Coastal N.C. remembers World War II British seamen

Nine British seamen who died during World War II off the coast of North Carolina were buried in the spring of 1942 at cemeteries in the communities of Morehead City, Buxton and Ocracoke. 

Because of annual remembrances, the bonds that connect these Outer Banks towns grow stronger each year and reinforce North Carolina’s reputation as the nation’s most patriotic state.

 

German U-boats were responsible for torpedoing and sinking two British ships…only about a month apart…that claimed the lives of 65 seamen. 

The first incident was the sinking of the San Delfino on April 9, 1942. A 479-foot oil tanker owned by the Eagle Oil Shipping Company of London, England, her cargo consisted mainly of 11,000 tons of aviation fuel. The vessel left Houston, Texas, and was headed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to join a convoy for the transatlantic crossing to Great Britain.

 

The vessel encountered Germany’s U-203 east of Rodanthe off Hatteras Island. A torpedo struck the San Delfino’s starboard side, and the ship erupted in a sheet of flame. Alan Taylor, creator of SunkenShipsOBX.com, wrote: 

“Capt. Elbert Gumbleton immediately called for the crew to abandon ship. Two lifeboats were lowered. Unfortunately, one of the lifeboats got caught in the current and was dragged into a pool of fuel,” killing 24 crew members and four gunners. The second lifeboat, with 22 aboard, was rescued. Survivors were delivered to the port in Morehead City. 

Within a few days, two bodies from the San Delfino washed ashore on Core Banks and were taken to the morgue in Morehead City. They were identified as Sailor John Latto Fisher, 25, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and Artillery Gunner Maldwyn Jones, 21, of Rhondda, Glamorgan, Wales. 

Locals rallied to ensure these men received a proper burial. A service was held in Bayview Cemetery on April 30, 1942, with Arrangements by the Bell and James Funeral Home in Morehead City. Co-owner Alphonso Hamilton James also served as the county coroner. 

Paul Branch, Fort Macon State Park Ranger and a military historian, said: “About a week after the bodies of Fisher and Jones were laid to rest, a third body from the San Delfino washed up.”

 

Branch said that James performed “a common technique at the time – removing the skin from the fingertips and then rehydrating it.” James scoured through United Kingdom fingerprint records to positively identify the body of Able Seaman James Robinson Watt, 25, also of Edinburgh. 

“However, in the years following WWII, Alphonso James changed careers from undertaker to county clerk of court in 1948. The funeral home and its records were destroyed in a fire, and Watt’s fingerprint records went with it. The paperwork that identified Watt was lost,” Branch said. 

“With no concrete proof of identification possible, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is reluctant to confirm the identity,” Branch said. “The only way to actually confirm the identity now would be to exhume the body for DNA and try to locate any living members of Watt’s family for comparison. Obviously, no one is going to go through all those hoops.” 

Herb Stanford, who has written two books about Carteret County history, reviewed Branch’s research and stated that the “unknown San Delfino seaman is almost absolutely certain” to be James Robinson Watt.

 

Each year, coinciding with an annual Veterans Day observance, a “Day of Remembrance Service” is conducted at the site of the three British sailors’ graves in Bayview Cemetery. The service is co-sponsored by the Morehead City Historical Preservation Society and Chapter 639 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.