Master Thomas McCall

Master Thomas Dunlop McCall, Merchant Navy. He died and was buried at sea on 14th November 1942, aged 44. He was the husband of Leonora McCall of Edinburgh and is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.  He had been aboard the passenger steamship the S.S. “City of Cairo” which was torpedoed in the South Atlantic by  U-68 on 6th November 1942 . The ship of 8,000 tons carried 311 passengers and crew along with 7,000 tons of general cargo including 2000 boxes of silver coins. There were 101 passengers including 28 women and 19 children. After the torpedoing 189 survivors made it into the 6 lifeboats. Brazil was 2,000 miles away and Africa 1,000 miles. Over the next three weeks the boats lost contact with each other and many of the occupants died. Eventually most of the survivors, 207 in total, were picked up by passing ships and landed in various ports. One boat after a voyage of 51 days and with only two left alive were picked up near Brazil. In April 2015 the Wreck was rediscovered  and £34 millions of silver recovered. U-68 was sunk by U.S. aircraft from the escort carrier ” Guadalcanal” near Madeira on 10th April 1944 with 1 survivor.

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