"The well-aimed bomb went straight down the funnel - it blew the heart out of the ship - destruction was total."
"The previous night, HMS Registan had moored outside the harbour at Falmouth in the county of Cornwall, England, awaiting first light to make her final approaches.
Many of the crew would still have been asleep and on that fateful night - Tuesday the 27th of May 1941 - their sleep suddenly became tragically permanent. The story goes that the bomb dropped from the enemy plane went straight down the funnel of the doomed vessel; whether it was well-aimed or good luck (on the part of the pilot) is not documented but one thing is certain, HMS Registan seemed beyond help."
Although these stories are now known to be not strictly accurate they are close to the truth. Sixty eight members of the crew were killed or listed missing, presumed killed and of these only eight of the bodies recovered were identified.
Some people at the time claimed that HMS Registan "had a double skin hull" and "that she was un-sinkable". Her Captain, thinking her about to capsize, twice gave the order "Abandon Ship!" but somehow or other she stayed afloat - adrift with no power, no rudder and burning fiercely - but still she did not sink. A blazing beacon in the night sky.
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