 | ||
SS Stolwijk, a Dutch cargo ship of 2,489 tons, was wrecked off the coast of Donegal on 6 December 1940. She was part of a Convoy SC-13 sailing from the Dominion of Newfoundland to Liverpool, England, when her rudder was damaged in a fierce storm. Attempts to rescue her by her destroyer escort failed and she went on the rocks off Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland. Ten of her crew were lost but the remaining 18 were rescued the following day by Arranmore Lifeboat and landed safely in Burtonport. The rescue of the survivors was conducted in terrible weather conditions and both the RNLI and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands awarded medals to the Irish lifeboat crew.
Contents
Construction and History
SS Stolwijk was a steamship built in 1920 (originally SS Kongsgaard, name changed 1921) and was one of a number of ships belonging to the shipping company Erhardt & Dekkers (1901-1981). She was 280 feet (85 meters) long and she and her sister ships were all named after cities and villages that had "wijk" in the name (Winterswijk, Schelpwijk, and Haulerwijk).
Stolwijk ran aground at Åhus, Skåne County, Sweden, on 25 April 1922. She was refloated on 29 April 1922.
Stowijk was at sea when the Netherlands fell to Germany in May 1940 during World War Two. She could not return to her home base of Rotterdam, but continued to operate as part of the large Dutch merchant marine, which would contribute greatly to the Allied war effort during the rest of the war.
Other Convoy Activity
Stolwijk was part of outbound Convoy OB-188 in July 1940, steaming from Liverpool to North America; German submarines sank four of the convoy′s ships. She returned in August 1940 as part of Convoy SC-01; again, four ships were lost during the journey. In October 1940 Stolwijk went back to North America as part of Convoy OB-232. She was returning as part of Convoy SC-13 when she was wrecked.
Slow Convoy 13
Stolwijk was one of 32 ships in SC-13. There were six escort vessels: HMS Clarkia, Heliotrope, Sabre, Scimitar, Shakiri, and Wellington. Violent storms beset the convoy from the outset. On 3 December 1940, the convoy diverted northwest to try to escape the storm and in so doing avoided being intercepted by German submarines that had been attacking another convoy HX-90.
The stranding of Stolwijk
At 10:30am on 5 December 1940 Stolwijk′s rudder broke. Many attempts were made to repair it but they were futile due to the weather. The anchor was dropped but the chain snapped and even going in full reverse did not halt the ship′s steady drift toward the rocky Irish coastline. One of the escorting destroyers, HMS Sabre, risked her own safety in trying to rescue the crew of Stolwijk and was herself nearly destroyed. Stolwijk lost one of her lifeboats at this stage suffered damage to the other. A massive wave washed her radio operator overboard and Stolwijk hit the rocks at 11:30 p.m. Nine sailors made an attempt to reach the lifeboat that had been washed overboard. According to the official court report, some made it to the lifeboat, but the storm capsized it and only three bodies were subsequently recovered. The remaining 18 survivors remained on board and radioed for help.
The rescue of the survivors
Arranmore Lifeboat were notified late in the evening of 6 December 1940 of the ship in distress and given an approximate location. It was too late and stormy to depart immediately. The all-volunteer lifeboat crew departed Arranmore Island at 6:30am on 7 December in a hurricane-force gale. Witnesses claim the lifeboat (the KTJS) 'went over one wave and through the next' on the outward journey. Stowijk had gone aground on rocks called Carraignacrubog ("The Rock of Crabs") just north of Inishdooey and south of Inisbeg. The National Archives in the Netherlands has this information of the rescue from the secretary of the RNLI (C.R. Satterthwaite) in April 1941:
The list of Stolwijk sailors who perished
The following sailors are known to have been lost on Stolwijk on 6 December 1940:
The Immediate Aftermath
75 Anniversary song: I'll Go
On 7 December 2015, Arranmore publican and singer/songwriter Jerry Early released a song on iTunes called I'll Go to commemorate the actions of the lifeboat crew. He co-wrote the song with his cousin John Gallagher. It has received considerable airplay in Donegal since the launch and all proceeds are being donated towards the creation of a permanent monument on Arranmore Island.
Facebook Page
A Facebook page was established with the objective of promoting awareness of the rescue, clarifying details of the event, searching for descendants of the Stolwijk and campaigning for a permanent monument to be raised in memory of the crews involved.