Able Seaman D/JX 249544 William Henry SWINDELLS
Royal Navy H.M.S.President III DEMS Gunner on S.S. Bic Island
29 Oct 1942 aged 29
Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 66, Column 3.
Son of Frank and Sarah Swindells. of Stockport, Cheshire.
At 00:15 hours on 29 Oct 1942 the Bic Island (Master James Brown), a straggler from convoy HX-212, sailing New York to Liverpool, was torpedoed and sunk by Type VIIC U-224 (Oberleutnant Hans-Karl Kosbadt) southwest of Rockall. The ship was struggling after picking up 44 survivors from Gurney E. Newlin, which had been sunk by U-606 the previous day and 77 survivors from Sourabaya, sunk on 27 Oct by U-436. The master, 35 crew members, eight gunners and all 121 survivors were lost.
Bic Island under her former name Capo Noli (photo from naviearmatori.net)
