Sur les traces du Lancastria

History of Lancastria

Built in 1919, this 168 m long liner was launched in 1922 under the name RMS Tyrrhenia. She belonged to the British transatlantic company Cunard Line. In 1924, she was renamed Lancastria.
In March 1940, she was requisitioned for troop transport and reclassified as an HMT (His Majesty Troopship).

Following the military collapse against Nazi Germany, the Ariel evacuation operation of Allied forces from ports in western France was organised as best it could.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Winston Churchill, ordered the British Expeditionary Force (made up of soldiers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, Pakistan and India) to be repatriated to England as quickly as possible. From 15 June 1940, almost 40,000 British soldiers poured into the port of Saint-Nazaire in an attempt to escape to Great Britain.

On 17 June 1940, almost 80 requisitioned merchant ships were waiting in the harbour of Saint-Nazaire.

Civilian refugees (Poles, French, Czechs, Belgians, etc.) were also on board.
The liner Lancastria was designed for a capacity of 3,000 passengers, while the lifeboats and lifejackets were only designed for 2,200.
But in the rush of the debacle, the Lancastria had between 6,000 and 9,000 men on board, according to the testimonies of the surviving British officers.


A few minutes for an unprecedented shipwreck

As the largest ship in the port's withdrawal fleet, the Lancastria was an ideal target for enemy aircraft. As it was about to leave the Loire estuary, it was attacked by a fleet of German bombers.
One of the planes dropped four 500 kg bombs, all of which damaged the ship:


the first bomb exploded in the ship's No. 2 hold (in the midst of 800 men),
the second pierced hold 3 (releasing 500 tonnes of fuel oil which spread around the liner),
the third bomb appeared to fall down the liner's only chimney (but this was not the case) and exploded in the engine room,
the last bomb ripped open hold 4.



The liner sank in 24 minutes off Pointe Saint-Gildas.

A red buoy marks the location of the wreck of the Lancastria, which lies in 24 m of water, 7 km west of Pointe Saint-Gildas and 17 km south of Saint-Nazaire.

At the time of the wreck, bodies were found all along the coast, from Piriac to the Ile de Ré, but especially in Saint-Nazaire, La Baule, the Pointe de Saint-Gildas, the Baie de Bourgneuf, Noirmoutier...
As Emile Boutin recounted, in Moutiers-en-Retz, people would wait for drowning victims to arrive on the beaches and bury them immediately, because it was so hot.
A trench had been dug in the village cemetery and the bodies were placed there.
When this trench was complete, the victims were buried directly and temporarily in the dunes between the village and Collet.

After the war, the bodies were brought together in Pornic in the "British Military Cemetery". A second commemorative plaque can be found in the town cemetery.

The bodies are buried in 16 cemeteries along the coast. The wreck has also been declared a "war grave".


Did you know? :


It is possible to follow a tour of the site of the British military cemetery of Pornic with the head gardener responsible for the Commonwealth cemeteries of the Great West as part of a visit "Meetings with our enthusiasts" entitled The British military cemetery "For not falling into oblivion" organised from time to time by the Intercommunal Tourist Office of Pornic.
A sign entitled "Chemin de la Mémoire 39-45 en Pays de Retz : Naufrage du Lancastria" (39-45 Remembrance Trail in Pays de Retz: Lancastria shipwreck) was installed at Pointe Saint-Gildas in June 2016 at the initiative of the Association Souvenir Boivre Lancaster. To find out more, visit the A.S.B.L. website.
A commemorative plaque has also been placed at the entrance to the Marais Breton Vendéen, in Moutiers-en-Retz, at the end of the path named "Chemin du Lancastria" in tribute to the victims of this tragedy.
When you visit the Pointe Saint-Gildas semaphore in Préfailles, a space dedicated to the great shipwrecks of the Loire estuary, which have left their mark on people's memories, takes in the story of the HMT Lancastria.
There is also a commemorative stele near the blockhouses, at the exit of the Pointe Saint-Gildas car park in Préfailles.