Charles Frame - Sunk by an Armed Merchant Raider

South Shields born Charles Frame and his five brothers were all in the Merchant Navy. In July 1940 his ship the SS Wendover was sank by an armed merchant raider (Thor) off the coast of Canada.

In about 1975, a man called August Karl Muggenthaler, very German, wrote to grandfather asking if he would write his memories of the sinking of his ship, the SS Wendover and the things that happened to them, which he did and a couple of things are included in the book, grandfather is in the index and there's some things written about him. "
Keith has a copy of the letter which his grandfather sent to the author. Charles Frame was shot in the leg and spent five years in German Prisoner of War camps including Stalag XB Sandbostel and Marlag und Milag Nord.

The first notification his wife Dorothy knew about it was:
''A letter on the 13th of August, 1940 from the shipping company, which I've always found really interesting, it's so unempathetic. Compared to what you would've got today."

The letter starts:
''I write to let you know that the Wendover, in which your husband is serving, is now considerably overdue and must be presumed lost. It is early days yet to give up hope for the crew. We only do some conjecture that something must have been intervened in the course of the voyage, which must have robbed Captain Winter of his ship, which is quite likely given the whole crew an opportunity to making their own way to port, or perhaps, as happened before, they may be prisoners. In any case, I refuse for one to give up hope..."

Dorothy then had two young children aged two and six and would now have no income. Another letter from the Ministry of Pensions dated July 1945:
"After five years in a prisoner war camp, he received a grand sum of 100 pounds, 13 shilling and five pence."

Charles's younger brother Sammy was not a strong swimmer and Charles had to support him in the water when the SS Wendover was sunk and then again when he escaped from a POW camp in 1945.

Charles and Sammy Frame were reported in the local paper the Shields Gazette in 1947 that:"2 Shields Men Read Their Obituaries" when they mistakenly were recorded at the local Mission to Seamen as having perished on the SS Wendover.

Charles Frame returned to the Merchant Navy after the war until he retired. It was known by the family he was in a POW camp but Charles never mentioned anything about being shot or the bad conditions in the POW camps.

Audio and transcription attached.