Many Were Held by the Sea
The Tragic Sinking of HMS Otranto
By (author) R. Neil Scott Foreword by Rt. Hon. Lord George Islay MacNeill Robertson
Publication date:
18 June 2012Length of book:
288 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442213425
At 8:43 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, October 6, 1918, HMS Kashmir rammed HMS Otranto off Islay, Scotland. Both ships were former British passenger liners from the P&O Steamship Company that had been pulled into the war to ferry American soldiers between New York and various British ports. On this stormy morning, however, they were part of Convoy HX-50 carrying troops to Liverpool. On board were 372 British officers and sailors and 701 American soldiers. The Americans were mostly Southern farm boys from Fort Screven in Savannah under the command of Lt. Sam Levy, a Georgia Tech graduate from Atlanta.
The Kashmir managed to back away and follow the harsh wartime order that required her to ignore any maritime disasters that might befall her sister ships and to continue on her prescribed course rather than stop and take on survivors. Thus it was that—with winds blowing at 70 to 75 mph and waves at more than 60 feet—the severely damaged Otranto was left dead in the water with more than a thousand souls aboard.
Many Were Held by the Sea: The Tragic Sinking of HMS Otranto, tells the story of what happened during that voyage—mostly from the perspective of the American soldiers—and builds to the disastrous conclusion. The narrative details the courage of the young men on board, men who, for the most part, had never seen the ocean or learned to swim. It tells of the anguish from the home front, as family members had to wait weeks to learn the fate of their relatives. In addition, Scott’s narrative tells the personal story of Lieutenant Craven of the Royal Navy, serving as Commander of the rescue ship, who was forced to gamble with the lives of those on both ships in order to save the maximum number of passengers.
The Kashmir managed to back away and follow the harsh wartime order that required her to ignore any maritime disasters that might befall her sister ships and to continue on her prescribed course rather than stop and take on survivors. Thus it was that—with winds blowing at 70 to 75 mph and waves at more than 60 feet—the severely damaged Otranto was left dead in the water with more than a thousand souls aboard.
Many Were Held by the Sea: The Tragic Sinking of HMS Otranto, tells the story of what happened during that voyage—mostly from the perspective of the American soldiers—and builds to the disastrous conclusion. The narrative details the courage of the young men on board, men who, for the most part, had never seen the ocean or learned to swim. It tells of the anguish from the home front, as family members had to wait weeks to learn the fate of their relatives. In addition, Scott’s narrative tells the personal story of Lieutenant Craven of the Royal Navy, serving as Commander of the rescue ship, who was forced to gamble with the lives of those on both ships in order to save the maximum number of passengers.
During WWI, German U-boats struck fear into the hearts of sailors aboard Allied vessels traversing the Atlantic Ocean. Yet the HMS Otranto, a British troop transport ship carrying more than 1000 men, was sunk by one of its own, the HMS Kashmir, after the two vessels collided during a storm in October of 1918. Here, the late Scott, formerly a professor and librarian at Middle Tennessee State University, offers a gripping account of this calamity and the events surrounding it. After picking up Europe-bound American soldiers in New York, a series of mishaps plagued the boat, leading some to believe the Otranto was "jinxed:" days after setting sail, the ship rammed a French fishing boat, and shortly afterwards many of the men fell violently ill with Spanish influenza. Relying on contemporary accounts, Scott provides graphic details of these and the final tragic accidents off the coast of Scotland, as well as the chilling three-hour aftermath, during which time a British destroyer braved the waves and saved nearly 600 men before the Ontrato was finally shattered against the reefs. How the tragedy affected the nearby islanders (some of whom helped to rescue those who made it to shore alive) and the American families awaiting news of their loved ones provides a grim denouement to this beautifully written and heartrending story.