DOB/DOD: November 2, 1892 (Havelberg, Germany) – March 19, 1943; 50 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Elsa H.W. Kramer (1901-1988) on August 14, 1920, in Bridgeport, CT. She married Werner Hartmann on April 26, 1946, in Brookfield, CT.
CHILDREN: Two daughters, Anna-Katherine Scherf Hansen (1921-2000) and Beatrice E. Scherf Campione (1930-).
LOCAL ADDRESS: Ridgefield
SERVICE NUMBER: Z-141604
FAMILY: Born to Carl H. (1865-1932) and Maria T. Schwikowsky Scherf (1870-?). No known siblings.
CIRCUMSTANCES: At 2336 hours on March 29, 1943, the unescorted William Pierce Frye (Master Meinhard Scherf), a straggler from convoy HX-230 due to engine trouble since March 28, was hit on the starboard side in #1 hold by one of three torpedoes from U-610, while steaming on a zigzag course at 12.5 knots. At 2340 hours, a coup de grâce was fired that hit forward of amidships and caused the ship to sink by the bow within five minutes. Three of the lifeboats had previously been damaged by heavy weather and two more by the torpedo explosions, so only one boat was launched but it swamped in the rough seas and the four rafts and two floats were carried away before any of the eight officers, 32 crewmen and 24 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and nine 20mm guns) could board them. The men had to jump overboard when the ship sank and only seven of them managed to swim to one of the landing craft that floated free. The two officers, three crewmen and two armed guards were picked up after five days by HMS Shikari (D 85) (LtCdr D.A. Rayner, DSC, RNVR) and landed in Londonderry.
The fate of U-610
Sunk on October 8, 1943, in the North Atlantic north-west of Ireland, in position 55.45N, 24.33W, by depth charges from a Canadian Sunderland aircraft (423 Sqn RCAF/J). 51 dead (all hands lost). [uboat.net]
Captain Meinhard Scherf Life and times: From a Ridgefield, Connecticut website on Ridgefield notables Who’s Who:
Captain Meinhard Scherf’s life and death were full of ironies. The first of more than a dozen Ridgefielders to die in World War II, he was killed by his native country serving his adopted land and doing what he loved best: sailing the seas he was literally born on. The son of a German Merchant Marine captain, Meinhard Scherf was born on a ship. At 13, he ran away from home in Germany to sign on as a cabin boy aboard a freighter. Just before World War I, his ship docked in Portland, Oregon, and he went ashore to visit a friend. When he returned, the ship was gone. The young man decided to become an American citizen and soon joined the Merchant Marines. In all, Captain Scherf had spent 37 years at sea when, on March 29, 1943, he took command of the William P. Frye on its maiden voyage. The Liberty Ship, loaded with wheat and explosives bound for Britain, was torpedoed in the North Atlantic by a German submarine, U-610. It carried 40 crew and 24 Navy guards; five crew and two guards survived. Captain Scherf went down with his ship. (Seven months later, U-610 was bombed and sunk in the North Atlantic; all aboard were lost.