would love to see a video on the HMS Glowworm.

[@sean_d]

@@MarshFlyFightWin You should check out the channel called Drachinifel. That guy takes naval history to another level. He is bound to have stuff that will interest you.

[@MarshFlyFightWin]

@@sean_d Appreciate the suggestion love his channel sadly currently he's done videos on Graf Spee and Deutschland/Lützow. Admiral Scheer's two sister ships but sadly none on her. Especially hoping to find a more detailed account of her 1940s atlantic raiding mission, where she sank over 113,223 gross register tons (GRT) of shipping, making her the most successful capital ship surface raider of the war.

[@OldKing2]

For a gripping telling of the degaussing story, watch 1977 BBC documentary The Deadly Waves "The account of how the British scientific effort to discover and counter a dangerously effective new kind of Nazi Germany magnetic naval mine."

[@sean_d]

Thanks Brian. Found it kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqK4qXyjYpaanbc

[@petersone6172]

The British called the Deutschland class pocket battleships, the Germans called them armoured ships.

[@sean_d]

Thanks Peter