Page 154 - KBHA BULLETIN 6

Having escaped death twice in one day he was put ashore in Alexandria only to be held

under guard at the shore base HMS Nile, pending being charged with desertion in the face

of the enemy. Eventually, after three weeks, he was positively identified and his story
verified, and he returned to HMS Gloucester.

Tragically, Southern Floe had carried no Carley Floats, otherwise more of her youthful

crew of 5 officers and 21 ratings might have survived. Her sudden and total loss, so soon
after arrival in the Mediterranean, caused great shock and sadness amongst the crews of the

"little ships" and the SDF, and more particularly among relatives and friends at home.

They were some of the first South African casualties in the North African campaign. On 17
February 1941 the Cape Times reported that Lt. John Lewis had been killed in action at

sea, but without specifying where.

On the afternoon of Sunday 17 August 1941 an impressive memorial service was held in
Holy Trinity Church, Kalk Bay, and a memorial tablet to John Lewis was unveiled and

dedicated. The service was attended by detachments of the Royal Navy, the Seaward
Defence Force, and S.A.T.S. General Botha. The chaplain of the General Botha, Rev. C. J.

Flack, gave a eulogy and the congregation sang the hymns "There is a green hill" and

"Abide with me".

John Lewis was survived by his mother Mrs. R. A Lewis, his wife, and his daughter
(posthumously) who was born on 30 August 1941. Three months later she was christened

Joan Annebelle Rose in St. Margaret’s Church, Fish Hoek where her parents had married

eighteen months previously. For years after her husband's death Dulcie Lewis, on sighting
a uniformed naval officer, would go up to him and study his face to see if he was not John.

After the war Cecil Jones returned to South Africa. For the rest of his life, every year on 11

February, he placed a notice in The Cape Times in memory of Southern Floe and her crew.
(Fig. 3.29). His last notice appeared in 1991 for on 17 May of that year he died in

Oudtshoorn in the company of his wife and grandchildren.

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