The following is the speech that Billy McGee gave at the unveiling of the Ropner plaque. Billy sent on a number of pictures as well, these are at the bottom of the speech. The agenda for the dedication service can be seen here.

** New ** Billy has completed his book Ropner's Navy. Details on obtaining the book can be found here.

 

First of all I would like to thank all those here today for the unveiling of this memorial. Thanks to Roger Bannister from the RBL & Derek Shorter (Chairman Dormanstown/Redcar MNA) for arranging local standards. Thank you to the standard bearers themselves and members of those branches of the Merchant Navy Association here today. Mr Derek Liddle former Superintendent of Ropner’s for the House Flag. Representatives of 2nd Hartburn Cubs/Scouts.

A special thank you must go the Tony Raine, Park Ranger who without permission of the park authorities, this venture would not of been possible. Tony has been very busy with the ongoing re-development in the park, but taken time out to listen to my ideas and help in anyway possible to achieve the finished article. He was also responsible for the stone mounting and planting around the memorial.

The inspiration first came about for this memorial after I watched my Son in a school play called “A Park Supreme” telling the early life story of Sir Robert Ropner and his affiliation with Stockton and Ropner Park. Speaking to people afterwards, I realized that the majority of people had no idea of the huge impact in the world of shipping Sir Robert played in not just the North-East, but on the whole world of shipping. A legacy, which would last some 123 years as a major ship owner and builder. As a former Merchant Seaman, I was well aware of the Ropner Shipping Co. having served on two of their ships, the Ravenscraig & Appleby in the mid 80’s. I was also well aware of the enormous losses incurred by the Ropner & Pool Shipping Co., another fact that the general public seemed to know very little of.

With this in mind I decided to try and do something about it. Over many years I have been involved along with other former Merchant Seamen in raising funds for such memorials, which now stand in Singapore, Germany as well as smaller acts of remembrance as having names who were missing added to memorials and cenotaphs stretching from the Tees to Robin Hoods Bay, but I now had the opportunity to do it in my hometown.

After meeting a local group named “Friends of Ropner Park”, I was introduced to Tony with my idea and after being given the go ahead I contacted a foundry for the cost of a bronze plaque to be cast. This done I now need to find funding for the £1500 needed. This was done setting up the “Ropner Navy Memorial Fund” The appeal appeared in the local Evening Gazette and a mass emailing was done to all the Merchant Navy associated web sites, and seafaring associations I could muster. The response was instantaneous and I was soon receiving funds from all parts of the UK, France & Holland, and in the following weeks from MN ex patriots and associations in America, Canada, Australia & New Zealand. Within the first two weeks over £1000 had already been pledged and soon you will see what I hope is a fitting tribute to those who served in “Ropner’s Navy”

“Ropner’s Navy” a name affectionately given to the fleet after one of their ships SS Wandby sank a German U-boat in 1917. The same feat, which was achieved in October 1939 when the Ropner ship SS Heronspool & SS Stonepool both, sank a German U-boat. During WWI the Ropner Co. lost 27 of their ships to enemy action (50% of her fleet) and a further 43 ships owned and managed by them during WWII. By the time WWII finished the company were down to their last 4 ships owned by the Ropner Shipping Co. & 7 of the Pool Shipping Co. The biggest loss of ships by any one company in war, which accounted for the lives of more than 650 Merchant Seamen, as well as the lives of men from the Royal Navy & Maritime Regt. DEMS gunners. During those war years no less than 13 OBE’s, 3 British Empire Medals & 2 Lloyds War Medals were awarded to the Officers & crew of the Ropner fleet.

Many stories could be told and many more will have been lost with the passage of time from the men of Ropner’s Navy. I would like to mention three.

Mr. Geoff Morton MBE (who is here today). Mr Morton was a first trip 16-year-old deck apprentice onboard the newly built Fort Pelly, a Canadian built liberty ship which was put under the management or the Ropner Shipping Co. On the 6th July 1943 the Fort Pelly sailed from Alexandria with a cargo of cased petrol, ammunition, vehicles and stores for the forces fighting in Italy, arriving in Port Augusta on the 18th to discharge her vital cargo. Two days later on the 20th a dive-bomber attacked Fort Pelly while lying at anchor and the ship sustained two direct hits and one near miss. One bomb exploded in the ships engine room killing all the Engineers and the other in number 5 hold destroying everything aft including the crew accommodation. Out of a crew of 60, 38 seamen were lost in the attack.

Next I would like to mention Eddie Sands from Redcar. (Can’t attend due to ill health). As a 17 year old Eddie had already survived the sinking of one ship in 1940. Unperturbed by this he joined the Ropner ship SS Warlaby. The ship had loaded a cargo of general stores in Alexandria and was to sail to Oban, Scotland for orders in the 19 ship unescorted Convoy SL-64S which left Freetown on the 30th January 1941. On the 12th February a heavy cruiser suddenly appeared and sailed between the centre columns of the Convoy. The ship suddenly declared herself raising the Nazi battle ensign as that of the German cruiser Admiral Hipper and focused her first salvo at the Warlaby devastating the ship at close range. When the smoke settled the Warlaby was gone and only Eddie and 2 other survivors were picked up from a crew of 39.

In 1938 Bill Linskey, a 17 year old Geordie lad stowed away on his first ship SS Albion Star. Once out to sea Bill gave himself up to the Captain and after some deliberation he was signed on as a Trimmer, trimming coal in the ships bunkers. In April 1941 Bill joined the Ropner ship SS Ashby in Middlesbrough and sailed to Liverpool where the ship joined up with the 55-ship Freetown bound Convoy OS-12, which left Liverpool on the 18th November 1941. On the 29th November during the crossing, the ship became detached from the main Convoy after developing engine trouble and was forced to stop for repairs. One of the Convoy escorts stayed with the Ashby for several hours, but eventually had to depart to catch the rest of the Convoy up. With the repairs finished by the 30th November the Ashby was underway once again, when she was suddenly torpedoed by U-43 off the Azores and sank in two minutes taking 16 men with her. Bill & the other survivors spent seven days in an open boat before reaching Fayal in the Azores. In 1999 Bill was persuaded to write about his experiences during the war in a book titled “No Longer Required” It is a book that pulls no punches. It made me laugh, and I’m not ashamed to admit it made me cry. I would like to read the following piece, which is the prologue from Bill’s book describing part of the Ashby incident as he stood talking to his friend Joe Beck on the deck of the Ashby.

"I've had one ambition from the time this war began: to find a German soldier, surrender to him, and spend the rest of the time in a PoW camp."I said this to Joe Beck on the deck on the SS Ashby, outward bound for West Africa to pick up iron ore. The sun was shining; the sea was blue and apparently quiet."That's a worthy want, " he agreed, " I might join you. They're out there under the water looking for us. When they find us they'll blow us up and if we're lucky we'll be able to swim like the clappers and surrender."He was absolutely right. They were out there in their little sub and within the next hour they torpedoed our ship. They didn't wait for me to surrender; they buggered off. Joe couldn’t have joined me; he was dead.The twenty-eight of us who survived in the lifeboat saw torsos, limbs and heads floating in red water. The sharks came soon but the Germans had long gone.The bodies disappeared quickly too.(One of those men was 4th Engineer William Sarginson from Norton)

Bill went back to sea after the Ashby loss and later survived the sinking of another ship in the Russian Convoy’s and would spend the winter of 1942/43 in Russia, earning a living as a black-marketeer and in the engine room of an American merchant ship, eventually returning to England in 1943 onboard the SS Empire Archer. Bill was later diagnosed as being “bomb happy” as it was referred to in them days (what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). He began to drink heavily because of the trauma he had endured, which was to affect him for many years after the war. I was so moved by his book, I wrote to him explaining the likes of his generation will not be forgotten as long as I could do something about it. Bill was kind enough to write back to thank me.

Just as I thought all the work for the plaque was done and I was ready to send the wording to the foundry, I received a phone call from an elderly lady asking for her Brother to be mentioned on the memorial. I explained there were too many men to add individual names and asked which ship her Brother was lost from. It turned out he was from the Ropner SS Millpool sunk without trace in a severe storm in the North Atlantic in October 1934. The ships distress message was picked up by another Ropner ship SS Ainderby caught in the same storm, stating her “aft hatch stove in and her topmast gone”. One of the last messages received telling how her engine room was flooding, then no more. Not a trace of the ship and her crew was ever found. The sea’s of the world are unforgiving and have been responsible for the fate & loss of 35 Ropner ships outside conflict. So the wording was amended to commemorate all.

I would like to finish on this small note. It seems strange that in such modern times, a lot of people still have no real knowledge of what the Merchant Navy did or still does and that 95% of this countries trade relies on the Merchant ships to deliver the goods to our Island nation. The world of shipping has grown, but sadly the Red Ensign, the British Merchant ships and Seamen have declined almost to extinction from a flag that was seen flying in every single port of the world on any given day. And like many shipping companies that have disappeared over the last 30 years, so to did the Ropner Shipping Co. in 1997. This is why I believe memorials such as this play an important part of our national maritime heritage for future generations to learn from.

I would now like to ask Captain Colin Tingle to say a few words and perform the unveiling.

Wreath laying: In order of priority. Dari Taylor, Capt. Ken Parker, Geoff Morton MBE, DEMS Maritime Regt.

Silent tribute: Read by Ken Parker

Last post: Minutes Silence:

Kohima Dedication: Reveille:

Invite gusts back to the RNA Club

Billy giving his speach

Unveiling with Capt. Colin Tingle

Wreath laying.
The man walking away from the memorial is Geoff Morton MBE,
a survivor from the Ropner ship Fort Pelly sunk 1943

Billy with his wife Gill and Son Callum who is wearing his Granddads WWII medals.

The SS Salmonpool was a Ropner ship captured by the Germans in 1940. The crew were prisoners at Milag. The sketch to the right was in Tommy's logbook, Billy sent on the pre-war picture of the Salmonpool that he obtained from the Welsh Maritime Museum.. Clicking on them will bring up larger versions.

The book "Ropner's Navy" (ISBN 978-0-9558593-5-9) is due to be published and released by Cormorant Publishing Hartlepool around the 1st August 2008, price £7.99. It details the history of the Ropner family and the Ropner Shipping Co. from 1874 to 1997 when the Co. was taken over by Jacobs Holdings Ltd. Also included are the ships owned during the partnership with the Thomas Appleby Co. from 1866 and also includes all ships managed by the Co. for the MOS/MOWT and those supplied to the British Government on the WWII Bareboat Charter during WWI & II.

There is a fleet list of some 284 ships owned and managed by the Co. 1866-1997, detailing date & yard built, tonnage, name changes and eventual demise. The third part details all 70 WWI & II losses due to enemy action detailing cargo, convoy, how and where lost & casualty figures. It is also a reference book detailing where all the WWII Log Books & Crew Agreements files are held at Kew for each ships war service for those wishing for a more in-depth research.

The final part is a Book of Remembrance and details the individual names of the 736 men lost from Ropner ships registered with the CWGC (80 from WWI, 656 from WWII). There are also 66 black & white photographs dating from 1889 to the 1990's. The book will be available from W.H. Smith's, Pocket Papers, Hartlepool & Cormorant Publishing as well as the Author himself.

Specific ordering information will be available upon publication.

The following link although not complete has a list of approximately 200 ships that were owned or managed by Ropner. Thanks to Peter Ropner for suggesting the link.

http://www.aandc.org/research/ropner.html

If you are interested in Martime Research, the Archives and Collections Society may be able to help.