Genealogy Chat

How can I find out information on a Robert Strasenburgh Pearce who was in the Merchant navy.
He was born 1888 Southampton, England and he was the Captain of the SS Waimarama and he was killed when the ship was attacked and sunk on the 13 August 1942 near Malta whilst it was part of the The 'Operation Pedestal' convoy.

You will be able to find out quite a lot at Kew with a career as long as his. His central registration cards, certificates of competency as a master are on microfiche at Kew. The crew lists for all his voyages and possibly logs will be held at various places including Kew, MHA at Newfoundland and Greenwich. Details of the convoy where his ship was sunk may also be available at Kew.

Suggest that you borrow or get a copy of "My Ancestor was a merchant seaman" by Christopher and Michael Watts.

David

Operation Pedestal was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was the base from which surface ships, submarines and aircraft attacked Axis convoys carrying essential supplies to the Italian and German armies in North Africa. In 1941 and 1942, Malta was effectively under siege, blockaded by Axis air and naval forces. To sustain Malta, Britain had to get convoys through at all costs. Malta narrowly survived[1]. Despite serious losses, just enough supplies were delivered for Malta to survive[2], although it ceased to be an effective offensive base for much of 1942. The most crucial supply was fuel delivered by the American-built tanker Ohio.[3] The operation started on 9 August 1942, when the convoy sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar.[4]

The convoy is also known as the "Battle of Mid-August" in Italy and as the "Santa Marija Convoy" in Malta. The arrival of the last ships of the convoy on August 15, 1942 coincided with the Feast of the Assumption (Santa Marija) and the name "Santa Marija Convoy" or "Sta Marija Convoy" is still used. That day's public holiday and celebrations, in part, celebrate the arrival of the convoy. The attempt to run some fifty ships past bombers, E-boats, minefields, and submarines has gone down in military history as one of the most important[2] British strategic victories of the Second World War - though at a cost of more than four hundred lives, with only five of the original fourteen merchant ships reaching the Grand Harbour.

SS WAIMARAMA (August 11-13, 1942)

British merchant ship of 11,100 tons, loaned from the Shaw Savile Line and now part of the fourteen ship convoy Operation Pedestal to the relief of the besieged island of Malta. The 'Operation Pedestal' convoy was the most bombarded convoy in the entire war. The Waimarama was sunk by German Junkers 88 dive bombers off Cape Bon. Direct hits by four bombs ignited aviation fuel stored in cans on her deck. The ship exploded in a sheet of flame and smoke. In less than five minutes the ship was gone. Of her crew of 107, only 27 men survived.

A total of 209 ships in 61 convoys, made the journey to and from Malta from July 9, 1940, to December 31, 1942. Thirty of these ships were lost, resulting in the deaths of 264 seamen. (Britain lost 22 ships, USA 4 ships, Holland 2 and Norway 2).

SS Waimarama
Captain R S Pearce
'Shaw Savill & Albion Line'
08.16 Thursday 13th August 1942
Sunk by 12 Junkers 88s attack
80 crew lost including the 'Master'Operation Pedestal
SS Waimarama Captain R S Pearce 'Shaw Savill & Albion Line' 08.16 Thursday 13th August 1942. Sunk by 12 Junkers 88s attack ...

homepage.ntlworld.com/john.white843/Pedestal_Shi... - 46k - Similar pages

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.white843/Pedestal_Ships.html


there is a picture of the ship with the above notes

from a relative of Robert Pearce



International Veterans Rendezvous
OTHER INFORMATION: I am an ancestor of Captain Strasenburg Pearce who was the Captain of the SS Waimarama when it was sunk off Malta in 1942, he was killed ...

www.fortressweymouth.co.uk/navy1.htm - 477k - Similar pages

Thanks for all your info everybody

Hi Alan
My grandad Harold Austin Samson was the captain's steward. He wrote a book called chess with the Captain as often on quiet periods of which there weren't many he would play a game of chess with the Captain.

The Captain taught him how to decipher code books with the strict instructions that if anything happened to him that he would through the books overboard into the sea!

My grandad went AWOL when they arrived in Sydney Harbour after witnessing the Captain striking another man in an arguement. He told me that this was because he feared he would be called as witness against the Captain who he greatly respected.

The crew total that died was infact 79 not 80 as all the records state as my grandad wasn't on there although he said he probably was on the records! His mother and sisters thought he had been killed when the ship was destroyed but he turned up a few years later having joined the australian army when he went AWOL.