Welbury (1907) - a general history

1907 Merryweather Shipping Co Ltd, West Hartlepool: 1912 Merryweather Shipping Co Ltd (Sydney Hogg & Co) West Hartlepool: 1913 Bury Shipping Co Ltd (Sydney Hogg & Co) West Hartlepool

Masters: 1907-15 J Peterson: 1915 R Newton.

Sailing from Kingston, Jamaica for Queenstown with a crgo of sugar for orders, she was proceeding at 7 knots. The U.24 (Rudolf Schneider) was sighted in the vicinity. A signal was given to abandon ship immediately, but the Welbury turned away, The U.24 steered to cut her off, fired a warning shot, then opened a steady fire until one shell went through the engine-room. The ship stopped and was abandoned. The U-24 finished her off by gunfire 40 miles west of Fastnet off Castletown, Berehaven 15 miles west of Bull Rock on 1 July 1915. No lives were lost.
The ship’s papers were burnt by the Master in the galley fire.

Belfast News-Letter, Saturday, July 3^rd, 1915:
A WEST HARTLEPOOL STEAMER. A Cargo of 5,400 Tons of Sugar. THE SUBMARINE COMMANDER'S DELIGHT. The steamer Welbury, 3,599 tons, of West Hartlepool, was sunk by gunfire from a German submarine while off Castletown, Berehaven, on Thursday night, when on a voyage from Cuba to Queenstown for orders, with cargo of 5,400 tons of sugar. The crew were landed by a trawler.
The commander of the submarine expressed delight finding that the cargo was sugar. Someone had painted in white on the inside of the ship’s forehold before she left Cuba: “You have cargo of sugar for England, you will never get there.”
Another telegram says the Welbury was torpedoed fifteen miles west of Bull Rock. The crew of 28 were all saved.

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