Rick W

Its a very philosophical question to use a long word. The same argument can be used for any archaeological site.No, I do not agree with the "plundering" of any site, but any recovery of artefacts should be made to increase our knowledge of the past.

Thanks for the tip.

Im not quite sure why this was moved from the research page, but anyway the story continues.... I have been speaking to a chap in Newfoundland who also had a relative aboard the Empire Bison, he kindly emailed me a pic of the ship, though sadly not for inclusion on a website. What he did email me was the registration document for the ship not only that but a photo of the ship in flames a few minutes after it was torpedoed, taken by a crewmember aboard the u-Boat. Brings it all home when you see a photo like that, I will ask him if I can post that pic up. (Have you had any joy yet Snapper?)

What websites does everyone use to research their family/military history? We found a couple of superb websites which have returned really good results.

Wish I knew of that site before we went to Guernsey a while ago, great link though Tony. We spent ages driving around looking for them and must have missed them because they were overgrown.

I thought the Mirus guns wre from the Sebastopol?

Welcome aboard Luigi, enjoy your stay.

Looking for any info or leads as to troopships which may have ferried out of London in WW1. Anyone got any leads?

It does appear from his c.v. that he had prewar training- well spotted.

Dont forget the photo Mark! (Psst, gun clips for Iltis??)

That would be great if you could snap his name on that Mark.Yes the pic is from CWGC.

Just thought I'd share this story with you as me and Mrs W have been doing some delving into family histories. For the past century relatives on my fathers side have been in the merchant navy at some point or other and last night I came across a name that was on the family tree. With a bit of delving over an hour or 2 I came up with the following. We had the name of Arthur Whyte who is mentioned as having died in WW2. A quick search on the CWGC website produced this- In Memory of Second Engineer Officer ALFRED WILLIAM WHYTE S.S. Empire Bison (London), Merchant Navy who died age 60 on 01 November 1940 Son of George and Mary Anna Whyte. Remembered with honour TOWER HILL MEMORIAL Commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission A quick google search, I found the mercantile marine forum www.mercantilemarine.org , well worth a visit if you have any questions or want to share any info. EMPIRE BISON, 5,972grt, built 1919 (South Western Ship Building Co.) as WEST CAWTHON. 1940 purchased by the MOS renamed and managed by Ropner Shipping Co. Ltd. Torpedoed and sunk by U-124 400 miles West of Rockall on the 1st November 1940 sailing independently from Baltimore to the Clyde via Halifax, Nova Scotia with a cargo of scrap steel and 1 passenger. Captain, 29 crew and 1 DEMS gunner killed. 3 crew and passenger were rescued after 8 and half days adrift on a liferaft by the Danish ship OLGA and landed at Gourock. Thats quite a lot of info to find and detail, but we delved a bit further and looked into U-Boat U-124 and found a site dedicated to all manner of info on U-Boats. It gives captains, crew lists, kill-lists, ports, ship insignia, everything. www.uboat.net U-124 Type IXB Ordered15 Dec, 1937 Laid down11 Aug, 1939AG Weser, Bremen (werk 956)Launched9 Mar, 1940 Commissioned11 Jun, 1940Kptlt. Georg-Wilhelm Schulz (Knights Cross)Commanders11 Jun, 1940 - 7 Sep, 1941 Kptlt. Georg-Wilhelm Schulz (Knights Cross)8 Sep, 1941 - 2 Apr, 1943 KrvKpt. Johann Mohr (Knights Cross)Career11 patrols11 Jun, 1940 - 1 Aug, 1940 2. Flottille (training) 1 Aug, 1940 - 2 Apr, 1943 2. Flottille (front boat) Successes46 ships sunk for a total of 219.178 GRT 2 warships sunk for a total of 5.775 tons 4 ships damaged for a total of 30.067 GRTFateSunk 2 April, 1943 west of Oporto, in position 41.02N, 15.39W, by depth charges from the British corvette HMS Stonecrop and the British sloop HMS Black Swan. 53 dead (all hands lost). The Empire Bisonwas the last ship to be sunk on U-124's first patrol as a new sub. The successes of U-124 are quite remarkable, 46 ships sunk, 2 warships and 4 damaged. This made her captain, Georg-Willhelm Schulz one of Germanys leading U boat Aces. Ive just put a link for the short biography of Schulz here rather than post it up. It also lists every ship that was a victim of U-124. http://www.uboat.net/men/schulz.htm I just thought I would share that with you as i found it fascinating and I was looking for another relatives naval record, and just goes to show what you can find out about your ancestors when you start delving!

I wouldnt mind one if its going spare Jack.

Thanks Lee, I might see if I can get our printers to do a freebie in the name of the charity, what size is it? If you could send me the pdf so I can run it past them I would be grateful.

I there a deadline for the money to be in Jack? And can we download the logo to be printed onto a large plasticised canvas banner, ie is it in pdf?

They are just begging for a then and now comparison. We need a holiday to Jersey, when are the liberation celebrations, are there any family friendly static caravan sites on Jersey worth a look?

That looks great. I see the hotel is called Pistenklause, is he a relative of Santa? Before the sprogs came along I had every intention of taking my beloved MR2 turbo to there. One day maybe....

Just found this pic on the web, interesting viewing. Sorry about the sideway slant, I thought the computer had rotated it, but apparently not.

From my limited knowledge on the subject I would have thought solid wood. Pine was harvested from my area of the country for the war effort, but I would have thought ply being less cost effective. As in the case of most vehicles, wouldnt they have just got what they could have got their hands on?

The top photo looks like one of the german prime movers, Im sure I posted a pic of one on another post on here. Are you sure you are not working for the tourist board?

Im a bit confused here, not being knowldgeable on heavy wreckers. Is it a WLF, or is the equipment from a WLF? Looks like an interesting vehicle.

Sounds good, Im sure having John Marchants place with his collection would be a good starting point for a North Bucks day out.

I like that! I wonder how much they want for it? Seems to have a prancing horse logo on the side Ferraritracteur maybe?