Honouring the Men who gave their lives whilst serving in the Merchant Navy
and whose names are on the Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

S.S. CERAMIC  (Southampton)  -  WW2

S.S. Ceramic was a 18,481 GRT steam passenger/ refrigerated cargo ship that was sunk on 7 December 1942 by three torpedoes fired by German submarine U-515 at position 40° 30' N 40° 20' W (off the Azores). Rescue ships at St. Michaels were unable to put to sea because of the heavy weather and there was just one survivor - Sapper A.E. Munday of the Royal Engineers who was picked up by a German submarine the following day. A total of 656 people dead - most died because of the weather conditions rather than as a direct result of the torpedoes. The loss of Ceramic led to the largest number of deaths for the loss of a ship that is commemorated on the memorial. - benjidog.co.uk

 

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.)  16-10-1945
STORY OF SS CERAMIC SINKING
Told by Sole Survivor
From Our Own Correspondent in London
The first story of a three-year-old mystery—the sinking of the Ceramic in the Atlantic—has been told by the sole survivor. He is Sapper Eric Alfred Munday, 24, who was aboard the famous liner (which was on the Australian run before the war) when she left Britain for Cape Town on November 26, 1942, with 656 men, women, and children aboard. Ceramic went down off the Azores. For 10 months relatives of passengers and crew heard nothing. Sapper Munday now says that Captain H. C. Elford, who had taken Ceramic through the Atlantic before without an escort, protested to the authorities against taking women and children aboard in that winter of 1942, when U-boats were massed in the Atlantic following the North African landing. Nevertheless, 155 women and children, including 50 nurses, were in the ship when she sailed. On the night of December 6 Ceramic was hit by three torpedoes. She remained afloat for three hours, when everyone aboard was got into boats and on to rafts. At dawn a storm broke. The boats were scattered, many sinking almost at once. Munday's boat with 40 in it capsized, but he and six other soldiers managed to cling on. The others were swept away. After four hours a U-boat surfaced near them. A rope was thrown to them, but waves were lashing over the upturned boat, and only Munday was able to grab it. He was hauled aboard. He pleaded with Captain Henke, the U-boat commander, to save the other six men who were still clinging to the lifeboat, but Henke refused and the U-boat submerged. Munday was sent to a prison camp in Silesia.

A - H

Fifth Engineer Officer Andrew John ARMSTRONG
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean aged 24years
Son of George and Alice Sarah Armstrong, of Waverley, New South Wales
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 25
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Able Seaman Gordon Armstrong
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942 North Atlantic Ocean
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 25
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Trimmer Benjamin BROWN
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean aged 44years
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 25
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Able Seaman Dennis Colston CRIDLAND
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, aged 31years
Son of Joseph Henry and Kate Cridland.
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 25
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Asistant Cook Walter James DALE
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, aged 64years
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 25
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Trimmer Douglas DORIAN
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, aged 21years
Son of William and Elizabeth Dorian.
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Electrician Arthur DOWN
Merchant Navy
S.S. Queen Elizabeth
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, on S.S. Ceramic,aged 21years
Son of Percival and Martha Down, of Punchbowl, New South Wales
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Engineer Brian George EVANS
Merchant Navy
S.S. Queen Elizabeth
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, on S.S. Ceramic, aged 22years
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Fourth Engineer Officer Jack EVANS
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, aged 37years
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Engineer Officer Eighth Henry James FITCH
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean,aged 34years
Son of Henry Crathorne Fitch and Beatrice May Fitch, of Kensington, London.
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Fireman James Joseph FLATTERY
Merchant Navy
RMS Queen Mary
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, on S.S. Ceramic, aged 23years
Son of Veronica Flattery, of Stanmore, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Boatswain's Mate Albert Stanley GREEN
Merchant Navy
S.S. Queen Elizabeth
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, on S.S. Ceramic, aged 51years
Son of Albert and Elizabeth Alice Green
Husband of Ada Green, of Sydney, New South Wales,
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Greaser Arthur Potter GRIFFITHS
Merchant Navy
S S Aquitania
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, on S.S. Ceramic, aged 30years
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Electrician Stanley Charles HARLOW
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean,aged 28years
Son of Charles Wentworth Harlow and Ezil Harlow
Husband of Noreen Harlow.
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Ordinary Seaman Kenneth Malcolm HAWKE
Merchant Navy
S.S. Queen Elizabeth
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean, on S.S. Ceramic aged 18years
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll

Purser Ernest William HAWKEN
Merchant Navy
Died 7-12-1942, North Atlantic Ocean aged 43years
Honoured: Tower Hill Memorial, London, England - Panel 26
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll