Pentland Road - 2

The sinking of the Rangitane Stornoway Gazette, 10 January 1941 It should be noted that Alex Macrae died in May 1941 upon returning home. More on his part in the story of the Rangitane in this earlier post on this blog. It was learned in Stornoway on Monday that Mr Alex Macrae, Chief Freezing Engineer on the British merchantman Rangitane, was among the 500 people marooned on Emirau Island, Terr. of New Guinea, by a German raider and rescued by a British ship from Australia. Great anxiety had been felt for Mr Macrae's safety for some weeks, after it became known that his ship had been sunk by an enemy raider in the Pacific. The news that he is safe has given great pleasure to many acquaintances in his native town. Another well known Lewis seaman for whose safety anxiety has recently been felt is Capt Roderick Mackenzie of Sandwick, formerly of the Esperance Bay. Capt Mackenzie retired from the sea and settled down in Australia early in 1940, but the call of his old professio...

The sinking of the Rangitane Stornoway Gazette - 9 May 1941 Every member of the community rejoiced with Mrs Donald Mackay, Lighthouse Road, Portvoller, on receipt of the news that her son, Donald, was among the survivors landed in Australia from a British ship sunk by German raiders. Donald was an AB on the Rangitane when she was trapped by three German raiders. There was one to each side and one in front so thefate of the Rangitane was sealed. They shelled her from both sides and in a short time she was burning in three places. There were some casualties among the crew and passengers, some of them fatal, but Donald was fortunate enough to escape uninjured. Along with others, he was picked up by one of the raiders, and on board were some of the crews of several other vessels, all victims of this nefarious form of warfare. Among them were two other Lewismen, D. Macleod, Ranish, Lochs (Christchurch, New Zealand); and D. Macdonald, Skigersta, Ness (Wellington, New Zealand). They we...

This account of the sinking of the Rangitane (full story on link) seems to make fairly light of the incident and its aftermath. For historical record, it is worthy of a read though. Stornoway Gazette, 28 November 1941 THE SINKING OF THE RANGITANE FROM S. THEODORE FELSTEAD'S ACCOUNT IN "THE PEOPLE" The brief dark hours of a November night last year "down under" were nearly over. At radio stations in Australia and New Zealand, operators, earphones clasped to their heads sat bored but alert. The night had been uneventful except for routine traffic. Then out of space came a message which was to prove the prologue to a drama of murder and piracy almost unparalleled in the annals of the sea. Rangitane calling - Rangitane calling - suspicious vessel in sight. Stand by for further news. It was 3.40 am and the captain had retired to his cabin when suddenly the lookout man saw a dark blur on the port bow. The officer of the watch rang for Captain Upton, and in...

I received the following information from Trevor Bell, the webmaster of the Rangitane website, about Alex Macrae (see previous post ). There appears to have been some confusion about Alex's fate after the sinking of the Rangitane. Mr Bell advises me that: " In ‘Ordeal by Sea’ by Sydney Walters, the definitive history of the New Zealand Shipping Company during WW2, it lists Alex Macrae as being killed on Rangitane. This was at variance with various other records and I was able to confirm that he survived Emirau but died not long after ." The below information was supplied to Mr Bell by Stornoway Historical Society in 2005, and I am happy to attribute source: He was in Manila during the Philippines War, in Taku Forts during the Boxer Rising, troop carrying in the Boer War and at sea in the First World War. He was a Journeyman at Fairfields in Govan when he went to sea in January 1899 and by May 1900 had passed his Board of Trade examinations for 2nd Engineer.  Al...