SS Creemuir
17 May 2010
My posting about the sinking 14 miles off our NE Scottish coastline during WWII of the large steamship Creemuir has caused quite a stir.
It attracted contact from Noel Blacklock, the last surviving crewman of the small number who managed to get away safely as the vessel sank quickly. He has helpfully provided me with a lot of very personal information about the ship.
Subsequently there was contact from Betty Treacy whose father had survived the sinking but who subsequently died in 1963 when she was quite young. I have managed to put Noel and Betty in touch with each other and it turns out that her father escaped on the same raft as Noel. An amazing story and I feel privileged to have put these two lovely people in contact with each other.
5 comments
Written by Betty Treacy on 26 March 2010 at 14:49:00
Dear Sir, My late father Pakie (Patrick) Bowe from Waterford, Ireland was also on the S.S.Creemuir during the Second World War, and I would be most interested to hear how this ship was sunk. My father was born in 1902 and died at 60 years of age on the 1st January, 1963. I was the eldest of his three children and was only just gone 16 years when he died, so would love to hear any new about the torpedoing of the ship. I was always told he was torpedoed and while in the water, was fired at by germans, against all the rules of war. Needless to say, this is only hearsay.
Thanking you for any comments. Yours sincerely Betty Treacy (nee Bowe)
Written by ianjcrawfordvp@aol.com on 02 April 2010 at 07:50:00
Rod, Hope you are doing well .......... it's a long time since we've seen each other. I'm afraid my diving days are ober but I continue my life's work of building the most comprehensive database of Scottish shipwecks I can. I wondered if I could ask you to help me identify some of the unidentified wrecks listed off the north east coast? Please drop me an e-mail if you're up for some info sharing. Thanks Ian Crawford
Written by austin james on 03 May 2010 at 12:48:00
The S.S Creemuir was the ship my great grandfather was killed on,he was the master mariner Austin Mankin but spelt it austen.
Written by NOEL BLACKLOCK on 22 May 2010 at 16:18:00
Treacy and I wish to thank you most sincerely for bringing us together after all these years. 70 to be exact. It does not seem possible. We now know that her father and I shared the only raft that survived after the sinking of the ss CREEMUIR off Aberdeen in 1940. To be truthful I cannot remember him, but I know there were four of us on this raft. Her father, who was a stoker, a cabin boy, a sailer and me 2nd Radio Officer. It really is wonderful to be reunited and we are most grareful. The other Radio Officer, Mr Gawthorne also survived by clinging to an upturned lifeboat. I sailed with him later in the war on another ship. I think he came from Northhampton. Again many thanks Rod.
NOEL BLACKLOCK
Written by Barbara Ward on 14 May 2011 at 11:09:00
Thank you for your information on the loss of the SS Creemuir. My husband's uncle, Walter John Thomas Frampton, died aged 20 when the ship was attacked and I have been trying for a number of years to find details. It has made the whole incident more poignant to read the account from Mr. Blacklock and Mrs Treacy. I have traced the memorials at Barry and Tower Hill but was unaware of the Roll of Honour in the Cardiff Mission to Seafarers which we will most certainly be visiting in the near future. Regards Barbara Ward