Two Grimsby men on board were Joseph Chapman Winney, chief engineer, of 2, Tennyson Street, Cleethorpes, and the mate, Albert Owen Barker, of 68 Barcroft Street, Cleethorpes.
Although the ship was sunk, all of her crew of 27 reached the shore safely. One of them was slightly wounded by a machine-gun bullet after he reached the shore.
The story of the attack was told by Chief Engineer Winney, who said that the ship was alongside a jetty when a single Nazi plane came over, apparently on reconnaissance.

"We prepared for action," he said, "and soon the nazi bombers started coming over. I was below at my post, so I did not see much, but the chaps told me that the planes came for us in groups from all directions, and that they counted between twelve and sixteen of them at once."
"We dodged them as best we could, and our gun crews fought back."
"The guns' crews were magnificent and stuck to it right to the end. Salvos of bombs fell all round us, but it was only a question of time before they got us, there were so many of them."
"it would not have been any use us getting into the boat, for the boats were riddled with machine-gun bullets, and we would only have made a good target for them."

"We were all soaked through and some of us had very little clothing on. I had only a singlet and trousers. Even after we had got ashore we were not safe, because the Nazi planes were flying about over the hill tops and we could hear their machine-guns going. Two of the crew had got ashore ahead of the rest of us and had disappeared. We called out but got no reply."
Then we climbed over the snow-covered rocks and on the hillside we found an empty house. We broke in to get some shelter, but we dare not light a fire because the smoke would have shown the planes where we were and we would have been attacked again."
 

"The attacks had started in the morning and it was afternoon by the time we got into the house. Finally some Norwegians came along and guided us to the nearest village and there we found the two missing members of the crew who had arrived there about twenty minutes previously."
"They had climbed the cliff and had been attacked by the Nazi planes with machine-guns. They had dodged behind trees and one of them had a wound on the side of his neck, apparently from a machine-gun bullet."
"We were all suffering from the cold and some of our chaps had their feet frost-bitten and bleeding from the snow and the rocks."

WENT TO CHURCH SERVICE

"The Norwegians dried our wet clothes, gave us hot coffee, very good food, and after a feed and a smoke we felt a lot better. They also gave us clothes and did everything to make us feel welcome. They put us up for the night and next day, which was Sunday, we all had a church service and then we left. The Norwegian people seemed really sorry that we were going."
"The people ashore were simply wonderful, though they were having a terrible time themselves."
"It is quite true that the Germans are bombing and machine-gunning open towns and villages in Norway."

Albert Owen Baker, of 68 Barcroft Street, Cleethorpes, mate of the Rutlandshire, declined to say anything about his experience when a "Telegraph" reporter called at his home.
"It is all over and done with so far as I am concerned," he said. "All I can say is that after we got ashore, the Norwegian people were simply wonderful."
"They gave us excellent food and then provided us with transport after it was all over. They looked after us wonderfully and we are all very grateful indeed to them for their kindness." Another Grimsby man named Johnson, whose home is in Durban Road, was a member of the Rutlandshire but was taken ill just before the trawler left the British Isles for Norway and had not rejoined the vessel when she was lost.