Tower and Town, May 2015 (view the full edition)WWI Naval DisastersAndrew Ross tells the story of two First World War naval disasters which resulted in the death of two Marlborough men. Although the Royal Navy had a very large fleet of warships at the outbreak of the First World War the Admiralty still felt the need to requisition further vessels for war service. Two ships belonging to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company were requisitioned in January 1915 for conversion into fast mine layers. They were commissioned for service in the North Sea with the capacity to carry four hundred mines. On 27th May 1915 one of these ships, now known as His Majesty's Auxiliary Ship Princess Irene, was at anchor in the Medway estuary off Sheerness when she blew up. It was a catastrophic explosion and the ship was blown to smithereens. Divers going down on the wreck found practically nothing was left. Wreckage and debris was scattered up to twenty miles away. A little girl was killed on the Isle of Grain and several other local residents injured by falling debris. Of the 274 members of the ship's company only one survivor was picked up from the water. The tragedy for the town of Sheerness was that the 76 dockyard employees working on the ship at the time were also all killed. It was a tragedy too for Marlborough as one of those to lose his life in the disaster was Commander Thomas Maurice from Manton. He was the ship's wireless officer. He had been in the Navy since 1891 and was thirty-eight years old when he was killed. It is a strange coincidence that the Princess Irene was not the only ship to blow up in Sheerness harbour and claim the life of a Marlborough man. Some six months earlier the battleship HMS Bulwark, whilst moored at a buoy, was also blown to pieces by an internal explosion. The disaster happened shortly after breakfast on 26 th November 1914. Of the ship's complement of 750 men only twelve survived. On board that day was Boy 1st Class Arthur Northcott who lived at 28, St Martins, Marlborough. He was only sixteen years old when he was killed. He had served in the Navy for just over a year. Both Thomas Maurice and Arthur Northcott are remembered on the Marlborough Town War Memorial. Thomas Maurice is also remembered on the Manton War Memorial and on a brass plaque in St George's Church. Both men are remembered on the same Commonwealth Memorial to those missing at sea on Southsea Common overlooking the Promenade. By way of further coincidence it is believed that Commander Maurice was the oldest and most senior serviceman to be remembered on the Town War Memorial and Arthur Northcott is the youngest and most junior in rank. In Memoriam Private William Cook: 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment; killed in action 8th January 1915. Lance-Sergeant Herbert Pond: 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment; died of wounds 12th March 1915. Private Robert John Hooper: 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment: died of wounds at Boulogne 6th April 1915, aged 17. Lance-Corporal James Angell: 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment: killed in action 5th May 1915. James is remembered on the Memorial in Mildenhall Parish Church. Commander Thomas Hector Molesworth Maurice: died when his ship blew up in Sheerness Harbour on 27th May 1915, aged 38. Andrew Ross |