Bridlington author’s appeal to gain info about SS Lulworth Hill sailor

Richard M Jones is currently researching the sinking of the SS Lulworth Hill, which saw a sailor from Hull and another from Bridlington surviving 50 days on a raft off the African coast in 1943.

The story of the two men led to Mr Jones conducting a campaign to have plaques to both gentlemen (now holders of the George Medal) installed at Minerva Pier in Hull and at Bridlington harbour.

However, another man on the raft was also from Bridlington, and Mr Jones is asking people for information so he can document his story.

Norman Charles Fowler was just 19 when the Lulworth Hill was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Leonardo Da Vinci on 19 March 1943, the ship had sailed from Hull almost six months previously and was heading home very soon.

14 men boarded a raft and another was taken away by the submarine to become a PoW. But of the 14 survivors left at sea, one by one they died, including Mr Fowler.

Mr Jones said: “I would very much like to tell the story of Norman Charles Fowler, but I have never been able to find anybody who is related to him.

“His name appears on the war memorial at Bridlington but I would be very interested in tracing any relatives and if possible finding out what he looked like so that the book I am writing can finally tell his tragic story.

“In the last few years I have found out many aspects of this story, including reading actual letters written by the people who were lost on board this ship, and it is my intention that in 2017 the story of this ship and her crew will be told from as many angles as possible.

“The story of the two survivors on the raft has been well publicised, but the other 38 people on board have so much more to tell us.”

Anyone who has any information covering the Lulworth Hill or her crew to please get in touch with Mr Jones via email [email protected] or at his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/shipwreck.data).