The SS Barnhill

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The 20th March 1940 was a significant day for the Merchant Navy; for this was the time a vessel from the merchant fleet was attacked from the air by the Luftwaffe and sunk.

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The 5,500 ton steamer, SS Barnhill was making its way from Halifax to London with a variety of goods including tinned food.

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The Barnhill was some six miles off Langney Point, near Beachy Head, the Skipper, Michael O’Neil heard the look-out yell “aircraft overhead!” Initially it was thought to be an RAF plane, but as it circled overhead things began to look ominous as the circling turned into a dive towards the Barnhill. A bomb dropped which narrowly missed its target. The plane came out of the first dive and descended into another. This time the Luftwaffe was more successful as several bombs found their mark, including one straight down the funnel and another into one of the holds which held timber and carbide, inducing a fire. The Skipper was knocked out and four crew members were killed;

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Chief Steward Charles Adams

Chief Officer Thomas Rothwell

Third Officer George Stewart

Ordinary Seaman Ronald Housman, aged only eighteen

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The survivors assumed Captain O’Neil also perished as he was nowhere to be seen. He was indeed under a pile of wreckage.

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The alert had reached the Eastbourne lifeboat station and the lifeboat Jane Holland set off. Fortunately a nearby Dutch Merchant vessel responded quickly and was able to rescue eighteen of the crew from the stricken Barnhill. The Jane Holland relieved the Dutch ship of the survivors and proceeded to the Barnhill to pick up a further ten survivors, but not Michael O’Neil.

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A tug went out to the Barnhill and it was reported by locals on the shore that the Barnhill’s bell was ringing. So out went the Jane Holland again accompanied by a Police Surgeon. The tug couldn’t get near enough to the Barnhill but reported an injured man on the forecastle.

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Despite being seriously injured, Michael O’Neil managed to roll across the deck and by gripping the bell rope in his teeth and ring it. In perilous conditions as roaring flames and showers of sparks were flying, two of the Jane Holland’s crew, Thomas Allchorn and Alec Huggett transferred to the tug and leapt aboard the Barnhill and located the Skipper. The Jane Holland was brought along side with the Police Surgeon yelling instructions to the two gallant volunteers. He was eventually brought on to the Jane Holland to receive treatment before being removed to the Princess Alice Hospital in Eastbourne where he begun a long recovery. Michael O’Neil was most praiseworthy of the two lifeboat men. He stated, “They were taking their in their hands doing it, but there is no doubt that I owe my life to those grand fellows.” He spent several months in hospital.

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Sadly another crew member, Second Engineer Douglas Bertram succumbed to his wounds and died the following day. He is buried in Ladywell Cemetery in Brockley.

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There has been great conjecture to the identity of the German Bomber; most sources believe it than likely a HE111 of Korpsfuhrungskette Fl.Korps X.

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Despite a thirteen hour battle to put out the flames on the Barnhill, it was finally realised she was a lost cause and she broke and sank. At low tide parts of her can still be seen.

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One bonus for the local population was that hundreds of tins of food were washed up on to the beach, minus their labels as people clambered to find what they could to supplement the war time rationing. Other valuable goods were also salvaged over the coming weeks.