An extraordinary story of WWII heroism and forgiveness involving a Liverpool-born seaman has emerged after 80 years.
William Swinchin, from Dingle, was serving on the steamship Etrib when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Atlantic on June 15, 1942. The ship went down, the second officer and an able seaman were lost, but the rest of the crew of about 40 were saved.
But Mr Swinchin himself managed to survive in an amazing way. Thanks to being a powerful swimmer, he managed to swim about alone in the darkness for an hour and a half. Then he bumped into what he found was a raft and clambered aboard. The raft was designed for 20 men, and supplied with basic food and drink provisions.
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He then drifted alone in the raft for no less than 75 days - a total of 11 weeks - during which he saw neither a human being nor a ship to rescue him. Mr Swinchin ran out of food and during his last three weeks on the raft he had nothing to eat, only water to drink. He was nearing the end of his endurance when, on August 29, he was sighted by a German submarine. He himself had not seen it, being too weak and exhausted to maintain a lookout.
The submarine. U-214, came alongside and took him on. It was in charge of Lieutenant Commander Gunter Reeder, who - despite being his wartime enemy - proved himself a true friend. Mr Swinchin was well tended, wrapped up, placed in a bunk, and during six weeks in the U-boat was nursed back to condition.
He later said that but for the friendly care which the submarine crew gave him, he could not have survived. When finally they landed him at Brest, and handed him over to the German authorities, he exchanged a promise with the lieut.-commander that they would write to each other after the war.
Mr Swinchin then spent the rest of the war in prisoner of war camps, along with a number of other Liverpool seamen, from October 1942 until the defeat of Germany in May 1945.
His amazing story finally came to light when it was told by the Liverpool Daily Post in October 1945. The report said of Mr Swinchin, then aged 40: "He is a very modest man and does not like a fuss; and when he reached home and rejoined his wife and two children a few weeks ago, he kept his experiences quiet... The facts, however, were yesterday brought to the notice of the Daily Post, which has authenticated them in every detail."
True to the promise he made with the German U-boat commander who rescued him, Mr Swinchin later received a typed letter from Lieut.-Commander Reeder. In it, he disclosed that the U-boat he commanded at the time was sent to the bottom of the sea two years later, near the south coast of England.
The letter adds: "At that time I was not aboard, as I had been seriously wounded some time ago by an English plane, and was just in hospital. Because of that injury my left hand and arm are partial paralysed. Therefore it is difficult for me to find any job, and I'm no longer a Navy officer."
With the typical British understatement of the time, Mr Swinchin said of him: "He was a German, but, believe me, he was a very decent chap."
