Jospeh Bell Sayers

 

S.S. British Chivalry
credit - wrecksite

The S.S. British Chivalry, on a voyage from Melbourne, Australia to Abadan, in ballast was sailing alone in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Abdu Atoll, in the Maldives Islands.  On the morning of 22^nd February of 1944, the ship was attacked by the Japanese submarine I-37, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Nakagawa Hajime. The submarine first fired two torpedoes. These were spotted, and the ship took evasive action, so that one torpedo passed astern, but the second hit the ship in the engine room, killing most of the crew there. The survivors abandoned ship, as I-37 surfaced and shelled and finally torpedoed the ship

I-37 took the ship's captain, Walter Hill, as a prisoner. It then moved off and opened fire with machine guns on the lifeboats. For the next two hours it circled, firing indiscriminately at the lifeboats and men in the water before finally moving off. Fourteen men were killed and another five mortally wounded. The thirty-eight survivors were adrift for 37 days before finally being rescued by the British cargo liner MV Delane. Captain Hill was held as a prisoner at Penang until the end of the war

n 1948 Lieutenant-Commander Nakagawa was tried by the War Crimes Tribunal for the murders of the crews of British Chivalry, and those of Sutlej on 24 February 1944, and Ascot on 29^th of February 1944

He was found guilty and sentenced to eight years hard labour at Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, but was released in 1954 after only six years, following the end of the Allied occupation. It was not until 1978 that it was revealed that Nakagawa, while in command of the submarine I-177, had also been responsible for the sinking of the Australian hospital ship Centaur in April 1943, with the loss of 268 lives

20 crew members of British Chivalry lost their lives in the sinking, one of the named was Jospeh Bell Sayers, who was ranked Chief Cook, who was aged 33 years.

Joseph was born in 1911, in South Shields, Durham, son of Stephen Henry Sayers and Eleanor Bell.

1911 Census

At the time of the 1911 Census, Joseph aged 2 months, was living his mother, Eleanor, at 181 Maxwell Street.

By the time of the 1921 Census, Joseph aged 10 years, at 199 Maxwell Street, with his mother, Eleanor and younger brother Stephen Henry, aged 6 years.

1921 Census

In 1934, Joseph, married at St. Thomas to Nelsie Mary Thomas. 

Jospeh Bell Sayers and Nelsie Mary Thomas
marriage cerificate
St. Thomas church

By the time of the sinking of the S.S. British Chivalry, Joseph and Nelsie were resident at 22 Kinley Street, as recorded on the Merchant Seamen Deaths records

Merchant Seamen Deaths

S.S. British Chivalry
Jospeh Bell Sayers 
credit - findagrave

Joseph and the other crew members are commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial.