In Evenwood Cemetery is the Commonwealth War Grave with a private headstone of Chief Engineering Officer Percy Pattison, serving on SS Tweed with the Merchant Navy who died 09/05/1941.
He was the son of Thomas and Isabella Pattison and the husband of Catherine Eleanor Pattison, of Evenwood.
The headstone reads:-
To the memory of
Percy Pattison
a dearly loved husband and father
who gave his life for his country
9th May 1941 aged 58 years
also Catherine Eleanor
his beloved wife
and a dearly loved Mother and Gran
who died 4th Feb. 1969 aged 72 years
Also Lily Pattison their beloved daughter
who died 29th April 1983 aged 55 years
Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-
Percy Pattison was born on 17th December 1884, at West Hartlepool, the son of gardener Thomas Pattison and his wife Isabella (nee Brown) who had married in Hartlepool in 1875. They had 7 children, Richard (b.1877), Walter (b.1879), Thomas (b.1881), John (b.1882), Elizabeth (b.1883), Percy and Sidney (b.1887).
In 1891, the family lived at the Gardener’s House, Rosebank, Elwick Road, West Hartlepool, but ten years later had moved to live and work at Tunstall Manor Lodge, West Hartlepool. Percy now 17 years old was an apprentice engineer.
By 1911 Percy had left home and gone to sea, ten years later he was employed by Furness Withy & Co., steamship owners of West Hartlepool and he was Chief Engineer on the S.S. Wingate.
Percy married Catherine Eleanor (Kate) Welsh, a farmer’s daughter from Evenwood in 1928. They had 3 children, Lily (b.1928), Thomas (b.1929) and John (b.1935). In 1939 Kate and the three children lived at 12 Manor Street, Evenwood while Percy was away at sea.
Kevin Richardson has supplied the following information:
S.S. Tweed was built in 1926 by Dunlop, Bremner & Co. Ltd. at Port Glasgow and was owned by Transitus Shipping of London. SS Tweed formed part of convoy OG-57 which set off from Liverpool bound for Pepel, a port in Sierra Leone important for the shipping of bulk iron ore. She was carrying ballast.
On 8 April 1941 at 12.25 hours, SS Tweed, under the captaincy of Master Henry Fellingham, dispersed from convoy OG-57 south west of Freetown off the North African Atlantic coast. She was hit underneath the bridge by one torpedo from U-124. A second torpedo missed but the vessel sank by the bow at 12.30 hours. Three crew members were lost out of the crew of 31. The U-boat surfaced after the attack, approached a capsized lifeboat and took 10 men aboard for questioning. While the life boat was turned upright, the German doctor took care of an injured crew member and they were allowed to re-board the life boat. The master, 25 crew members and 2 gunners in the life boat made land fall at Conarky, French Guiana.
The following account is taken from https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=78276&highlight=u124
After Tweed went down, U-124 surfaced and sailed to a group of survivors who were hanging on a damaged lifeboat turned downside up. The crew of the sub took the survivors on board and repaired the lifeboat, while the wounded survivors received medical attention, one of them suffering from dislocated shoulder and broken leg so Dr. Goder had to treat these wounds on deck before they could part making the Captain Schulz very nervous as the sub was in danger of being detected. The survivors were given some food, water and cigarettes.
After the war Tweed’s 3rd officer Baker, was looking for the captain of a sub that had an Edelweiss painted on the conning tower (U-124). It took him sixteen years after the sinking to find him. He told Captain Schulz that one of the survivors had died and it took 14 days for the rest to reach land.
Whether Dr. Goder treated Percy Pattison or another casualty of the attack is unknown. The attack on SS Tweed took place 8th April 1941 and Chief Engineer Percy Pattison died at from his wounds at his home, 5, Brookside, Evenwood on 9th May 1941.
Barnard Castle Rural District Council reported the death of Percy Pattison, civilian, who died on 09/05/1941 at 5 Brookside, Evenwood.
The Newcastle Evening Chronicle 27/05/1941 reports:-
TORPEDOED, CAME HOME TO DIE
In this case a gallant gentleman appears to have just come home die remarked Mr. J. E. Brown-Humes (Coroner), in recording a verdict of death as a result of enemy action at a Bishop Auckland inquest on Percy Pattison (56), 5, Brookside, Evenwood, chief engineer on a merchant vessel which was torpedoed.
The captain in command of the merchant vessel, said Pattison was with him in one of the lifeboats, which capsized when the ship went down, and all were in the water for a considerable time. Eventually they got the boat righted, but Pattison was very ill in the boat.
The Coroner, in reading reports from Dr. Milne, who attended Pattison and also conducted a post-mortem examination. stated that Pattison had suffered from haemorrhage of the intestines following irritation through immersion and the swallowing of sea water.
Percy Pattison is remembered at Evenwood on E69.04 and on our List of Ships’ crews.
