M/V Royal Sovereign

This family story is about my mothers brother George Hopson, he was born in 1917 and became a second officer in the merchant navy. In December 1940 his ship was on convoy duty when it was torpedoed off the coast of southern Ireland, and he was lost. We recently found a letter he wrote to his sister, and with it an account of his ship The Royal Sovereign, and its part in the rescue from the French beaches in June 1940

Hand written letter
M/V Royal Sovereign
Southampton
Dear Ede Frank
Just a few lines to let you know I am safe and sound back at our base, we have had a very exciting time and I am glad and thankful to the bon adieu its all over. We have been evacuating the BEF from Dunkirk, and some job I tell you how we are still afloat is a miracle. We have the distinction of being the last vessel to leave Dunkirk with troops, all French. We had to leave many behind as we were ordered out at dawn yesterday. E had made 7 trips since last Tuesday and have the record for saving the most lives for a single ship, nearly 10000, but it has been a hell I never want to go through again. My nerves are all to hell, we have been bombed, shelled, machine gunned and chased by MTBs but we were .in Gods hands I am sure we had 78 planes bombing us one evening off La Panne beach, and of the 7or 8 transports and sloops around us we were the only whole one left when they were chased off by Spitfires. Hope to come up to town for a few days leave so shall be able to tell you all about it then. Will say cheerio now and hope to hear from you soon. Address your letters to me. Royal Sovereign c/o Mr Jeffries 36 Oxford St Southampton. Cheerio ole dears, your loving brother, George.

Typed Account
The morning of Saturday. May 26th broke fine and clear., and over here on the south coast of England we wondered if today our orders would come. For over a week we had been wondering thus.. since the previous Saturday when we had been put under two hours' notice. This day seemed Just like all the others - fine and clear. Nice evenings when everything was so peaceful it was hard to imagine we were at war., except that for the past 3 or 4 days we had noticed many ships and with refugees coming in, in plain evidence that of the swift and ruthless German advance into Holland Belgium.. these ships were crowded to utmost capacity. with women. children and old people. Some ships passed very close and one could ace the damage to bridge structure and funnel by strafed these ships with a hail of fire,, some of the women and children were lying on improvised beds covered in rough bandages. evidence that some of the Nazis fire had not been directed against military objects. I later met many of these poor people and the tales told by them after the terrors they had endured an the grey hoards advanced was plainly visible in their faces. At ------------- a naval launch came off with orders for one officer to return with them to the S.T.O. I was ordered to go. and getting right up from my meal., started out on the commencement of what was to be the most exciting week of my life.

Before arriving at the S.T.O.'s office we called on two other ships, the s/s Tydwold and s/s Fenella, two other transports,, and collected an officer from each. Arriving at the S.T.O.'s office we were each given our Instruction and an examination of these discovered that all three of us were to proceed to France immediately. We decided that we would have a race for it., and at least keep in each others company. By tea time we had all three "cleared the Pilot" and were speeding up channel at about 20 knots. Arriving off Dover about midnight we were told to proceed up The-----------------and anchor. The next day we found ourselves in company with about 50 ships of all sizes and descriptions not to mention all nationalities.. excepting. of course, German. As the morning went by and no further orders came through. we began to wonder what the idea was. About 11:30 am a column of water shot up about a mile astern of us and right beside a light ship. A second later all the naval craft In the vicinity were thundering away with their A.A. guns and gazing skywards we saw very high up, four planes. They flew onward in a half circle., and after dropping a few more bombs. they flew inwards across the coast where the shore A/A. battery quickly took up the challenge and the air raid sirens wailed their warnings. Only about three minutes had passed since we first saw the ,-------- when three small shapes hurtling through the air towards the Nazis told us our spitfires had arrived. The Germans by this time had wheeled away and were heading back homewards with our fighter planes in pursuit. As they passed overhead. a sharp burst of machine gun fire was heard., and as we watched the raiders, sparks suddenly came from ones port engine and a second later flames had enveloped the whole plane. and as it lost speed and height a small black shape dropped from the machine the pilot

preferring to face death that way ( that it, try to swim) than in the blazing inferno of the plane. The others then disappeared into the blue. and silence and tranquillity returned to our Sunday afternoon. At 5:00 p m came our orders. "At 8:30 p m you will proceed to Dunkirk by the enclosed route marked X. You will proceed to a position 2 miles east of the jetty at Dunkirk., where you will receive orders to embark troops from the jetty At 8:30 we up anchor and as we proceeded we observed that the------------- was also under way. As we made our way across the channel by a route which made the distance to go almost 77 miles., we were all naturally on the qui vive,, but we saw nothing till. as we began to make the Belgian coast.. we saw the glare of huge fires on the hangars to the southeast., and estimated that it must be Dunkirk. in flames. By the time we reached the coast and altered course down the narrow Channels that lead to Dunkirk., darkness had fallen and now the flames of the burning town seemed to fill the horizon ahead., but on our beam we could see the flashes and hear the rumble and thunder of the terrific gunfire as the Germans tried to annihilate our forces. About 1:00 a m. on the morning of Tuesday. May 28th., we dropped our anchor in our allotted --,position,,, although it was a dark night., the glare of the burning oil tanks and buildings in Dunkirk made it possible to read two miles off. and to light up everything in detail On the jetty we could see another transport with tin helmeted troops walking swiftly aboard., whilst on the opposite side of the jetty was a hospital ship waiting for the groups of stretcher carriers which now and then came along.

A Demolition Squad was already at work., up to ------------ oil tanks. About 2:30 there was a tremendous rumble and gazing shoreward we saw a column of reddish smoke shoot 1,000 feet up and them mushroom into a blinding flash of flame. We gazed awe struck. but we were to see many of such explosions before we finished that week. About 3:30 a.m. we saw that the transport on the jetty was leaving,, having received no further orders we hove up the anchor and want alongside. After we had tied up and got the gangways down we took stock of the unshaven,, smoke blackened and dust covered motley of men who wearily tramped aboard, on their faces were written fatigue as only they know. these young men seemed mere boys who had fought and marched for five days to the coast-. Shelled., bombed., never given a minutes respite. yet were they downhearted? No. a smile was always ready behind their grim countenances. Thirty minutes after coming alongside., we estimated we had more than our full so the steady queue was stopped and we let go. By now it was quite light and as we came off our berth we heard a steady healthy noise of planes., and high overhead nine spitfires on patrol wheeled in the morning sky. Beyond, a colossal shell burst in ruined Dunkirk and the distant rumble of the heavy guns. This first trip was quiet, and as we sped on home we congratulated ourselves on having done a good job as we went up the coast we saw that the beaches were crowded with men who seemed to be making steadily towards the town. There was quite a surf running on the beach that morning. and it never occurred to us that we might have to lift them off the beach next time. as we sped homeward to England we passed ship after ship going to Dunkirk. By 7 o'clock a.m. we had ------------ the examination vessel at the N.Foreland. who told us to disembark our troops at Margate pier. By eight., we were alongside and as soon as the last man was ashore and we were restored and fuelled. we went off and lay at anchor., but our rest was to be short. About 10:00 a.m. a message was flashed by signal flag telling us to return to Dunkirk this time to go to the beach at La Panne. 5 miles east of Dunkirk. and to pick up troops assembled on the beach. This time we knew it would not be so quiet. so we carefully checked over our guns., etc., and just after noon proceeded back. making the coast about the latitude of Ostend. we altered course down the Dunkirk channel once more., about 10 minutes before we had heard the noise of an airplane but at the time could see none., just as we stood there was a shrill-screaming whistle and three bombs ex plodded about 100 yards on the left side of the ship. and with a loud rushing roar a Heinckle 110 pulled out of the dive about 500 feet above us, We got a couple of quick -------------- but the plane resumed on its coarse and flew inland. This was excitement with a capital E. and our hearts beat fast. but under the more serious matter of navigating the narrow and twisted Dunkirk Channel. we were soon at our ease. As we came up to our allotted position we noticed that a strange motley of craft had already assembled off the beaches,, the smaller craft.. ships. lifeboats. punts. and anything that would float were ferrying men off the beach to the larger vessel. who could not approach nearer than a mile inshore on account of their draught of water. We took up our position amongst these as no one seemed to come to us after a half hours wait., we decided to move up the beach a little and see what we could do. We - had not been gone from these other ships ten minutes when out of the clouds hurtled the dreaded stukas with their---------------------- Before they had reached their bomb-releasing height of about 200 feet., a steady hail of shells and bullets were on their way to meet them. but the Nazis seemed to have a charmed life as they hurled through that hail of fire. In waves of six they come about 80 in all., From our deck a half mile away from their target ( the ships we had just left) we watched fascinated as one by one the bombs found their marks. After~ 30 minutes five spitfires threw themselves into the fray. In as many seconds. five Nazi planes were falling in flames. The rest of the Nazis flew away in ragged formation with the spitfires hot on their tails. But the Nazis had taken heavy toll of our ships. Four had been bombed and sunk., one with 200 troops aboard was blazing from stem, to stern. Slowly she duffed ashore. of the 260 odd men on the vessels only 3 lived, to tell of the horrible experience. But we had a job to do., so we dropped anchor and signalled to the shore that we were ready to take troops Out they came on rafts., flat-bottomed lifeboats. but it was a long and tedious job and it was barely 11:00 am. on the 29th before we received our full complement and heaving up the anchor we slowly nosed our way out of the narrow dangerous channel., and then full ahead for England with 1500 tired but thankful Tommies aboard. Returning to Margate.. we disembarked our troops once more and that evening about 6, we sailed for Dunkirk once more. This trip was similar to the previous one except that now the German troops had reached the coast 8 miles east of Dunkirk and besides aerial attack we now had to run a gauntlet of shell fire from the German battery. Their heavy guns had now found the range of La Panne beach and that night the trips to the beach and ships were living nightmares. due to a lack of small craft in this spot. the operations were slow. All through the night we worked and just as dawn was breaking we decided to go back to England with the troops we had. as by now shells were falling very near us. however as we were leaving the Senior Naval officer in charge ordered us to anchor again and put our

own boats in the water and man them and go back to the beach and rescue some more troops "Fill up to your utmost capacity and over." he said. We lowered our boats as required and I took one in to the beach. It was quite light and the Nazis were lobbing shells right onto the beach. so it was with some apprehension that I made my way to the shore. The tide was now on the ebb so that I had to hold the boat off shore for fear the tide would leave me high and dry as the boat loaded up. The boat's capacity was for 40. We managed to get more than 50 in. but with no small difficulty as the men had to wade out to their chests and to lift men into a boat thus was some job. Anyhow., after making a couple of trips like this., we felt that we could take no more on board our vessel with safety. so we signalled that we were overloaded and were granted permission to return to England. It was now about 8:00 am. and except for running the gauntlet of shell fire. and attack by aircraft we reached home without further incident. By this time we had been without sleep since we started on Monday. It was now Friday morning., the 31st.. and we had made 3 trips. About noon we made out way back to Dunkirk and once more ran the gauntlet of fire without mishap. Arriving off the beach about 2 1/2 miles east of Dunkirk jetty at 5:00 p.m. By this time the R.E. on the shore had run a number of ----------- out to the end at low water so that as the tide came in an improvised jetty was formed This greatly facilitated embarkation and although we had- to ward off seven Arial bombing Attacks, we had picked up over 1,500 men by midnight, and we up anchor and felt our way, with the aid of a echo meter or sounding machine up the main channel, through fog which had now fallen and so into the open sea As we steamed along sharp ears heard a whittle, a human whistle from the darkness. Quickly flashing our searchlight in its direction, we saw in its momentary flash a small open boat with 4 men in it. We stopped and discovered they were the survivors of a French vessel which had been bombed and sunk by aerial attack the previous evening. We picked them up and returned to Margate pier without further incident. arriving in plenty of time for breakfast. It was now Sunday morning, the 2nd of June, and we went off to anchor. we now waited until evening before we set sail again, as the daylight evacuation had become particularly hazardous, so about 7:00 we put our nose towards Dunkirk once more, about half way across we had a few anxious moments when two Heinkles dived to attack us. we saw them sink a small trawler, and As they made towards us from. out of what had seemed a clear sky,. two British planes dived on them from above. There were two sharp bursts of machine gun fire, and the two Nazi planes exploded in air simultaneously and fell as burning wreckage into the sea, where they continued to burn for some five minutes. We reduced speed so as to run down the Belgian coast under cover of darkness. As night fell we Could see Dunkirk still blazing furiously, and now other large fires had joined it up the coast, so that they sky to the southeast was like a beautiful yet awful sunset. We arrived off Dunkirk and were ordered by a destroyer to go up to the beach off La Panne again. Huge fires had now started here. There were about 400 men on the beach there, but with no small boats. We managed to give them, a couple, but it took us three hours to get 45 men off. Shells were now falling on the beach and around us at the rate of 4 a minute. Shrapnel whistled around us and as it was now getting light we decided discretion was the better part of valour It was plain suicide to stay there at dawn as we should have been in sight of the German -forces, who were only 1 1/2 miles outside La.Pa.nne The defenders of La Panne were fighting most heroically, and so must '.have gone on to the end. We could do no more! We crept through the darkness and a low flying plane spotted us and released a few salvoes, just hoping, but good ,fortune never deserted us. navigation in these shallow waters was becoming increasingly difficult, as wrecks, sunken and partly sunken were everywhere, but we got out at last and sped back, disappointed at our fishing off only 45 men. Arriving back at Margate about 7:00 am. on Monday By this time the Germans had completely surrounded Dunkirk except from the sea and as several ships had been sunk by shell fire from the shore, the only safe route into Dunkirk was by going straight across and over the sandbanks. During the afternoon when many of the ships engaged were lying at anchor off the English coast, daylight evacuation being considered -rather risky, a message came through from the Vice-Admiral commanding

Dover who was in charge of operations. It read thus: "To: Destroyers and Mine Sweepers From: V.A. Dover The final evacuation is staged for tonight, And the nation looks to the Navy to see this through. I want every ship to report at soon as possible whether she is fit and read to meet the call which has been made on your courage and endurance.

We were given orders to proceed forthwith, and as we under stood this to be the last trip, felt highly elated to think it was nearly over. We sailed straight towards Dunkirk. As we were overhauling the hospital ship Paris which Was going into Dunkirk for wounded, we saw a flight of six high Stuka dive bombers swoop down upon her. Several direct hits were scored, and the ship began to list. The crew, nurses and doctors scrambled into the boats and as they pulled away from the sinking vessel we were horrified to see the planes swoop down and ruthlessly machine gun the helpless occupants. There was one casualty, a young boy of 17 years who was hit by the bullets and died in the lifeboats. We altered course and made towards them. As we came up to them we asked them if they would come aboard, or wait until we came out from Dunkirk. After such treatment as they had just received, they cheerfully answered "GO ahead, we are O.K. Go in and #et the boys." So wishing Them bon voyage, left them, to their 40 mile voyage home. As we approached the coast shells began to fall around us again, but the smoke from burning Dunkirk was our ally as it made a screen for us on the last 4 mile stretch. This time we went up to the jetty once more, and within 30 minutes had our full number aboard and were on our way out. The shelling of Dunkirk was not so fierce now, as the R.A.F. bombers had been strafing their gun positions. ceaselessly for 24 hours. As we cleared the coast. we were located on two separate occasions by Nazi bombers, but good fortune was still with us and as we reached England's shores with our human cargo we said one and all , "Thank God that's the last." but we were mistaken.

Arriving at Margate, we went off to anchor, and for the rest of that day we were happy, and slept (first) like dead men. Then we saw some vessels going back and realized that another attempt was to be made. but we had no orders, and the evening wore on, and we felt that here was our well earned rest, but a flashing Morse lamp from the -Pier indicated that there was a message for us. Imagine our mixed feelings when we received the following: "To: Royal Sovereign From: V.A.Dover Because of your excellent efforts of the past week 1 had hoped to give you a rest, but as one ship has failed to come up to scratch, it is necessary to ask you to make one more trip to Dunkirk. Proceed forthwith by Route X, adjusting speed to arrive at 0030. All vessels are to leave Dunkirk by 2:30 By the time we had prepared the ship and cleared decks for action, so as to speak, it was about 11:30 on the 3rd June. so we clapped on all speed, that we might be in and out of Dunkirk by dawn, but no sooner had we-got under way than down came thick pea fog, and as we knew there were about 200 miscellaneous craft, from row boats to tramp steamers, coming the opposite way, we had no alternative but to reduce speed Every minute lessened our chances of getting in and out before dawn. The time slowly dragged by midnight. and two hours run at full speed if we were to make it but we were only doing half speed. It was impossible, but about 12:30 the fog lifted, and giving her everything she had we bounded through the pitch black night at 25 knots. Craft of all descriptions loomed up ahead. We went hard a port, hard a starboard missing ships by what seemed inches. We even struck one small trawler a glancing blow, but we could not stop to ask questions. 12:15 - only 15 more minutes to go for the zero hour, and we were still five miles from Dunkirk. The Nazis had found the range of the - entrance and every now and then they ,would lob a shell in between the piers. As we went in our clock showed 2:30, the zero hour. We had still to land up . Dawn was just breaking but it was no use turning back now. Suddenly there was a blinding flash and a shower of sparks. A shell had hit a small sloop fair and square, right ahead. We sailed right through the debris and struggling men in the water. It was impossible to stop. We were soon tied up, and as quickly as possible hurried the Men aboard. We bad about 1300 on board when a British M.T.B. came alongside and told us to get out, as they were evacuating. A small destroyer with a demolition party was on the other jetty, so we cut our moorings and tore out as fast as possible as we went out between the breakwater, the block ships were coming in to render the harbour useless by sinking themselves in the channel. We cleared the breakwater and turned down the channel, towards the open sea. A small trawler was ahead of us As we watched her, another lucky Shell hit her and up she went in smoke. We had 1300 lives to consider, so we could do no rescue work. A violent explosion astern of us made us look astern, and we saw that one of the block ships had hit a mine and was sinking outside the breakwater. By now it was quite light. and we watched the sky anxiously for the hostile aircraft which we felt sure would be upon us, but as it grew light, a helpful fog came down and reduced the visibility so that we felt more immune from attack. As we cleared the coast for old England we felt satisfied we had done our duty. For seven days and seven nights we had worked continuously under terrific nervous strain, and yet we could still stand. still talk. We had done Our duty. We were fortunate, we knew. Many of our comrades and sister ships never saw their native land again, among then our old friend the Fenella, which we saw sink

at her mooring in Dunkirk. And so we arrived once more, tired but happy, and Putting the troops ashore we went off to anchor, secure in the knowledge that this time we should not be disturbed for some hours.

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