Blog No. 319 – Stanley Hankin and Arctic Convoy PQ 17, Part 1 – 1 Aug 2025
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This photo shows the route taken by Convoy PQ 17 in 1942. Photo from wiki.
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Catapult Aircraft Merchant Ship Empire Tide. Stan Hankin served on the Empire Tide in Convoy PQ 17. Somehow, Stan survived the experience.
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This photo shows a Hawker Hurricane on board a CAM ship. The pilots of the Hawker Hurricanes were all volunteers. Their chances of death were so very high – and every one of the pilots was a volunteer. Pilots on CAM ships were members of the RAF Merchant Ship Fighter Unit.
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1960 saw publication of a novel called HMS Ulysses by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. MacLean had served in the Royal Navy during World War II. In writing HMS Ulysses, McLean drew on his Royal Navy experiences while serving with Arctic convoys to Murmansk.
HMS Ulysses traces events surrounding a Royal Navy ship whose task is to protect a convoy of merchant ships travelling to Murmansk in Russia. The Soviet Union had been invaded by Nazi Germany and desperately needed supplies. If the Soviet Union fell to Germany, the United Kingdom would have soon followed.
The events described in HMS Ulysses are truly horrific.
The convoy which is destroyed in the novel HMS Ulysses was based upon an Arctic convoy which was in fact destroyed in horrific circumstances. That convoy was Convoy PQ 17.
Convoy PQ 17 left Reykjavik, Iceland on the 27th of June 1942 headed for Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union. Convoy PQ 17 was located by the Germans on the 1st of July. It was attacked and suffered horrendous losses.
35 merchant ships left Iceland. Out of the 35, 23 were sunk by the Germans.
There were only 2 British registered ships in Convoy PQ 17 which survived the attacks by the Germans.
One of the two British ships which survived Convoy PQ 17 was Empire Tide.
Although it survived the Convoy PQ 17, Empire Tide suffered heavy attack by the Germans.
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My dad was Cliff Hankin and he was serving in Bomber command when Convoy PQ 17 was destroyed by the Germans.
Cliff’s brother Stanley Hankin served on the Empire Tide and lived through the slaughter of Convoy PQ 17.
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In order to gain his freedom from being a prisoner of war after the sinking of the Rangitane, Stan Hankin was forced to give an undertaking that he would “bear neither arms nor undertake military action against Germany and her allies” during the remainder of WW 2.
If Stan had been captured by the Nazis, I have no doubt they would have murdered him. His duties on the Empire Tide would certainly have been seen by the Nazis as breaching his written undertaking.
As a matter of law, it is possible that Stan’s service on the Empire Tide was indeed a breach of his promise to “bear neither arms nor undertake military action against Germany and her allies”.
There was – of course - no safe way in which Stan could have found out in advance whether the Nazis would have murdered him.
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Soviet novelist Valentin Pikul chose a quotation from MHS Ulysses as an epigraph to his Requiem for Convoy PQ-17. Requiem for Convoy PQ-17 is a historical novel which describes what happened to Convoy PQ 17.
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This is a summary of the men and ships lost because of enemy action against PQ 17.
153 merchant seamen were killed;
23 merchant ships were sunk.
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This is a summary of the equipment losses incurred when PQ 17 was attacked by the Germans.
3,350 vehicles were lost;
210 aircraft were lost;
430 tanks were lost;
99,316 Imperial tons of general cargo were lost.
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Prior to serving on Empire Tide in PQ 17, Stan had already served on a previous convoy taking urgently needed supplies to the Soviet Union. He had also served on convoys in the Mediterranean Sea carrying troops and supplies to the British forces fighting Africa.
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The Empire Tide was a Catapult Aircraft Merchant Ship. CAM ships were WW 2 British merchant ships used in convoys as emergency stop-gaps until sufficient escort carriers became available.
CAM ships were converted freight ships, carrying a single Hawker Hurricane fighter. When an enemy bomber was sighted, the fighter would be launched into the air with rockets, and fly up to destroy or drive away the aircraft. The German Focke-Wulf Condor 200 was a vulnerable target because it was slow. After the combat, the British fighter pilot would bail out or ditch in the ocean near the convoy, and if he was lucky, he was rescued.
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The Empire tide was built for the Ministry of War Transport and operated by the Royal Mail Line. It was part of Convoy PQ 17 and departed from Reykjavik, Iceland on the 27th of June 1942, along with 35 cargo ships, 6 destroyers, and 15 other armed vessels. The convoy was sighted on the 1st of July and was attacked repeatedly by German aircraft from the next day. Late on the 4th of July, the convoy was ordered to disperse because the German battleship Tirpitz was believed to be closing in on the convoy. In fact, the Tirpitz was not closing in. The convoy was slaughtered, losing 23 ships to combined air and submarine attacks. Empire Tide was one of the few to make it through, and distinguished itself by rescuing many survivors from other ships which had been sunk.
The Captain of Empire Tide was Frank Willis Harvey. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in Convoy PQ 17.
The Distinguished Service Order is a military award of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries which was awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful command and leadership during active operations, typically in actual combat. In 1942, the DSO was extended to officers of the Merchant Navy who had performed acts of gallantry while under enemy attack
The CAM ships were ordered disbanded in June 1943. The last two to escort a convoy were Empire Tide and Empire Darwin which departed from Gibraltar on 23 July.
Empire Tide survived the war and was scrapped in 1966.
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