Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Mac.

I have been researching Gustrow PoW camp for a while and recently identified one of the many photographs I have as being of W/O Archibald Paul Kennedy, AN & MEF, who was on board the Matunga when it was captured by the Wolf.

This eventually led me to your site and although I have identified a few of the Matunga as being at Gustrow I am looking for some civilians that might also have been prisoners of the Wolf to see if these are on some of the
photographs I have of civilians in the camp. I have also identified more regarding Stoker Turner [ read "How did a merchant stoker become a WW1 casualty" ]that may be of interest as follows;

Seaman Richard James TURNER

Seaman Turner was a stoker on board the SS Matunga when it was intercepted by the German raider Wolf on the 28th July 1917 en route to Rabaul. The ship was taken to Offak Bay, Waigeu Island where the cargo and crew were
taken off and the ship taken out and sunk.

Before he died, Seaman Turner told L/Cpl Furlonger that he had sailed on vessels between Sydney (his home town) and the northern rivers of New South Wales.

On arrival in Germany, Seaman Turner was taken to Gustrow PoW Camp in Mecklenburg and was confirmed as being there on 23rd March 1918.

596 Cpl Harold Le Plastrier Jackson AN & MEF, who was with Turner in Gustrow (and on the Matunga) described him as being 5' 6" tall, slight build, thin features and with a slight moustache. He confirmed that Turner was in the
convalescent hospital (probably the exchange hospital as described by 2332 Cpl Claude C Benson, 13th Australian Infantry) and was always thin and shaky, possibly having St Vitus' Dance.

The Exchange hospital was one of two hospitals in Gustrow and when Claude Benson arrived was, in his opinion, being badly run by a Belgian who was not a doctor. Wounds were not being dressed etc and Benson took over the care of the British and Commonwealth patients. Presumably this included Turner.

Turner was repatriated under the exchange agreement whereby sick prisoners were exchanged for an equal number of sick German prisoners. He would have been taken by train to Aachen as described by Claude Benson who used to
accompany the wounded and sick on the journey but he himself escaped on the 1st October 1918.  Turner arrived in Switzerland on 21st October 1918. He was reported to have been suffering from Malaria by 367 L/Cpl J W Furlonger and possibly later from Influenza. He met him when they were on the same ward in the Hotel des Alres? influenza Hospital on the 4th of December. Furlonger reported that Turner was all right at the time but that he sank
lower and lower over the next few days and died a little after midnight of the 9th December 1918 (presumably this meant the 10th).  He was buried in the cemetery at Interlaken.

He left a wife at 779 Illawarra Road, Marrickville, Sydney and is commemorated on the Australian Merchant Seamens Memorial at Campbell, ACT.

Of the others on the Matunga, Pte Malthouse AN & MEF, also died, on the 6th December 1918 whilst in Gustrow and is now buried in Hamburg.

The "Skipper" bit is a bit of a mystery but skipper/stoker looks like an easy typo.

I wonder if you could pass my e-mail address on to Peter Hohnen.

Thanks

Doug Johnson

Doug,

Thank you for your detailed E-Mail about Stoker Turner, it helps a lot when another piece of the jig saw falls into place.

I will ask Peter Honen to get in touch with you.

Best wishes,
Mac.

Doug,

This sentence:

On arrival in Germany, Seaman Jones was taken to Gustrow PoW Camp in Mecklenburg and was confirmed as being there on 23rd March 1918.

Should Seaman Jones read Seaman Turner?

Regards, 
Mac.

Mac,
 
Apologies, my typo this time!
 
Actually Seaman O Jones from the Matunga was also confirmed as being at Gustrow on the same date, hence my confusion.
 
Regards
 
Doug

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