Donald Sorrell - Caronia's First Captain Dies
Retired Cunard Master, 64
Commanded Queen Mary
Active in Both Wars
Extract from New York Times:
London, 25 June
Capt Donald W. Sorrell, commander of the 81,000 ton liner “Queen Mary” until his retirement in December 1956,
died at his home in Southampton today. He was 64 years old. He leaves his wife and a son.
Forty-Seven Years at Sea
A short, slender, soft-spoken man, of ruddy complexion, Captain Sorrell was one of the ablest Cunard masters. In his
forty-seven year career at sea he had climbed the ratlines and swung the capstan bars of square-riggers and had
navigated the largest ocean liners. He had had to abandon ship when his vessel was afire and sinking. He had sailed in
the first convoy of each war and had helped to evacuate thousands of men in both World Wars.
Five years ago, while serving as relief master of the “Queen Mary”, Captain Sorrell performed one of the most difficult nautical feats. During a harbour strike here he brought the huge liner into her berth at West Fiftieth Street unaided by tugboats.
Captain Sorrell who was born in London, had sailed with Cunard for thirty-eight years, but his sea service went back to 1909. At 15 he strode aboard the square rigger “William Mitchell” the only one of his family ever to try the sea as a career. His parents had paid the operators of the ship £40 for the coveted seaman apprenticeship period of four years. At the end, young Sorrell had made only three voyages.
The first took a year. Sailing from Port Talbot in South Wales, the “Mitchell” crossed the Atlantic, rounded Cape Horn and dropped a load of coal at Iquiqui, Chile. Loading a cargo of saltpeter she retraced her way and docked in Antwerp, Belgium.
Voyages to Australia
The second voyage was a two-year run to Australia and a few trips between that continent and Chile before returning to
England. The third was a year's run to Australia in the three-master barque “Falkirk.” At its end young
Sorrell passed the examination for second mate.
He then turned to steam. In 1914, as third officer of the British India Steam Navigation Company's “Urlana” he helped to transport a Sikh regiment from Bombay to Marseilles, France, in the first convoy of World War I. Two years later, in Hong Kong, Captain Sorrell acquired his master's ticket.
In July 1918, after having served on a number of transports, he joined the Cunard Steamship Company Ltd. During the next two decades he served on a score of liners, including the “Franconia”, “Britannic”, the old four-stacked “Aquitania” and the “Berengaria”. In 1939, as commander of the “M.V. Britannic”, he joined the first convoy of World War II, sailing from the Clyde for Bombay, India.
He was chief officer of the “Georgic” when she went to Narvik, Norway in June 1940, to evacuate British, French and Polish troops. The ship took out about 3,000 men while Nazi planes hunted them. Ten days later he was ordered to take part in a similar evacuation at St. Nazaire, France. He and his crew brought out 5,000 British soldiers while under constant air attack.
In July 1941, as staff captain of the “Georgic”, he had anchored off Suez with a load of aviation gasoline. A German plane dive-bombed the ship and scored two hits. As the vessel burst into flames, Captain Sorrell ordered his men to up anchor and beach the ship. This action saved the lives of all who had not died in the explosions. Later, he supervised salvage of the ship.
In 1947, Captain Sorrell received his first passenger ship command, the “Samaria.” He brought the new “Caronia” here in 1949. Later he was relief captain of the “Queen Elizabeth,” “Queen Mary” and “Mauretania.” In 1954 he was named commander of the “Queen Mary.”
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