Of Ships and Men - Horsa, Ribston, Waverley - the Story

The following information has been compiled by “Heroism & Heartbreak” Project Volunteers from a wide range of sources, including Lloyd’s Registers, the Miramar Ship Index (http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz/), U-boat.net (http://www.uboat.net/), and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Tower Hill Memorial records (http://www.cwgc.org/). If you have any further information about these ships or their crews and would like to share it with us, then please contact us at infodesk@hartlepool.gov.uk

Of Ships and Men – Horsa, Ribston, Waverley

On April the 30^th, 1917, the Hartlepool steamship Horsa was torpedoed and sunk without warning by the German submarine U-93, some 200 miles off the south-west coast of Britain. This 3,000 ton steamer had been built at the William Gray shipyard in 1894 and was owned locally by Herskind & Company of West Hartlepool. At the time of her sinking she was sailing from Briera in Algeria, bound for Cardiff with a cargo of iron ore.
The attack on the ship was recorded by one of the U-boat’s crew:
“We had one torpedo left, and were nearly ready to turn homeward. It was sundown of a clear, balmy spring day. A big steamer came along, the British ship HORSA. With our last torpedo we scored a clean hit at the bow. She sank very quickly. Her stern rose into the air and she went down like an airplane in a nose dive.”

Eleven lives were lost, including two from the town: 54-year old Chief Engineer Alfred Nash, son of the late George Henry and Elizabeth Nash; husband of Mary Jane Nash (formerly Morrod), at No.7, Carlton Street, West Hartlepool; and sailor Charles Rushton, about whom there are few details other than he was born in Hartlepool.
The other crewmen who lost their lives were:
William Brodie, Leading Seaman (Royal Naval Reserve), aged 21, Avoch, Ross-shire;
James Casey, Chief Boatswain, 50, Church Bay Rd. Crosshaven;
James Casey, 3^rd Engineer, 20, b. Crosshaven;
Arthur Elliott, Fireman, 30, Cardiff;
Walter Farrant, Engineer’s Steward, 17, Sydenham St, Barry Dock, Glamorgan;
J. Josephson, Donkeyman, 21, b. Russia;
Edward Knaggs Stonehouse, Master, 65, Whitby, Yorkshire;
M. Soares, Sailor, 39, b. Puerto Rico;
Peter John Tibbo, Sailor, 19, b. Harbour Breton, Newfoundland.

The survivors from the Horsa were taken aboard the submarine and transferred the next day to the lifeboats of a Swedish ship which had been captured and sunk by another U-boat, the U-21.

An even greater loss of life occurred when the steamship Ribston was torpedoed and sunk 90 miles off the south-west coast of Britain by U-45, on July the 16^th, 1917. Like the Horsa, the Ribston was also built in 1894 at the William Gray shipyard, but for different owners, the London & Newcastle Steam Ship Company Ltd. By 1917 she had been sold to the Zodiac Shipping Company and was on a voyage from Melila in Spain, bound for Glasgow with a cargo of iron ore when she was sunk.

Twenty-five crewmen were lost, including the 1^st Mate, Thomas Glennie, who lived with his wife Sarah Jane at No.14 Cundall Road, West Hartlepool.
The other crewmen who lost their lives were:
William Henry Atkinson, Messman, 28, b. Stockton-on-Tees, resided Hexthorpe, Doncaster;
William Jenkin Bartlett, Able Seaman, 20, Barry Island, Glamorgan;
Robert Burrows, Steward, 24, b. Birmingham, resided Cardiff;
B. Calson, Donkeyman, 49, b. London;
Zanis Constantine Coutsouis, Carpenter, 58, b. Chile, resided Teavis St., Barry;
Charles Crowden, Sailor, 23, b. Penarth;
George Mansel Durbin, Sailor, 18, Barry Dock, Glamorgan;
Benjamin Charles Evans, Fireman, 23, Merthyr St. Barry, Glamorgan;
William Hunter Jamieson, Able Seaman, 29, Shetland;
Joseph Kays, Fireman, 32, b. Bedminster, Bristol;
Francis Kemp, Able Seaman, 28, b. Wolverhampton;
James MacPherson, Leading Deckhand, 23, Kinlochberry, Lairg;
David Paterson MacRae, 1^st Engineer, 50, b. Edinburgh, resided Newport, Monmouthshire;
George Madden, 2^nd Mate, 22, b. Liverpool;
John Stewart, 3^rd Engineer, 30, b. Corriecravie, Isle of Arran;
James Tatton, Deckhand;
George Henry Taylor, Able Seaman, 21, Barry, Glamorgan;
William Thomas, Fireman, 26, Cardiff;
J. Tweedie, Master;
John Owen Charles Vincent, Fireman, 28, b. Cardiff;
John Henry White, 2^nd Engineer, 27, b. Liverpool, resided British Columbia, Canada;
Charles Stanley Wilson, Fireman, 24, Cardiff.

On December the 20^th, 1917, the 4,000 ton steamship Waverley was torpedoed and sunk off the Algerian coast by the German submarine U-35. Owned by the local Pyman Steam Ship Company, she was on a voyage from Cardiff to Port Said with a cargo of coal, iron and railway wagons. She went down with the loss 22 crewmen, including 34-year old Chief Engineer George Herbert Todd, who lived with his wife Ada Isabel at No.44 Milton Street, West Hartlepool.

The other crewmen who lost their lives were:
Andrew Coleman, Fireman/Trimmer, 32, b. Cork;
William Devany, Cabin Boy, 17, b. Glasgow;
Daniel Patrick Gilmore, 2^nd Engineer, 43, b. Belfast;
Ernest Green, Mess Room Steward, 16, Great Yarmouth;
Theophilus Hopkins, Fireman/Trimmer, 36, b. Newport;
Francis Kelly, Leading Seaman (Royal Naval Reserve);
M. Kinwigi, Fireman/Trimmer, 20, b. Finland;
Alfred Francis Lee, Chief Steward, 29, b. Liverpool;
Louis Mallia, Boatswain, 42, b.  Malta, resided Constantinople;
William Nash, Fireman/Trimmer, 29, b. Newport;
Peter O’Donnell, Carpenter, 65, b. Cloghernamore, Co. Donegal;
P. Petas, Fireman/Trimmer, 23, b. Greece;
Joseph Charles Edward Racine, Ship’s Cook, 25, b. St Jean, Canada;
O.W. Raisanen, Fireman/Trimmer, 34, b. Finland;
George Allan Richmond, Galley Boy, 15, b. Wishart;
Guiseppe Said, Able Seaman, 45, Tarxien, Malta;
Cyril David Slater, Apprentice, 19, b. Newark;
William Smith, Donkeyman, 31, b. Birmingham;
C. Traynor, Fireman/Trimmer, 29, b. Belfast;
Laurence Sidney Webster, Wireless Operator, 17, b. Tottenham;
Alfred Clark White, 4^th Engineer, 24, Mount Florida, Glasgow.

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