A POIGNANT family tribute has been paid to a merchant seaman who was killed when his ship was torpedoed just hours before VE Day.

Chief engineer George Anderson, 36, of Tudhoe, near Spennymoor, County Durham, was aboard the SS Avondale Park when it was sunk in the Firth of Forth, in Scotland in the last hours of the Second World War.

He and William Harvey were killed in the sinking, in what was the last U-boat attack of the conflict.

Mr Anderson's daughters Pamela Harper and Celia Turnbull, never got to know their father as they were only three-years and six-months-old when he died.

On Saturday they travelled with other family members to a ceremony of dedication held at Anstruther, in Scotland, where a memorial plaque was mounted.

Mrs Turnbull, 70, of Thornley, in County Durham, was also joined on the trip by her son Graham Turnbull, daughter Clare Atkinson and granddaughter Matilda Atkinson.

She said: “I didn’t know my father and this was very moving and emotional.

“Sid Rapley, who was cabin boy on the SS Avondale, said that the captain had told the crew that the war would end at midnight but that they had to stay vigilant."

Mrs Turnbull added: “This is probably the last time that we will manage to get up to Anstruther.”

Mrs Harper, 73, of Spennymoor, County Durham, said: “I’m very proud of my father and it was emotional to be there.

“It was quite a moving little service and we laid a wreath. We had been to the scene about ten-years ago when we were able to go out to where the boat is.”

The 2,800 ton liberty cargo ship SS Avondale Park was built in Canada but crewed by British sailors.

It was in the Firth of Forth and heading to join up with a convoy when it was attacked by U-boat U2336 at 10.40pm on May 7, 1945.

A second torpedo sank the Norwegian ship Sneland 1, killing seven men.

When he later surrendered, the submarine’s captain, Emil Klusmeier, claimed not to have received orders three days earlier to end all hostilities.

Mr Rapley, 87, was also at the service, where the plaque organised by the Anstruther Town Centre Working Group was mounted.

The Honorary Norwegian Consul in Dundee Jill Whittock and John Rafferty, The Honorary Canadian Consul, were also present.