ANSWERS are being sought over the “missing”  history of  a once well known Porthmadog ship, which may have played  a “secret” role in  Wartime Britain.

An appeal has gone out  for help to “fill in the gaps” over what happened to the SS Florence Cooke – or ‘the Florrie‘  – as she was affectionately known – between May, 1944 up to October, 1944.

The ship carried explosives and munitions and was one of the few powered ships associated with the port of Porthmadog.

She is believed to have taken part in various special Wartime missions,  involved in D-Day, in June, 1944, according to Porthmadog Maritime Museum,  – although not much is known about her role, according to museum volunteer Captain Dave Creamer

Captain Creamer, from Penrhyndeudraeth, has been researching the vessel. He is also the North Wales branch of the Merchant Navy Association chairman.

His investigations came about amid a recent appeal to find North Wales Merchant Navy veterans who took part in Operation Neptune – also known as the D-Day or the Normandy Landings.

The branch, based in Llandudno, is hoping to invite Merchant navy veterans, who took part in D-Day – or their families,  to invite them to a special service at Llandudno War Memorial on Sunday, September 1.

Whilst researching  North Wales ships and crew, Dave said he had hit “a  stumbling block” whilst looking deeper into the history of the Florrie.

The ship belonged to Cookes Explosives Ltd, based in the north east of England, but which developed a depot at Penrhyndeudraeth.

The now de-commissioned explosive site, in Penrhyndeudraeth. is known now as the Gwaith Powdwr nature reserve,

Owned by RT Cooke, she was originally used to transport  explosives and raw materials for mines and quarries, but was later  used to carry shells and ammunition.

Describing Porthmadog’s maritime past, the museum includes a small feature about the Florrie. It also keeps a file of photographs and newspaper articles and has historical information about the ship on its website.

It describes how the ship was registered in Sunderland for all of its life, but it was the last trader to claim Porthmadog as her home port.

It tells how the ship was built at Hepples yard in South Shields to the order of the Cookes Explosives.

“Their offices and distribution depot, from where explosives were sent to the surrounding coal mines, was at Maiden Law, Co Durham.” Its website states.

“The increased demand for explosives during the First World War forced the company to look for a quiet site to build a new factory, and Penrhyndeudraeth, near Porthmadog, was chosen.  The factory is now closed.

“She started trading in 1923.  Her cargoes were raw material to Porthmadog for the manufacture of the explosives,  then the finished product was carried to the Tyne.

“She had a hinged mast and funnel which could be lowered to allow passage up the river to Newburn.  The explosives were then taken by lorry to Cookes’ depot.

“Explosives and detonators were delivered to other ports in Cornwall and Scotland.  The return cargo was usually household coal although she did sometimes wander further afield in the coastal trade.

“There was some passenger accommodation intended for company personnel though the Captain could allow others to travel onboard.

“She was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1939 and used as an ammunition ship, first at Milford Haven and later at Scapa Flow.

“She took part in the Normandy landings and was released from the Navy in 1945.

“The Florrie continued on the explosives run until 1959 when it was decided that road transport was more efficient.

It added: “She was sold to a Dutch shipbreaker though there is a tantalising story of her being seen, minus machinery and accommodation, in use as a dumb barge, trading on the inland waterways.”

According to Captain Creamer details of what happened to her between May, 1944 and up until October, 44 are missing.

After researching archives in Caernarfon and  Dolgellau, he said he had been unable to find  any records of the ship between the dates – the period which which covers D-Day,  on June 8, 1944.

He is now appealing for anyone who  knowns anything, or for crew who may have served aboard the ship, or anyone who had family aboard may have memories of the Florrie.

It is  not known if the records from that period are classified, possibly relating to the ship’s work during the Second World War, or they are just missing or lost.

According to Captain Creamer, there are newspaper clippings linking the ship to the D-Day Landings, in the museum.

Operation Neptune, as it was codenamed, was the largest seaborne invasion in history. It started with the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations for the Allied victory on the Western Front.

Captain Creamer said: “Lots of people in the Porthmadog area and  beyond, still have fond memories of the Florrie, she was a very well known ship in her heyday.

“But it would appear that there is very little information if any at all in local records about her from May 1944  up to October, 1944, which is a puzzle.

“This maybe because personnel were totally committed to the events occurring or it may be because such information has been deemed ‘not  for public eyes.'

“I know the Florrie was deployed in the ‘Special Services’ group for D-Day but, interestingly, there is no mention of  her in any of the books about the ships involved in D-Day

“Newspaper cuttings in possession of the Porthmadog Maritime Museum indicate that the Florrie was supplying ammunition to two naval monitors bombarding the French coast during the landings.

“I went down to Caernarfon and Dolgellau archives, I spent an hour and a half, looking at the ship’s overtime records and  chandlers orders, receipts and payments, the master’s accounts of wages, but everything stops in May 1944 and it didn’t appear to resume until October 1944.

“Either those records were never kept – which I can’t imagine, or they may have been locked away and won’t be released until an official period of time  has passed,  we just don’t know, we just hit a brick wall.

“A cutting in the museum places her there, as a special services ship.

“I think it is because she was a ‘special’ ship, because she was handling explosives, ammunition.

“It is very strange; we’d love to find out more, if anyone can help fill in the gaps or have memories of the ship, please get in touch!

 “If anyone can help us trace her crew or their families, we’d like to invite them to our service of commemoration in September.”

He added that museum is also always looking for volunteers. Anyone who can help, please contact the museum.