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My uncle was killed when the Fleur de Lys was sunk by a U Boat of Gibralter on 14th October 1941. Amazingly my Dad, his Brother died on 14th October 1999. I have a full list of casualties but understand that there were THREE SURVIVORS. Search as I may I cannot locate the names of the survivors.
It is just possible that any one may still be alive or relatives who can relate to me any detail of the event that the survivor conveyed to them.
Any ideas please. Roger

Roger

If you go to this site it will give you the full list of the men aboard.


http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1150.html
Sue

Hi all,
Still looking to find the names of the survivors.
Crew of 90 and I understand 3 survived.
I have the full crew list but no list of the 3 survivors.
Roger

The ones who died are probably commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site

http://www.cwgc.org/

Try searching for the individual names on your list and cross them off once found. The ones left, by the process of elimination, should be the ones who survived. Even if you've got more than 3 'left over' you've managed to whittle the numbers down.

What a VERY good idea Det - I probably would not have thought of that !

Just to make things quicker - I took a look on there and went to advanced search and put in 14 Oct 1941 as both start and end dates - no names, but ticked Navy.

It brought them all up together :-D

Dea x

Well - I wouldn't have thought of a bulk search ;-) :-D

What a team eh ??? ;-)

I think it brought up around 70 of them but as Roger has a list of their names it shouldn't be too difficult to find the others - they may have died a little later of wounds perhaps ??

Or maybe they would turn up if 'Navy' hadn't been ticked as they might have had non-naval crew on board?

Dea x

Several newspapers report a crew of 69

Nottingham Evening Post - Saturday 18 October 1941

...The three survivors were taken to Gibraltar. One of them said that the Flor de Lys sank in 5 minutes with her whole crew of 69, the three men saved are the sole survivors of the crew

Ah- one of the survivors:

Lincolnshire Echo - Thursday 23 October 1941

TORPEDOMAN Geoffrey Dransfield of Lincoln who was a member of the crew of the corvette HMS Fleur de Lys was rescued when the ship was sunk recently. His parents, Mr & Mrs Richard Dransfield of Newland, Lincoln received a cable informing them he was safe and happy...

Well done Gritty :-D

As an aside, when ever I read your name, I assume Girtty/Gertty. How did you settle on Gritty?

Short for Margaret :)

I think this is probably the Geoffrey mentioned in the article:

Name: Geoffrey D Dransfield
Mother's Maiden Surname: Howard
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1921
Registration district: Lincoln
Inferred County: Lincolnshire
Volume Number: 7a
Page Number: 978

Think he transferred to Royal Navy although not sure what it means- original states:
4:7:38 Para 204 (15) TAR (Royal Navy)

Royal Artillery attestations 1883-1942 Transcription
First name(s) Geoffrey David
Last name Dransfield
Attestation year 1938
Service number 857742
Record set Royal Artillery attestations 1883-1942
Category Military, armed forces & conflict

If it is the above- looks like he may have gone to Australia

Yes - well spotted Gritty :-D

Dea x

Thanks Dea- although, I've just noticed that Geoffrey Dransfield doesn't appear on the crew listed on the link put up by Susan- Unless, that just lists crew members that were killed?

Yes, I think that must just list the crew members that were killed. Wiki states 73 crew members and there are 70 on the list:

HMS Fleur de Lys ( Royal Navy): World War II: Convoy OG 75: The Flower-class corvette was torpedoed and sunk west of Gibraltar (36°00'N 6°30'W) by U-206 ( Kriegsmarine) with the loss of 70 of her 73 crew. Survivors were rescued by a Spanish ship.

On Rootsweb:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

GEOFFREY DAVID DRANSFIELD

BELOVED HUSBAND OF DULCIE

LOVED FATHER OF ALL HIS CHILDREN

BORN 3-5-1921. DIED 10-9-1992.

EX RN

REST IN PEACE

The book below- which you can view on Google books, suggests there were three survivors- two that were injured. On of the injured was an unamed coxswain. Unfortunately no names are given.

U-Boat Attack Logs: A Complete Record of Warship Sinkings from Original ...
By Daniel Morgan, Bruce Taylor

Hi, we are working on the story about U-206 - the german U-boat, which hit the Fleur de Lys. @Roger - Could You contakt me please?
@Gritty Can You send me the direct link to rootsweb? I can´t find nothing about G. D. Dransfield.

Welcome to the boards, Jirka.

Gritty has no personal interest in the topic. Like the rest of us who answered Roger, she likes to help solve mysteries. As it is, she has deleted her account & is unlikely to see your message.

Rootsweb has been off line for months, meaning the original link wouldn't work.

Try contacting Roger directly - click on his board name to send a message. As long as he is still using the linked email address, and can access it, he'll be notified that you're trying to get in touch.

By googling Geoffrey David Dransfield, an image of his headstone can be found here

https://tinyurl.com/y92cagrn

The words 'Gravesites of Tasmania' is superimposed over it. Perhaps he died there?

Clicking through brings up burials for St Georges Church Of England Sorell Tasmania
https://tinyurl.com/ybwq25f8

There are several Dransfield's living in Tasmania. Its possible that they might know something about Geoffrey.
https://www.whitepages.com.au/residential