Streonshalh (1928)
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2.
Nov. 12, 2011

Amongst the crew of the captured Streonshalh assembled on the stern of the Admiral Graf Spee is my grandfather;  John Dobson, bottom left of photo, second up on back row (2nd photo on page). My grandfather spoke very little about his time in the merchant navy, however occasional funny grandfather type story was given when I was a child, and I do remember him being more serious about this story, if only for a fleeing moment.

Kind Regards,
Andrew Dobson
Reply 1
Nov. 22, 2011

I have just read your message re John Dobson. He was my uncle, his wife Betty was my mams sister. I sailed with uncle John on the St. Leger. He was a hard tough man, but a better seaman there was not. He had a nickname of John the Baptist, though I never knew why, maybe my cousin Malcolm would know.

I have been researching his career, as well as being a Prisoner of War on the Graf Spee did you know he was Mentioned in Despatches for rescuing the crew of the Hull trawler Whinnyfold when she was bombed and sunk off Iceland?

My best wishes to you,
Bob Dale


1.
Aug. 23, 2011

Having recently being told my Grandfather, Donald Blenkiron, was on the SS Streonshalh and consequently a prisoner of war aboard the Admiral Graf Spee, I've been looking for information about it. Having being directed to your website I was astonished to find a photograph of the SS Streonshalh crew following their capture. It was fantastic to be able to show this to my father, who has been searching for information with no success for quite some time. We think that there was a local newspaper story at the time in Whitby, as my Grandfather and some of the other crew members were from Whitby. I've enquired about getting copies of archive stories, so if I find anything interesting, I'll be sure to pass this on.

Many thanks,
Claire Foley




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Page published Mar. 20, 2008