Once grounded, the crew abandoned the Rutlandshire and made for land, coming

ashore on either of the landing areas marked by an 'X' in the previous photograph. Once ashore my grandfather reported that "We entered one of the beach huts, stripped ourselves of our clothing, and proceeded to dry our frozen garments in front of a fire which had been lit". The hut my grandfather is referring to is identified by the arrow in the above photograph and is shown in more detail below. The photograph on the left is how the hut probably looked in April 1940; the one on the right is how it looked in May 2001.

Four of the Rutlandshires crew who made it onto the shore were from the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. The four were Alex Morrison, Norman Martin, Finlay Maciver and Kenneth Macleod. In May 2003, the following accounts were provided by respective family and friends to the Stornoway Gazette.

Alex Morrison	Norman Martin	Finlay Maciver
Alex Morrison of 2 Steinish, better known as Alex a’ Bheauly, died around 1980 but told of the incident to relatives and friends over the years. He had been in the galley of the Rutlandshire when the bomb hit the underside of the ship. His nephew, John Murdo Maclennan, recalled: “Alex told me that the bomb blew the stove right through the deckhead and he jumped over the side of the ship. “He started swimming ashore and a German plane was firing at him and the others in the sea. Alex was hit on the leg but managed to swim 100 yards to the beach. A destroyer picked them up from the island and took them to Scapa Flow”. John Murdo went on: The bomb that hit the Rutlandshire left Alex deafened in one ear. When he got ashore he was soon playing the melodeon and entertaining everyone. He and his crewmate, Norman Martin became lifelong friends and after the war used to meet every Saturday night in Stornoway.	Norman Martin, who lived at 33 Newvalley until his death in 1989 at the age of 80, had been described by friends as a larger than life character throughout his life. His niece, Anna Mairi Martin said that she never knew anything about the sinking of the Rutlandshire: “I don’t think I ever heard my uncle Norman speak of the sinking of the Rutlandshire. These were such traumatic experiences that people probably did not want to speak of them”.	Finlay Maciver’s granddaughter, Moira Maciver had written an essay from the information passed on by Finlay. She said: “The Rutlandshire was sunk on the 20 April 1940 – Hitlers birthday”. Hitler would have been 51 that day. Moira said her grandfather had told her that the Rutlandshire was followed out the Namsen fjord in Norway on April 20 by a German plane and was bombed. “He told me that the skipper had given orders for the crew to abandon ship. The crew swam ashore and spent most of the day in the snow. They were taken to a farmers house and then moved to the village hall where they were fed and looked after,” said Moira. Finalys wife, Katie Ann recalled being told that after swimming ashore, one of the crew managed to get a small boat and rowed back to the Rutlandshire and rescued the crew that were still on board.

Please contact f.wilson@royal-naval-reserve.co.uk for further information regarding this site.

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