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Known locally as the Halfway Wreck.

The Free French training ship Médoc was sunk by a torpedo dropped by a German aircraft on 26th November 1940.

Type

Training ship

History

The merchant vessel Medoc was launched on 30th May 1930 at the yard of D. & W. Henderson & Co. Ltd. in Glasgow as yard No. 902; she was an 83m long coaster with a triple-expansion steam engine.  Medoc’s official number was initially 91452 but later changed to 91467.  Medoc was built for her owners, Worms, Josse & Cie in Le Havre, along with her sister, the Pomerol, both named after famous wine-growing regions in France.  Medoc was used to ship cargo between Le Havre in France and ports in Scandinavia. After war had been declared in 1939, Medoc was taken into service by the French as a patrol ship with pennant P24 along with her sister Pomerol as P25.  Little is known about her early war service other than that she captured a Danish freighter called Helene on 10th April 1940.

As France fell to the German invaders, Medoc escaped, crossed the English Channel and found sanctuary in Plymouth.  Unsure about the motives of the French government, who still controlled their ships safe in English ports, she was boarded by the Royal Navy on 3rd July 1940 to stop the French ships falling into the hands of the Germans.  Two weeks later, on 17th July, she was given to the Polish Navy, who had men but no ships; men who had escaped Poland as the Germans invaded, made their way to England and were determined to fight again.  The ship was named the OF Medoc, in Polish, ‘OF’ means Okręt Francuski or ‘French ship’, so she flew both the French and Polish national flags.  Another change on October 21st put her back in the hands of the Royal Navy, and she was then known as the training ship Medoc.  The Polish captain remained on board this French ship with a largely British crew, so she sailed under the three flags of France, Poland and Great Britain.  By November 1940, the Medoc had been operating as a British ship for about six weeks.  The captain, Roman Stankiewicz, was Polish, but her First Lieutenant, William Sobey RNVR, was British, as was the gunnery officer, Lt. Murray RNVR, and an RNVR Lieutenant who was the Navigating Officer.  There was a Polish midshipman and two Polish ratings, but the remainder of the 87-man crew were British.

On the evening of 26th November 1940, the Medoc sailed on her last patrol, leaving Devonport in company with the armed trawler HMT Lombard under low cloud and in a heavy swell.  Medoc was armed with two 100mm guns mounted in front of the accommodation block on platforms over the forward hold, plus two more on platforms over the aft hold.  One 37mm anti-aircraft (AA) gun was mounted on the forecastle and another on the stern; there were two Hotchkiss and two Mitrailleuse machine guns, two depth charge throwers and 24 depth charges.  As was usual when on patrol at sea, there was a lookout on the port side of the bridge, one on the roof of the bridge and a signalman on watch on the starboard side.  At about 6 pm, a lookout saw a twin-engine aircraft approaching on the port side, not knowing if this was a friend or foe, he immediately sounded the alarm bell to call the crew to action stations.  A signalman on Lombard challenged the aircraft but received no reply.  At the time, both Lt. Sobey and the Polish PO Emyl Moldrzyk were in their cabins, so they quickly rushed up on deck and headed aft to their allotted station by the 37mm AA gun.

The aeroplane was about 500 metres away from the ship and approaching fast when it opened fire with its machine guns and strafed the ship.  Once he had a clear shot, Moldrzyk opened fire with the Hotchkiss as the plane crossed her bow and headed away.  Having picked his target, the German pilot circled round and headed back towards the ship, then dropped a torpedo into the water, and then flew out of range of the guns.  The crew on deck could see the torpedo streaking through the water towards them.  A few leapt over the side and into the sea, but Moldrzyk and Sobey stayed at their guns, firing continuously at the aircraft.  The hull shuddered violently as the torpedo struck the port side of the ship and exploded, blowing a huge hole in the boiler room and enveloping the whole ship in smoke.  Only moments before, both the First Lieutenant and the PO had been secure in the warmth of their cabins, but now they were in peril on a rapidly sinking ship: the time between the alarm sounding and the torpedo explosion had been just four minutes.

Sobey’s first thought was about the depth charges, so he ordered them to be made safe. The charges were armed and ready when the ship was on patrol, so they could explode under pressure if the ship sank to the bottom.  That order given, Sobey commanded the crew to abandon ship.  The men threw rafts overboard and launched the lifeboats just before the ship lurched violently and her bow went down, tipping the forecastle underwater.  Moldrzyk jumped over the side, grabbed a piece of wood floating nearby and paddled over to a raft. Climbing on top, he dragged another nine sailors and a Petty Officer onto it with him.

The armed trawler Lombard, which was escorting Medoc, saw the explosion and headed to the scene at full speed; Lombard signalled ‘Can I be of assistance to you’ to which the reply from Medoc was simply ‘Help’.  Medoc swiftly disappeared beneath the waves as Lombard approached at speed.  Suddenly, a severe explosion from deep underwater shook the trawler, and her captain prudently steered away when he realised that this was caused by Medoc’s depth charges exploding.  Not all the charges had been made safe, and those still armed detonated when they reached their preset depth. Three more huge explosions followed in quick succession, which caused casualties amongst the survivors floating in the water above the wreck.  Lombard stood off and picked up three men while waiting for the explosions to stop, before heading for the middle of the floating wreckage and picking up many more, despite the heavy swell.  The last man rescued was Lt. Sobey, who was nearly missed in the fading light; they got him on board with great difficulty as he was suffering from internal injuries caused by the depth charge explosions underneath him.  The first explosion damaged Lombard and caused leaks in the forward hold, but fortunately, the damage was not severe.

The only surviving officer from the ship was the First Lieutenant, William Sobey.  Of a complement of 87 officers and men, 39 lost their lives, including the Polish Commander (1st class) Stankiewicz, Lt. Terence O’Shanohun RNR, T/Lt. Herbert J. Murray RNVR, 36 British ratings, a Polish Midshipman and a Polish Leading Seaman; the casualties are listed at the end of this page.

This was an unusual cause of loss as most aerial torpedo incidents registered by British Air Intelligence in 1940 took place in the North Sea off Northumberland and Scotland, with the sole exception being the sinking of the Medoc.   The Medoc was sunk on the day before the armed trawler HMT Elk , and only 19 days after the loss of her sister ship FS Poulmic , both sunk by mines just south of Plymouth Breakwater.

There is some confusion about the name of the ship.  The French spell her name with an acute accent mark, as Médoc, but in Lloyds Register and official paperwork, she is simply Medoc. 

There is also some confusion about her nationality.  Originally French, taken by the British, briefly Polish, Medoc was returned to British control on October 21st 1940, and referred to as a training ship.  In the accounts of her loss, she is referred to as HMS Medoc by the commander of the armed trawler escort.  However, she is referred to as FS Medoc by her First Lieutenant and as the ‘Free French training ship’ in the War Cabinet meeting minutes from November 1940, so she was likely FS rather than HMS.

Casualty List

The crewmen who lost their lives when the Medoc sank are:

Royal Navy

BALDWIN, John T, Stoker Petty Officer, D/KX 78631
BELL, Charles W, Supply Assistant, D/MX 71565
BRADBURY, Horace, Able Seaman, D/JX 152703
BRICE, Albert J, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 208288
CAMPBELL, George M, Able Seaman, D/JX 158689
CLIFFORD, William, Stoker Petty Officer, D/K 877
COCKER, William J, Stoker 1c, D/KX 92605
COE, Albert N, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 206237
DEADY, James, Leading Stoker, D/K 60830
DUNN, Sydney R, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 214998
GASKELL, John, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 219901
HANCOCK, John R, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 169357
HAWKINS, Henry C, Able Seaman, D/JX 136924
KILGALLON, Terrance, Able Seaman, D/JX 154070
MARTIN, Henry G, Able Seaman, D/J 82842
MAY, John, Stoker 1c, D/KX 87935
MEYLER, Thomas G, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 220004
MOORE, Kenneth S, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 219951
MORRISH, Thomas I, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 214851
MURRAY, Herbert J, Ty/Lieutenant, RNVR
MURROW, David, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 219840
MYHILL, Wilfred A G, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 199934
NEWTON, George W, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 219802
O'SHANOHUN, Terence, Lieutenant, RNR
PARKER, Bertie J C, Leading Stoker, D/KX 77111
PREECE, Herbert S, Assistant Cook, D/MX 69478
SHACKLADY, Frederick, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 219900
SIMKISS, Harry R, Ordinary Telegraphist, D/JX 194179
SIMPSON, John W, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 187674
SINCLAIR, Robert M, Ordinary Seaman, V/12309 (RCNVR)
SWAIN, Trevor, Supply Assistant, D/MX 67582
THOMAS, Eddie G, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 208246
WALLACE, Charles R, Assistant Cook, D/MX 68426
WARE, Robert G, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 208426
WHELAN, Albert, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 199909
WHITE, Archie T, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 208307
WOOD, Frederick I, Stoker 1c, D/KX 93876
WOODS, Frederick I, Stoker 1c, D/KX 93876
WORTH, Kenneth J, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 215019

Polish Navy

KOPCZYNSKI, Edward, Leading Seaman
KRASICKI, Eustachy, Midshipman
STANKIEWICZ, Roman, Commander (1st class)

Diving the Medoc

For many years, the identity of this wreck was not known, so she was called the Halfway Wreck, being halfway out to the Eddystone light.  First reported as a sonar target by the famous submarine chaser HMS Wild Goose in 1945, she was relocated on a Royal Navy hydrographic survey in 1972. Divers identified her as the Medoc in 1984 from French-made fittings on the binnacle and because some of the letters from her name were still in place on her bow.  In 1988, her bell was recovered, but she is known more for the large empty brass cartridge cases that could be found in her holds.  The Medoc has been a favourite with fishermen for years, so the wreck is covered with fishing line, and the drapes of trawl net show she has been a target for trawlers too.

The wreck sits upright on the seabed with the shallowest point at 44m in 51m depth.  The northern end of the wreck is at 50° 15.157 N  004° 14.254 W, and the southern end is 70m away at 50° 15.126 N  004° 14.281 W.  The bow is reasonably complete with the windlass in place on the forecastle and an anchor on the seabed, the bridge is still largely intact, but the holds have slumped inwards.  The bell, steam whistle, binnacle and telegraph have been recovered, but the 37mm AA gun is still on the stern, now lying on the deck.

Multibeam image of the Medoc, click the image for a larger version (University of Plymouth)

Location and Access

Off Rame Head, Cornwall

Nearby wrecks include the steamship Unicorn the torpedo boat destroyer HMS Foyle and the pilot cutter W. Woolven

Last updated 05 July 2025

Position GPS: 50° 15.127 N, 004° 14.284 W Depth: 53m

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