Historic Wabana
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HISTORY
MILITARY ACTIVITY
WORLD WAR II
U-BOAT ATTACKS


RATCLIFFE WINN'S STORY

Ratcliffe Winn of Scotland was just shy of his 20th birthday when the ore carrier he was employed on, the SS Saganaga, was torpedoed at the anchorage off Bell Island just before noon on September 5, 1942. He was pulled from the frigid waters by Customs agents William J. Power, Cyril J. Butler and Hugh Marry, the first 2 of whom are seen with him in the Evening Telegram  photo below, when he returned to Bell Island 18 years later. Local news correspondent, George Toope, interviewed Winn for his amazing first-hand account of this tragic event. Below is my transcription of the newspaper story, which was provided by William Power's granddaughter, Bonita Power.

"SURVIVOR OF WARTIME TORPEDOING MEETS HIS RESCUERS AGAIN"
By George Toope
Evening Telegram, June 22, 1960, p. 7

Picture

A surge of recollections welled up in the mind of Chief Officer Ratcliffe Winn of the freighter Abbotsford recently when he saw the familiar cliffs and piers of Bell Island break through the early morning mists. It was the 38-year-old Scotsman’s first trip here since that fateful September day in 1942 when he, along with eight other crew members of the torpedoed ore carrier Saganaga, was rescued from a watery grave by three local Customs men in their small boat. The rescue party were: Cyril J. Butler of Canada Customs here, who was in charge; William J. Power and Hugh Marry, now retired. Of the 59 [sic: 42] crew members of the 5,454-ton Saganaga, 13 only were saved. They were three officers, three gunners, three from the engine room, three deck hands and Captain A.W. Mackay, who was ashore. Four were rescued by a lifeboat from the Lord Strathcona, also sunk that morning.

Here is Radcliffe Winn’s story as told to this reporter [George Toope] in an interview:

"Saturday, Sept. 5, 1942, was for the S.S. Saganaga like any other Saturday morning in life aboard ship. As she lay quietly at anchor, fully loaded with 8,800 tons of iron ore fresh from the mines on Bell Isle waiting on the other four ships of her convoy to complete loading, the 52 [sic: 42] crew members were either relaxing or scrubbing out washing clothes and doing the other customary Saturday morning jobs prior to the weekend.

“For myself, the third officer, and for the second officer, it had been an enjoyable morning, starting at 0600, fishing for cod from our jolly boat. Having a good catch and the need of our breakfast, we returned to the ship at 0930. There, we ‘stowed away’ the breakfast the steward had kept for us and went back on deck to hoist our boat back on board with the assistance of the crew. Having hooked the boat onto the ‘davit falls,’ we hove away and, when she came up alongside the boat deck, most of the hands gathered around to admire and comment on our catch of cod. Suddenly, just as we started to pass the fish aboard, the peaceful waters around us erupted with a tremendous explosion followed by a flash, and I felt myself hurled back against the side of the Captain’s house.

“As I picked myself up, I noticed that the others had all disappeared and, thinking they had run round to the other side of the deck, I followed only to find that no one was there either. Just then, a second heavy explosion rocked the ship and I saw our steel hatches, each of which weighed two tons, sailing up into the air. It seemed as if I was watching the whole thing in slow motion and, as I continued to look around the foredeck, I saw that the ship was settling down in the water and our decks were flooding.

“Just then I felt a blow on my head and I think that was what jerked me back to my senses and to a realization of my danger. It was too late, however, because at that moment the water surged up around my legs and waist and I barely had time to gulp in a deep breath before the water bore me up and I was battling to get myself clear of the deckhead under which I had been standing.

“Whether I knocked myself out for a few seconds or not, I’ll never know, but the next thing I realized was that I was swimming under water and that it was pitch black all around me. I can remember thinking, ‘I hope I’m swimming in the right direction,’ and quite calmly letting out only a little air at a time from my lungs in order to relieve the pain of holding my breath. I noticed the water turning gray and, increasing my efforts, I saw the gray gradually lighten until, with a gasp, I burst above the surface.

“Recovering my breath, I looked around and, spying a piece of wood, swam thankfully to it, grabbed hold and took stock of my predicament. All round me was floating wreckage but no ship and, a little distance away, I saw the chief engineer. I called to him to ask if he was alright, but I had no voice, not even a whisper. All this time, I kept thinking that some dreadful accident had happened and I slowly began to realize that our ship had been torpedoed.

“I kept looking around to see if I could discern any other members of the ship’s company but, apart from wreckage, all I could see were dead cod floating around me, and I can still remember the feeling of annoyance I had as I realized that, after our morning’s fishing, all those dead fish should turn up like that.

“I spotted a boat coming, but he went right past us and, looking in the direction in which he was going, I saw the ship’s masts sticking up out of the water with our life rafts still attached to the masts, floating around them. Soon the boat came and we were picked up and headed for shore.

"Suddenly the Lord Strathcona, fully loaded and lying to the eastward, was hit twice in quick succession and she slid under the water, bows first. Just before her funnel disappeared, her whistle gave a long mournful wail as though the ship could not believe this could be happening. Next, we saw her crew in boats making for the shore.

“On shore, we were quickly transported to the mine dispensary, where we got out of our wet clothes and into the luxury of comfortable beds. I’ll never forget the kindness I had from the staff at the hospital and the many people who came to see us. Two of us were kept in hospital, one for having burst ear drums, I for shock. I was kept there until Sept. 12th and celebrated my 21st birthday on the Friday evening.

“Since then,” concluded Mr. Winn, “I have travelled all over the world, never dreaming I would one day return to ‘Belle Isle,' and it was with mixed feelings that I saw its cliffs breaking through the fog when I arrived in my present ship. Now already, I have met some of the kind people who were so good to me 17 years ago.”

Asked what his impulse was when he first heard the explosion, he said, “I thought someone was tinkering with the four-inch gun. We had two guns mounted on board, a 4-inch and a 12-pounder."

Since then, Mr. Winn has kept to the sea, engaging in the Far East Trade. He was third officer when the tragedy of 1942 happened. He has been chief officer for the past 12 years. He joined the Abbotsford in January of this year on runs between Scotland and Portugal.

The Fall of 1942 were tense days for Bell Island’s people. Owing to wartime censorship, the rest of Newfoundland knew little of the fear and dread that plagued the minds of everyone here. Besides the two ships mentioned, on November 2nd at 3 o’clock in the morning, two others were sunk. They were the PLM 27 and the Rosecastle.
​

Ratcliffe Winn is married to the former Janet Campbell of Falkirk, Scotland. They have two children, Alastair 10, and Anne 7, living at Falkirk.

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