# HMS Dunvegan Castle / Canadian Star



## james_philpot (Apr 29, 2015)

Hi everyone.

First time posting here. Nice to 'meet' you all.

I have been looking into some family history recently and I have reason to believe that my grandfather (Frederick William Philpot born Feb 1914) may have been aboard HMS Dunvegan Castle on the evening she was torpedoed by U-46 (27th August 1940) *or *Blue Star Line Canadian Star which was torpedoed by U-221 (18th March 1943). I am struggling to verify either however and can't be absolutely certain he was aboard either but based on conversations my Dad had with him a very long time ago we know a ship he was aboard was torpedoed and sunk and these two fit the best timing wise. 

Is anyone able to offer any advice or suggestions as to where I could obtain a crew list or other such means of verification to confirm if he was aboard either of these two ships? He would have been one of the survivors. Look forward to (hopefully) hearing from you.


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

Hello James and welcome,

He appears to have joined the RNR in 1935 and this looks like his file at Kew held in *BT 377/7/19353 *. You can download the file to your computer for £3.30 and that should answer your questions.

Any questions please feel free to ask.

Regards
Hugh


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## james_philpot (Apr 29, 2015)

Hi Hugh and thanks for your response.

We downloaded this already which lead us to both the Dunvegan Castle and Canadian Star. It is a little confusing as he appears to suffer from some kind of health issues, suspect shell shock or something similar, and the records seem incomplete unfortunately. As mentioned I am looking into these two ships as they both sank after being hit by a torpedo and they are both mentioned on his records. I was hoping there would be another way of verifying if he was on board either of them. Any ideas?


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

I would need to see the record to make an informed comment. RNR records can be difficult to decipher. I cannot see any connection to the RN(R) for CANADIAN STAR at this stage. She was not requisitioned for any Admiralty service. She was damaged in 1941 and sunk in 1943 so checking her crew agreements for those years would tell you if he was aboard. Would you be able to put up his RNR record so we can take a look. If you don't want to do this you could send it on to me if you wish.

Regards
Hugh


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## Roger Griffiths (Feb 10, 2006)

Hi James
It may have been that he was DEMS if he was on board CANADIAN STAR official number 167188
You need to look at her last crew agreement available from here
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11054001
your best bet is to attend Kew yourself. If he were DEMS, for legal reasons, he would be listed on the crew agreement as a Deckhand. As far as I am aware RN vessels did not record crew lists as DUNGARVEN CASTLE was requisitioned for Admiralty service she would be classed as RN.
If you could post your mans RNR records it would make life simpler and would maybe give answers to your quiry without recourse to visit Kew.



regards
Roger


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