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Letters
Grandfather Charles Gillett was onboard S.S Turakina when it was hit by the Orion hello mac, I am trying to find more information on the S.S Turakina. my grandfather Charles Gillett was onboard her when he it was hit by the Orion. I know that he was taken to a German pow camp as we have a photo of him in a group sent from Germany and we also have a copy of the London Gazzette with information and photo of him in it. Would appreciate any tips for finding out more information. With thanks,
Julie, Thank you for your message. I have sent one E-Mail with some detail about Turakina and a photo of her. On that page is mentioned of a book by C.W.N. Ingram " NZ Shipwrecks" and I think that Turakina is mentioned in Your Grandfather was lucky to survive the action with Orion, of her crew of 57 only 21 were picked up by the Germans, and 7 of those were wounded. When Orion met up with her sister Raider Komet, the two German Raiders were absolutely crammed with prisoners, it is my understanding that some 675 were filling the ships, of whom 52 were women, and there were 8 children. The two Captains had different policies about putting prisoners ashore on Islands in the Pacific, Weyher in Orion only believed in landing coloured prisoners, he thought that white seamen were more valuable to the British Merchant Marine than were coloured sailors, so your Grandfather would have been retained on board Orion. On the other hand, Eyssen, Captain of Komet was anxious to be rid of all his prisoners except regular Servicemen, and he landed them on the Island of Emirau south of Nauru, these were soon rescued by the British. Your Grandfather therefore was kept in Orion who after a record 510 days at sea on the 23rd. of August 1941arrived off the Gironde River in the South of France. From Bordeaux your Grandfather would have gone by train to the POW Camp MARLAG MILAG NORD near Hamburg in Germany. Marlag ( Marine Lager ) held Navy POW's and MILAG ( Marine Internee Lager ) held Merchant Seamen, passengers from Merchant Ships and captured civilians. Your Grandfather would have been in the MILAG Camp. Both Camps for the Navy and for Merchant Sailors were in the same location, but were two separate camps, they shared a common Hospital and Cemetery. About 5,000 were interned in these two camps. Julie, go to this URL: http://www.gabethomas.clara.net.milag_camp.htm After Milag is a _ hidden by the underlining, this site has some detail about the Camp. Although my response is somewhat sketchy, I do hope it is of some value for you Julie, if you think I may be able to help further, please write again. Best wishes,
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