The exceptional ‘Admiral Hipper’ George Medal & Lloyd’s Bravery Medal group to , Captain, Merchant Navy, during the ‘Hippers’ attack on the undefended convoy SLS-64 during which she sank 7 of the 19 ships by gunfire. The recipient gallantly manoeuvred his ship away from the convoy to lay a smokescreen between the convoy & the heavy cruiser returning to rescue some 86 survivors from his unescorted convoy after it was attacked by the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper in February 1941

George Medal, (GVI). (Captain Donald Arthur Macdonald), 1939/1945 Star, Atlantic Star, War Medal , Lloyd’s Medal for Bravery at Sea (Captain D. A. Macdonald, S.S. “Blairatholl”. 12th February 1941)

G.M. London Gazette 14 April 1942:

‘The ship was in a convoy which was attacked by a heavy German cruiser. The Master [MacDonald] manoeuvred his ship clear of the others and laid a smoke screen between himself and the enemy. He returned later and picked up no less than eighty-five survivors. Captain MacDonald, by his skilful seamanship and his courage in returning to the scene of action at the first moment possible, saved the lives of many men.’

The above citation has been extracted from a joint citation with his Second Engineer, who was awarded the M.B.E., and a 16-year-old Ordinary Seaman, who received the B.E.M.

Lloyd’s Medal for Bravery at Sea Lloyd’s List & Shipping Gazette 14 August 1942:

‘A convoy was attacked by a heavy German cruiser. Captain MacDonald manoeuvred his ship away from the others and laid a smoke screen between himself and the enemy. He returned at the first possible moment and rescued 85 survivors. By his able seamanship and his gallantry in promptly returning to the scene of the action, he saved many lives.’

Donald Arthur MacDonald was decorated for his services as Master of the S.S. Blairatholl in convoy SLS-64, bound from Egypt to the U.K. The unescorted convoy stood no chance when intercepted by the Admiral Hipper on 12 February 1941, the enemy’s armament accounting for seven of 19 merchantmen before she turned for Brest on account of her own rapidly diminishing fuel stocks.

MacDonald would later expand on his experiences on that occasion, in a letter he sent to one of his old convoy commanders, Commodore C. G. Illingworth, R.N.R., in September 1941:

‘ … Of the surviving vessels, we alone did not abandon ship, that is of those vessels that were present during the complete incident, and trusted to mobility at a little better than 9 knots, a smoke screen and luck. So we were not hit, although we were shelled, and gradually manoeuvred behind a veil of burning ships to eastward of the raider, and onto the early sun, where we watched the whole finish of the engagement from a vantage point. As he went off to the N.W. we followed him back to the spot and by ploughing our way through all kinds of wreckage, managed in two and a half hours to pick up 86 survivors. We passed a Greek vessel and two British vessels abandoned and their crews endeavouring to get return to their ships. These ships were intact and had been abandoned in a flagrant case of premature abandonment. Having reboarded they all set off to the S.E. for Madeira and no one made any effort to assist in the rescue work. This is apparent, for we were fully ten miles to the northward amongst the wreckage, while they were underway to Madeira, and no one came near us. My vessel alone made no effort to abandon, and we alone made any effort to seek survivors, and spent hours in a danger spot, picking up all we could find … ’

‘The Slaughter of SLS-64, Martin

Febr. 12:
06:05 – Margot sights strange Man o’ War.

06:25 – Admiral Hipper opens fire on Shrewsbury at 3000 yards; Commodore makes signal T4 – all ships altered course (Margot and Blairatholl altered early). Hipper then attacked in order: Warlaby, Derrynane, Westbury, Perseus, Borgestad, Lornaston and Oswestry Grange. Derrynane, Borgestad and Lornaston had opened fire on the enemy and received “very heavy punishment”. Derrynane and Borgestad sank with all hands and Lornaston was badly damaged. Borgestad appeared to hit the control tower of the Hipper.

07:45 – Hipper attacked Margot. Blairatholl rescued 86 from four ships, Polyktor rescued 21 from Perseus.

Ships damaged by Admiral Hipper:
Clunepark – arrived Funchal, joined HG 54.
Lornaston – arrived Azores or Funchal, joined SL 65
Ainderbury (mis-spelling of Ainderby?) – arrived Funchal. This ship is not listed as being part of SLS 64 (according to A. Hague, this ship was in Rio on Febr. 13-1941, having arrived there on Febr. 2, go to this external page and use Ainderby as keyword at “Ship Search”).

Ships sunk by Admiral Hipper Febr. 12 (approx. 37 10N 21 20W):
Shrewsbury (ex SLS 63), on a voyage from Rosario for the U.K. with 3101 tons wheat and 4250 tons linseed, had a crew of 38 and 1 gunner – 20 crew died, named at this external page. (Shelled and torpedoed by Admiral Hipper).

Commodore Vessel Warlaby (ex SL 63), on a voyage from Alexandria for Oban with 4457 tons meal, 2827 tons cotton seed and 125 tons oil cake, had a crew of 38 and 1 gunner – 35 crew and the gunner died, named at link above. Captain Murray was killed on the bridge.

Derrynane, on a voyage from Lourenco Marques for Immingham with 8219 tons of iron ore, had a crew of 36, incl. 1 gunner – there were no survivors. Vessel blew up. A message in this thread on my Ship Forum has a list of casualties.

Westbury was on a voyage from Alexandria for the U.K. with 4615 tons of cotton seed, 3439 tons cotton cake, 198 tons onions and 13 tons garlic. She had a crew of 37 and 1 gunner – 5 crew died

Perseus (ex SLS 63), on a voyage from Alexandria for Belfast and Devonport (cargo unknown), had a crew of 36, 14 of whom died . Survivors rescued from raft on Febr. 13 in 37 14N 21 8W.

Borgestad (Rear Commodore?), on a voyage from Port Sudan and Table Bay for Liverpool with a cargo of cotton, had a crew of 31 – all of whom died.

Oswestry Grange (ex SL 63), on a voyage from Rosario for Liverpool with 7368 tons of general cargo, had a crew of 42, 5 of whom were missing (named at external link mentioned above). The 37 survivors were landed at Madeira. The ship was on fire when last seen, presumed sunk.

Bur arrived Ponta Delgada (Norwegian sources say she arrived St. Miguel on Febr. 18 – follow the link to Bur) – listed in SL 65
Anna Mazaraki (ex SLS 63) arrived Funchal – joined Convoy HG 54
Blairatholl arrived Funchal (Master awarded George Medal) – joined HG 54
Polyktor arrived Funchal – joined HG 54.
Kalliopi arrived Gibraltar – listed in Convoy HG 55.
Varangberg (ex SLS 63) – Norwegian sources say she arrived Gibraltar on Febr. 17. This ship is also listed in HG 54.
Empire Energy (ex SLS 63) arrived Barry Roads Febr. 27.
Margot (Vice Commodore) arrived Funchal (Master awarded George Medal) – listed in HG 54
Volturno arrived Funchal – later joined HG 54.

Edge nick at 3 o’clock.

An exceptional George Medal group