This month marks 80 years since the arrival at Malta of convoy ‘M.W.10’, which included the Norwegian merchant ship Talabot.

During World War II, Malta was effectively besieged and dependent for survival on shipping, which brought reinforcements for the island garrison and delivered essential supplies, including food and ammunition, fighter planes, oil and fuel, military vehicles and equipment. 

Hazardous supply runs were made by individual submarines, warships and the occasional commissioned merchantman but it was the Malta convoys that really made a difference. 

From the first of these complex operations in September 1940, until the lifting of the siege in November 1942, a total of 20 convoys would get through with all or some of the ships that had started out from either end of the Mediterranean.

Two photographs in particular have come to epitomise the Malta convoys and the siege of Malta. One shows the battered Texaco oil tanker Ohio entering Grand Harbour on conclusion of Operation Pedestal on August 15, 1942. Another shows a cargo ship moored in Grand Harbour during an air attack, with the explosion of a direct bomb hit, or a very near miss, on her port bow. 

The Perthshire at an unknown location. Additional portholes seem to be a late- or post-war refit (other photos show the ship with fewer portholes).

The latter, one of the most reproduced photos of wartime Malta appears, possibly for the first time, in the 1944 HMSO publication The Air Battle of Malta. It is captioned: “The Talabot gets it. Many a supply ship reached Malta safely only to be sunk at anchor.”

It was only when I considered using the image in a forthcoming book that I had cause to examine it more closely. While looking at other images of the Talabot, I began to notice inconsistencies in the appearance of what looked like two different ships. There followed a debate between myself and others, which remained inconclusive, until, quite by chance, I discovered another photograph among the hundreds in my collection. 

A drawing of the Talabot. Comparing this with images of Perthshire reveal distinct dissimilarities between the two vessels.

It had been taken from further away but apparently showed the same ship at the same mooring in Grand Harbour. Only this was a Cameron-class vessel, an altogether different type than Talabot. In order to date the photo, I examined other frames in the negative strip. I was able to narrow the time frame to between January 31 and April 5, 1941.

It is always satisfying for a historian to be able to present hitherto unknown facts and, for me, this was something of a ‘eureka’ moment. However, the ship’s identity had yet to be established. If both photos were of the same ship, however, there could be only two possibilities.

Detail from a photograph of a Cameron-class vessel, believed to be the Perthshire, at Grand Harbour in February/March 1941.

The Talabot (6,798 GT) had been built in 1936 in Gothenburg, Sweden (she would be the second ship of this name to be owned by Wilhelm Wilhelmsen of Norway). Also built that year were the Cameron-class Perthshire (10,496 GT) of the Scottish Shire Line and the Clan Macaulay (10,492 GT) of the Clan Line Steamers Ltd. In appearances, there was little or nothing to differentiate between the latter pair.

Convoys ‘M.W.5½’ and ‘Excess’ resulted in the arrival at Malta in January 1941 of the commissioned auxiliary supply ship Breconshire and the Clan Macaulay and the quite dissimilar merchantman Essex. They were accompanied by the aircraft carrier Illustrious, severely damaged as a result of air attacks during the voyage to Malta and in urgent need of repairs to enable her to depart before the Luftwaffe could succeed in sinking her.

It has not been possible to determine where the Clan Macaulay was moored in Grand Harbour. What is known is that she was damaged during an air raid on January 19, 1941, the last day of what became known as the ‘Illustrious Blitz’. After undergoing temporary repairs, the Clan Macaulay departed Malta for Port Said on February 20, 1941. Could this be the mystery ship?

The second vessel bearing the name Talabot (1936) may be recognised by the prominent (probably red) band around the bridge. A third, post-war ship of the same name had an all-white bridge.

After the Illustrious Blitz, there followed in February a naval operation (‘M.C.8’) to transport to Malta two infantry battalions. The only convoy involving merchant ships, and the last until May 9, 1941, was ‘M.W.6’. Of four merchantmen,  the City of Manchester and the City of Lincoln bore no resemblance to the ship in question. That left the Cameron-class Clan Ferguson and Perthshire. Both were similar but for the design of their bridge, which ruled out Clan Ferguson.

In the disputed photo, the forepart of the ship is largely hidden by sea spray resulting from a bomb burst. Only by careful comparison with other images of the Talabot do dissimilarities become apparent. If we consider the ship being bombed, the funnel is noticeably taller and also positioned further forward than that on the Talabot. There are more ventilators and of differing sizes. 

The Talabot was equipped with two lifeboats on each side; the Perthshire and Clan Macaulay had three. Tellingly, photos taken later of a partially-submerged Talabot clearly show a stern-mounted gun. This is not present in the image of the ship under attack.

The Perthshire had arrived at Malta on March 23, 1941; the Talabot exactly one year later, on March 23, 1942. Both were moored at No. 6 buoy off Marina Pinto, where both were targeted by German dive-bombers. The similarities of these facts might explain how such a well-known image was wrongly captioned.

My own feeling is that the misidentified ship is the Perthshire. Report No. 287 in the Malta Police Occurrence Book for Marina records that, on March 23, 1941: “During the air raid which lasted from 3.38pm to 4.22pm, bomb hit the s/s Perthshire moored on No. 6 buoy, thereby causing damage to the cargo. The forehold caught fire which was soon after subdued. The bridge of the s/s City of Lincoln was also hit.”

After being sufficiently repaired to facilitate her departure, the Perthshire left Malta for Alexandria on April 19, 1941. Both the Perthshire and Clan Macaulay would survive the war. The Talabot remained in situ until late 1945. 

Another photo of the Talabot on fire after a bombing attack in late March 1942.

The South African salvage vessel Gamtoos was at Malta in summer/autumn of that year, during which time much of the superstructure was removed from the Talabot. It would seem that the hull was pumped out sufficiently for the wreck to be refloated. Apparently, the hulk had then drifted, before sinking again just off Marina Pinto and not far from where the Talabot had been scuttled in March 1942. The last of the wreckage was cleared in 1985.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Wilh. Wilhemsen Holding ASA, Jeff Sammut and John Buchanan.

Anthony Rogers edited and compiled 185 The Malta Squadron and is the author of several books, including Battle Over Malta: Aircraft Losses and Crash Sites 1940-42 and Siege of Malta 1940-42.