Five: Captain A. P. Sutton, Merchant Navy, whose command, the railway steamship Archangel, was seriously damaged and beached as a result of three bomb hits off the East Coast of Scotland in May 1941: the enemy aircraft followed up with at least two machine-gun attacks, bringing the total casualties to 33 killed and 77 wounded - the latter including Sutton

British War and Mercantile Marine Medals 1914-18 (Arthur P. Sutton); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine and better (5) £250-300

Arthur Pearson Sutton was born at Alderburgh, Suffolk in August 1897 and qualified as a 2nd Mate (Steamships) in London in December 1917, during the course of his services in the Mercantile Marine in the Great War. Having then added to his qualifications with a 1st Mate’s Certificate in Calcutta in September 1921, and a Master’s Certificate in London in September 1924, he enjoyed several seagoing commands in the intervening period before joining the L.N.E.R’s railway steamship Archangel in March 1941.

In common with so many other Merchant officers, however, his period of command proved short-lived, the bare facts of the Archangel’s fate being covered in the following secret report to the Ministry of War Transport:

‘I am sorry to inform you that the Archangel was attacked by enemy aircraft about midnight on 16 May 1941, while conveying troops from Kirkwall to Aberdeen. She was struck heavily amidships, the engine and boiler rooms being put out of action and the upper decks so badly damaged that there was no communication between the fore and aft of the ship. The Master, Captain A. P. Sutton, was seriously injured, and out of a crew of 75, 17 are dead or missing and 15 injured ... Casualties among the troops were very heavy but the discipline throughout of both troops and crew was excellent. The destroyer escort sent a Surgeon to assist the ship’s Medical Officer. While they were attending the wounded there were two further attacks from the air, but these were beaten off by the Archangel’s own guns. At 4 o’clock in the morning tugs arrived and both the wounded and uninjured troops, with part of the crew, were transferred to a destroyer. The Archangel was beached but unfortunately is a total wreck.’

Casualties among the Army were indeed high, 16 being killed and 66 wounded, the whole from the ranks of 182 and 196 H.A.A. Batteries, R.A. Clearly, too, Captain Sutton was too seriously wounded to submit his own report of the action, the task falling to Chief Officer A. W. Greenham:

‘The enemy aircraft released three bombs simultaneously which struck the ship amidships between the funnels ... They wrecked the whole of the upper decks and blew out the private cabins; wrecked the engine and boiler rooms and there was hell let loose with escaping steam. I noted that the engine room skylights still remained in position but there was nothing left of the after funnel except a great chunk of iron ... the Second Officer came back and said he had found the Captain on the deck injured, and the O.C. Troops and I decided there was nothing to do but collect the wounded. Just at this time we heard the destroyer [H.M.S. Blankney; her Captain’s report included], which was ahead of us at the time of the attack, firing at an aircraft and our guns joined him. The starboard forward gun was very busy, and I think he got off two or three belts, but I am unable to say whether the after guns were used. The aircraft flew over us twice, using his machine-guns, and I saw tracer bullets flying directly at me. Although I did not actually see the aircraft I got the impression it was flying about 500 feet high, as I saw bursts of shells in the half-light about 1000 yards away at low altitude. I believe the destroyer shot down the aircraft. Some of the crew thought that tracer bullets from our guns struck the aircraft, but it was not seen approaching or overhead. The first thing we heard was the bombs and later there were machine-gun attacks ... ’

Sutton eventually returned to seagoing duties in February 1943, when he joined the Prague, aboard which ship he served until transferring to his final wartime command, the rescue ship Bury, in September 1943. A vessel of 1910-vintage, the Bury was ‘handicapped by her great age, and considerable leaks in her accommodation were the result’, but she nonetheless gave sterling service from 1941-45, Sutton’s period of command encompassing at least a dozen operational voyages and the admission of many convoy patients to the ship’s hospital. So, too, her providing ‘excellent H./F. and D./F. bearings of enemy submarines’ to her Naval escorts. But probably the highlight of her time under Sutton’s command was the occasion H.M.S. Vervain was torpedoed approaching the Clyde on 20 February 1945 - within 20 minutes the Bury’s rescue motor boat was picking up survivors, and though they were spread ‘over a wide area’, the task was completed within an hour.

Sutton transferred from the Bury to the Macclesfield in August 1946, but for much of the late 1940s and 1950s he commanded the Vienna. Yet it was during the course of a short spell as Master of the British Railways’ ship Arnhem in 1952, that a little of his character was captured in a press interview:

‘Captain A. P. Sutton has a back as straight as a cliff and a pair of clear, unflinching eyes, well-trained and accustomed to penetrating whether it be the dark shadows of the sea or, perhaps, the character of men. By instinct and experience he is a man of action, decisive, firm, and where the job is concerned, quite sure of himself. He carries an air of quiet confidence as comfortably as he wears his snug duffle-coat and peak cap.’

Captain Sutton came ashore for a final time in August 1962.