Archifdy Ceredigion Archives
MUSEUM COLLECTION

Acc. 2934

Ref: MUS/230/1/6-8

MUS/230/1/6: The loss of the Oronsay
Documents concerning the loss of the Oronsay, which was torpedoed on 9 October 1942
600 miles south-west of Freetown. Roberts oversaw the evacuation of the large number of troops on board and was eight days afloat in an open boat, sailing 400 miles before being picked up by the Brilliant and returned to Freetown. For these actions he was subsequently awarded the OBE.

MUS/230/1/6/1
1. Letter from the Managers of the Orient Steam Navigation Company to Mrs Roberts, regretting that the ship on which her husband had been serving had indeed been sunk, as had been reported in the newspapers. The fate of the ship’s company was then unknown and the Managers express their deep sympathy.
14 October 1942
2. Three undated cuttings from unknown newspapers, two with stories concerning the sinking of liners, including the Oronsay, by Italian submarines, the third, dated 1 December, with a poem about Woolton Pie.

MUS/230/1/6/2
Form I.B.23(B), issued at the Clyde Ports, 29 October 1942, and addressed to the Chief Constable of Sheffield, stating that the bearer (Captain Roberts), having landed without documents, states that he is of British nationality. The document appears to have been used as an emergency identity document and annotations record fourteen day extensions on 24 November and 18 December.

MUS/230/1/6/3
Two page letter opening ‘My Dear Wick’, apparently congratulating Roberts on his survival, as well as his receipt of the D.S.C.. Sent from V.O.W. Wing, The Hostel, Valley, Anglesey.
5 November 1942

MUS/230/1/6/4
Letter on Trinity House headed paper, in original envelope, from Lancelot Hubbard(?) to R.W. Roberts at Thorn Road, Bramhall, thanking him for his letter, congratulating him on his survival and passing on news of mutual friends.
For earlier letter from same correspondent see MUS/230/1/5/8/2.
6 November 1942

MUS/230/1/6/5
Letter from Norah ?Stern to Commander Roberts, congratulating him on his decoration and commenting on the loss of the Oronsay. The writer had been a passenger on that vessel from Suez to Home the previous autumn.
19 November 1942

MUS/230/1/6/6
Three page typescript, ‘List of Survivors ex S.S. Oronsay embarked H.M.S. Caernarvon Castle for passage to United Kingdom’. N. Savage is recorded as the Master and R, Roberts as Staff Captain. The address and telephone number of T. Hardy, the First Officer, has been added in pencil.

MUS/230/1/6/7
Nine page typescript, ‘Outstanding points which emerge from reports on the sinking of the S.S. Orcades and S.S. Oronsay by torpedo attack on 10th and 9th October 1942 respectively’.

MUS/230/1/6/8
Letter from the Managers of the Orient Steam Navigation Company to the Captain of S.S. Oronsay, dated 19 June 1951. This notes the enclosure of a letter, dated 15 June 1951, from William, J. Webber, a former crewman of H.M.S. Brilliant, giving details of the rescue of Oronsay survivors and enclosing photographs that might be of interest to those survivors serving on the new Oronsay. Also copy of letter dated 19 June 1951 acknowledging receipt of Webber’s letter.


MUS/230/1/7: Letters of congratulation to Capt. Roberts

MUS/230/1/7/1
Letter of congratulation from The Navigators and Engineer Officers Union to Captain R.W. Roberts on the occasion of his receipt of the D.S.C, addressed to Childwall, Liverpool.
1 September 1942

MUS/230/1/7/2
Letter of congratulation from The Navigators and Engineer Officers Union to Captain R.W. Roberts on the occasion of his receipt of the O.B.E., addressed to Tring, Herts.
16 April 1943


MUS/230/1/8: Capt. Roberts’ service between the loss of the Oronsay and his appointment to the Samkansa in mid 1944
According to Worsfold of the Evening News (MUS/230/1/9/7/44), ‘Then followed appointments as Staff Commander in the Otranto and the Orontes on trooping duty â€" duty that took him to North Africa, Suez, the invasion of Sicily, the Salerno landings, and to India’.

MUS/230/1/8/1
Combined Operations Pamphlet No. 11: Landing Ships Infantry (provisional), in ink on cover, ‘S.N.O’ (?Senior Naval Officer).
August 1942

MUS/230/1/8/2
Undated booklet, ‘Soldier’s Guide to Sicily’, with foreword by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

MUS/230/1/8/3
Undated booklet, ‘Soldier’s Guide to Italy’, intended for British and American soldiers: ‘You and your outfit have been ordered to invade and conquer an enemy country â€" Italy’.

MUS/230/1/8/4
Ring-bound pamplet in yellow covers, ‘Confidential, United States Maritime Commission. Instructions to Shipmasters for Handling Torpedo Net Defences for Merchant Vessels. Pamplet No. 2.’
April 1943

MUS/230/1/8/5
Memorandum with two circulars.
1. Memorandum referring to booklet T.152 (Sea Transport Regulations â€" Appendix)and Circular 1740 (revised May 1943).
31 May 1943
2. Booklet T.152 (Sea Transport Regulations â€" Appendix), ‘Conveyance of Government Explosives in Freight Ships During the Present Emergency’.
1943
3. Ministry of Transport Circular 1740 (Revised May 1943). Instructions to Surveyors and Notice to Ship-owners, Shipmasters, and Shippers: Conditions of Stowage of Explosives and of Dangerous and certain other Goods in ships’.

MUS/230/1/8/6
Three sheets of reconnaissance/recognition photographs of the Pachino area, produced for the Sicily landings of 1943.
1. Sheet with five sea-level views of the coast before Pachino from given points.
9 June 1943
2. Sheet with: chart of Pachino area; aerial photograph of area around Marzamemi beaches; sea-level view of same area, with false sky-line.
18 June 1943
3. Sheet with annotated aerial photograph showing position of enemy coastal defence installations: mines, wire, pill-boxes, machine guns, artillery, search-lights etc.
11 July 1943