Lancastria tragedy remembered

The thousands of people who died in the worst maritime disaster in British history have been remembered at a ceremony in Clydebank.

Wreaths were laid at the Lancastria Memorial on the grounds of the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital on Saturday June 15th, in memory of those who lost their lives when the RMS Lancastria was sunk off the coast of France during World War Two.

Sandie Scott DL laid the wreath on behalf of the Lieutenancy and Gill Aitkenhead DL was also in attendance.

The Lancastria was built in 1920 at the Beardmore shipyards - the site on which the Golden Jubilee now stands - and worked as an Atlantic and Mediterranean ocean liner.

The Lancastria was sunk by German bombers off St Nazaire on June 17th 1940, while taking part in Operation Aerial, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from Western France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation.

The estimates of the death toll vary from 6,500 to as many as 9,000 people - the largest loss of life in British maritime history.