The S.S. Nairung was an ammunition ship sailing from Durban to Bombay via Dar Es Salaam when she was torpedoed by the German U Boat U862
Able Seaman Douglas Hursell
Able Seaman Douglas Hursell was my childhood friend, an 18 year old DEMS Gunner aboard the Nairung. His parents never discovered how he met his death; just that his ship had been "lost with all hands".
It was some 60 years later when, by chance, I discovered this account.
"There was a tremendous detonation. A yellowish-red wall of flame more than 100m high stretched out before the U-boat. The steamship had, in one second, been atomised. We went to the place where the wreckage was and found nothing but a large expanse of small pieces of wood."
91 men were lost !
It was some 60 years later when, by chance, I discovered this account.
"There was a tremendous detonation. A yellowish-red wall of flame more than 100m high stretched out before the U-boat. The steamship had, in one second, been atomised. We went to the place where the wreckage was and found nothing but a large expanse of small pieces of wood."
91 men were lost !