On 07/07/2011 18:50, Gordon Evans wrote: > There's a photograph of this vessel at :- > http://www.swiss-ships.ch/schiffe/chasseral_006/fr_chasseral_006.htm > and her history can be viewed by clicking on the union jack in the > left-hand column. > I'm intrigued as to why a ship flying the neutral Swiss flag, and > travelling from Marseilles to Lisbon in April 1944 with a cargo of > clocks& watches, should have been attacked& bombed by ten British > Beaufighters? >>>>>>>>>> I don't know the answer to that question - one aspect may well be whether the attack was intentionally bombing a neutral vessel on a neutral voyage, or whether it was an error. The answer will no doubt lie in the Foreign Office and Treasury papers regarding the subsequent claim by the Swiss Government - files are in the National Archives: FO 371/49693: Ex-gratia payment in compensation for damage caused by Royal Air Force raid on s.s. CHASSERAL (1945) FO 371/79855: Swiss claim for compensation for SS Chasseral damaged by RAF action (1949) T 225/1688: Compensation claim relating to damage caused to SS Chasseral (1947-1949) As an aside, also in April 1944, RAF Beaufighters managed to attack - twice - and sink a clearly marked Red Cross ship, the Swedish EMBLA - see http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=24941 David