Talk:RMS Alcantara (1913)

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The SS Alcantara was sunk on 29 February 1916, with a heavy loss of life. She was sunk by a German raider, the Greif, which was mascarading as a Norwegian merchant vessel. My merchant seaman grandfather, Robert Archibald Duncan, was the shipwright onboard the Alcantara and he survived and was picked up from the icy seas of Scapa Flow, his ability to swim saving his life. He was brought back to Britain and recouperated somewhere in Scotland. The Admiralty kept the sinking of the Alcantara a guarded secret, presumably to starve the enemy of any news of successes. Grandad wrote a postcard to his wife and when going to post it was challenged by an armed guard who was there to ensure any mail posted did not carry information that could fall into the wrong hands. Grandad told the guard that he was a married man and his wife would only want to know is that he is alive and well. The guard read the card briefly, turned his back and the postcard was quickly in the pillar box. A few days later, grandma had a postcard land on the doormat in their home in Birkenhead. "Still on top. Bob" was all it said. It was all that it needed to say.

I recall, as a small boy, this story at the knee of my grandad and I remember there was a painting depicting the encounter between both ships, of which we had a print; now sadly lost, but the original presumably still exists; but where?

Allen Johnson 10 Trodds Lane Guildford GU1 2XR

5 April 2005

allen.johnson@btinternet.com