He was born in 1921, the on of Fred and Maria Jane Savory, of Ferryhill, Co. Durham.
At 00.30 hours on the 24th October 1941, U-563, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Klaus Heinrich Bargsten, fired one torpedo at a steamer in convoy HG-75 which seemed to hit after a running time of 4 minutes 44 seconds. Eight minutes later, a spread of two torpedoes was fired against a turning destroyer which missed, but detonations were heard behind. In fact, HMS Cossack (G 03) (Capt E.L. Berthon, DSO and Bar, DSC, RN) was struck by one torpedo forward of the bridge, when she was at the rear of convoy. The explosion blew off the bow section and destroyed most of the forward section, killing the commander. The survivors (29 of them wounded) on Carley floats were picked up by HMS Legion (F 74) (Cdr R.F. Jessel, RN) and HMS Carnation (K 00) (LtCdr G.W. Houchen, OBE, RNR). The next morning, some volunteers reboarded the wrecked ship and got the engines running. The tug HMS Thames arrived from Gibraltar and took the destroyer in tow, escorted by HMS Jonquil (K 68) (LtCdr R.E.H. Partington, RNR). On the 27th October, the weather worsened and prevented the salvage, so the tow was slipped and the corvette took off the skeleton crew. HMS Cossack (G 03) sank shortly afterwards in 35°12N/08°17W.>
Eric Savory is remembered in Chilton on C107.05, C107.06 and C107.12 and on our List of Ships’ crews.
