Mystery death in Lerwick solved

Kyt · Mar 22, 2008

WWII mystery death in Lerwick solved

THE FAMILY of a Welshman killed when his ship exploded in Lerwick harbour during World War Two have solved the mystery surrounding his death 65 years on.

Lyndhurst Rufus Clarke died on 22 November 1943 while serving in the Royal Navy aboard Motor Torpedo Boat 686 (MTB) HMS Fox, when fire ripped through the vessel as she was docked at North Ness, Lerwick.

For years the only information the family had was that the man was “missing presumed killed”, but no further facts on where or how it happened.

The truth surrounding the exact details of the fire, which also caused the deaths of seven other men, was uncovered recently by Lyn Clarke's grandson Richard with the help of Shetland archives.

He said: “We now know exactly what precipitated the accident, the misfiring of the gun on the boat moored in Lerwick thus igniting the extra fuels cans being loaded on deck.

“It appears the boat was being loaded with fuel and ammunition in readiness for a long journey.”

Richard Clarke has researched the incident extensively with help from Shetland Islands Council, the local church, the Shetland Museum and on-line naval archives.

The fire caused three explosions in total and a second Norwegian MTB also caught fire with the resulting heat setting off ammunition stores, causing machine gun and tracer fire to ricochet around the town.

Forty two families were evacuated from the Lerwick waterfront, roads were closed and there was considerable damage to windows in the North Ness area.

Eye witnesses said that the incident culminated with a great flash of blue lightning and an immediate clap of thunder that many people wrongly interpreted as a forth explosion.

To prevent the fire spreading further the Navy ships in the harbour had to fire upon and sink the two burning vessels tied to the wharf in North Ness.

Mr Clarke looked extensively for the reason the fire occurred including searching German accounts of the incident, but he found no evidence of a Luftwaffe or U-Boat attack.

However, he did find extensive records of MTBs spontaneously or accidentally catching fire during the war in separate incidents.

This was confirmed when Mr Clarke found an account of the incident in the book Dog Boats at War, by Len Reynolds, which said: “The boats were loaded with extra fuel in petrol cans on the upper deck and the crews were making their final checks.

“Somehow or other, an Oerlikon gun on 686 was accidentally fired, the petrol cans ignited, and the fire spread like lightning to both boats.

“There were massive explosions as ammunition and the main petrol tanks went up, and both boats were destroyed. There was near panic in Lerwick.”

Lynhurst Clarke's son, Lyn Clarke II, who lives in Florida says he is glad to have closure by finding out the full details of the incident and where it occurred after so many years of speculation.

Mr Clarke II will now visit Shetland this summer to pay his respects to the place where his father died in service of his country.

“After 65 years I have finally found out what happened to my father concerning his death. My mother did not like to talk about it, and she would tell me that his boat just blew up and all hands were lost,” he said.

“From this I wrongly assumed that his boat hit a floating mine, went down at sea and that there would be no place for me to visit and pay respects to him.

“In light of this new information that the boat exploded while moored at Lerwick harbour after all these years I have found out that there is a place that I can visit. I would like to thank my son Richard for diligently researching this whole mystery.”
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Kyt · Mar 22, 2008

More details:

North Ness - Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia that anyone can edit.

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Mystery death in Lerwick solved

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