A-Z 2013 the letter T

I've been looking into my family tree. I have found some rather very interesting things about my ancestor's. Most interesting is that I have so many that I didn't know I even had.

As I have mentioned on this blog many times I am a granddaughter of  immigrants. My fathers mother came to this country from Cork Ireland in 1914 on a ship called The Laconia which sailed into Boston. In my searches into our family history I have found my grandmother name on the ships manifest and the date she applied for and gained citizenship here in the US. All of that is very interesting to me as her granddaughter and I have saved the documents for all my family to see.

What I found to be fascinating and exciting is the ship she came over on. This ship is has a deep and interesting history.

One that is incredibly tragic.

My "T" word tragic- tragedy.

The RMS Laconia was built in 1911 and was originally a passenger ship. Eventually however due to the breakout of WWI  the ship was converted to an armed merchant cruiser in late 1914. She patrolled the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean  and then later went back to patrolling the South Atlantic.

This is the ship my grandmother sailed on
The RMS Laconia 1911

In Feb 1917 The Laconia was sunk by a German U-50.

They rebuilt the RMS Laconia and the new ship was launched in May of 1922. On September 8 1925 the Laconia collided with a British schooner off the coast of Massachusetts.

On September 24 1934 The Laconia rammed into the side of a US freighter in the fog.She was out of commission for a time undergoing repairs.

In 1939 again The Laconia was converted into a merchant ship. In 1940 the British fitted her with guns so that she could escort convoys.

In Sept 1942 WWII The Laconia was in the area of the Ascension Islands when it was torpedoed by a German U-Boat. The Laconia at the time was carrying 463 officers and crew, 80 civilians, 286 British Army soldiers, 1,793 Italian POW's, and 103 Polish soldiers (guards). Most of the life boats were destroyed in the explosion.

As the ship went down the U-boat surfaced and started to help rescue the survivors many of which were POW's . It's important to understand that they were flying Red Cross Flags (universal sign for humanitarian operation)

The next morning a B-24 sighted the rescue operation and notified Ascension Island. The commanding officer unaware that it was a Red Cross sanctioned operation ordered the bomber to attack, which he did. Many of the survivors were on the deck of the sub when the attack commenced and the sub captain ordered the sub to dive.

Roughly half the people died and half survived, the numbers aren't exact. An Admiral in the German command issued and order later dubbed The Laconia Order saying that German ships were henceforth never permitted to pick up survivors.

I don't know about you but I found the history of the ship to be incredibly tragic!

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