## The sinking of the Allister ![[Allister__Powerful-ship.jpg]] On Saturday May 29 1942, the merchant vessel, the Allister was scheduled to travel from Kingston, Jamaica then onto Port Antonio, Jamaica and then finally to Tampa Florida with a cargo of over 500 tons of bananas. The crew was comprised of several Caymanians who had sailed with each other for many years. The captain, Samuel Chapman of Cayman Brac was a seasoned veteran of the sea and had commanded the Allister many times before and this journey, like the others before seemed routine and unremarkable. The voyage, would take the Allister and its crew, North of Jamaica then South of Grand Cayman as it endeavor to deliver its cargo. There were many dangers in the water and the Allister, armed only with a light machine gun, mounted at the bow of the ship was ill prepared to face the threat of a submarine attack. At the time, World War Two was near it's peak of intense fighting, and the Germans hoping to deal a blow to the Allies decided to expand their attacks by cutting off supply lines, especially those coming from colonies in the Caribbean. Designated, Operation Drumbeat, this operation saw significant lives lost in the Caribbean. Between 1942 and 1944, <mark style="background: #FFB86CA6;">319 ships were destroyed and 3,547 souls were lost</mark>. ![[allister-location.png]] At 9:37PM, on this fateful moonlit night as the Allister made her way through the warm Caribbean sea, she was 54 miles south of Grand Cayman when struck by one of two torpedoes from U-boat 504, commanded by captain Hans-Georg Friedrich Poske. The torpedo hit the engine room on the starboard side (right-side of the ship), killing three men on watch. The ship then broke in two and started sinking rapidly from the stern. The remaining men were able to launch a raft, but a few, including the captain and eleven men were last seen wrestling with a lifeboat that had failed to dislodge as the ship went down. Of the 23 crew, 15 were presumed dead and 8 survived. Intercepted German communications later revealed that U-boat 504 gave supplies to the survivors with five gallons of water, ten cans of biscuits and dressing material and promised to signal their position before leaving. Reports of how the survivors were rescued and what happened to the men are vague and no known first or second hand accounts were available for me to examine. However, according to one source the survivors were picked up by a passing ship and taken to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. >Currently, I haven't been able to identify the ship's crew manifest from that night, however I was able to find the manifest from April 29 1941, which should give a close approximation of the crew that may have been aboard on May 29 1942. Based on the records that I've examined, I was able to determine with great certainty the crew members that were aboard that night and their fate, these are highlighted below. **Allister Ship's Crew Manifest – April 29 1941** | Name | Status | Age | Position on ship | Length of Service | Nationality | | :------------------ | :------: | :----: | :----------------- | :---------------- | :-----------: | | ==Samuel Chapman== | ==Died== | ==45== | ==Master/Captain== | ==20 yrs== | ==Caymanian== | | Rexford Wood | Unknown | 29 | 1st Mate | 12 years | Caymanian | | Lem Bodden | Unknown | 27 | 2nd Mate | 8 years | Caymanian | | Richard Ebanks | Unknown | 29 | Steward | 10 years | Caymanian | | Charles P. Flemings | Unknown | 69 | Chief Engineer | 20 years | American | | Solomon Rodriques | Unknown | 45 | 2nd Engineer | 25 years | Unknown | | Harold McDonald | Unknown | 40 | 3rd Engineer | 10 years | Unknown | | Austin Scott | Unknown | 30 | Donkeyman [^1] | 4 years | Caymanian | | Leonize Conolly | Survived | 26 | Oiler | 8 years | Caymanian | | Percy Pinnack | Unknown | 62 | Oiler | 25 years | Unknown | | Oscar Tayler | Unknown | 38 | Fireman | 14 years | Unknown | | Valentine Roberts | Unknown | 37 | Fireman | 16 years | Unknown | | Harold Hamilton | Unknown | 21 | Fireman | 20/? years [^2] | Unknown | | Will Bodden | Unknown | 32 | Boatswain | 15 years | Caymanian | | Joseph Grizzel | Unknown | 45 | Carpenter | 25 years | Unknown | | ==Burns Conolly== | ==Died== | ==23== | ==Sailor== | ==1 year== | ==Caymanian== | | Chesley Parsons | Unknown | 19 | Sailor | 1 year | Caymanian | | Nolan Ebanks | Unknown | 19 | Sailor | 1 year | Caymanian | | ==Wilfred Conolly== | ==Died== | ==49== | ==Sailor== | ==27 years== | ==Caymanian== | | Dearcy Hennings | Unknown | 19 | Sailor | First year | Caymanian | | Herbert Jackson | Unknown | 52 | Cook | 25 years | Caymanian | | Nevel Dixon | Unknown | 25 | Messman | 8 years | Caymanian | Sources: https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1719.html, https://uboat.net/maps/caribbean.htm [^1]:  The person in charge of a _ship's_ engine room. [^2]: The record is incomplete, only the number two is shown, it's possible it was "20", but the missing second digit makes it impossible to determine.