A PERTHSHIRE man has launched the largest online archive of material about Britain’s worst ever maritime disaster.

Mark Hirst (36), of Abernethy, developed the website as a tribute to the 4000 victims of the Lancastria which sank off the French coast in June 1940 while evacuating servicemen and refugees from the coastal town of St Nazaire.

German bombers attacked and sank the former liner in 20 minutes before continuing to strafe men in the water as the vessel went under.

The terrible death toll was greater than the Titanic and Lusitania disasters combined and Mr Hirst, whose grandfather Walter survived the sinking, decided to create a website to also raise greater public awareness of the disaster.

“Winston Churchill banned all news of the disaster when he learned of it and this is one of the reasons many people have never heard of the Lancastria or the tremendous loss of life which occurred when she sank,” he said.

“I started work on the website material about five years ago and have slowly built up a very large archive.

“Many relatives of victims who contact me still know very little about the events which led up to the sinking and so for them it is a great source of information.”

Mr Hirst has been contacted by relatives of victims from as far away as Canada and New Zealand seeking information.

“One woman from Canada contacted me as she saw her father’s name on the website on the list of known victims and alongside it was a picture I had taken while in France of his headstone,” he explained.

“It was the first time she had ever seen it as she was only a baby when her mother emigrated to Canada and she had never had the chance to visit the grave.”

The website’s address is www.lancastria.org.uk.