Captain William Sinclair SHEWAN

  In memory of  TR Thompson Master William Sinclair SHEWAN.  The image shows the WW1 Memorial Plaque with the Mercantile Marine War Medal (L) and the British War Medal (R). 

This image of the framed Memorial was provided by the Great Grandson of William S SHEWAN.

Captain William Shewan

He seems to have been born to Alexander Shewan and Ann Young, born Brakes of Scatness, Dunrossness, Shetland, 10 Jan 1876.
It looks like he married an Elizabeth Reed in Sunderland, and had the following children:-
- William Alexander b. 1906, 

- Annie Elizabeth b. 1909, 

- Margery Catherine b. 1911, 

- Douglas b. 1913, and 

- Gladys b. 1916

.
Captain Shewan  was one of the victims of the German raider the Seeadler, and is noted in the book "The Sea Devil: The Adventures of Count Felix von Luckner, the Last Raider",  by Sam Jefferson, but misidentified as a Gael.

Shetland Times 20 April 1918 page 4

SHETLAND OFFICER LOST
CAPTAIN SHEWAN, DUNROSSNESS.

Widespread regret was felt in the South Dunrossness district when news was received of the death of Captain William S. Shewan, through his vessel being mined in the English Channel whilst returning from a foreign voyage. The vessel was lost on the morning of Good Friday. Only two apprentices were saved.

Captain Shewan was 42 years of age, and was born at Scatness, where his mother and several of his brothers and sisters still reside. He left Scatness when 17 years of age, and has followed the sea ever since. 

He early got his master’s certificate, and for many years has been in the employment of the Westoll Line, Sunderland. Earlier in the war, a vessel of which Captain Shewan was in charge, was sunk by a German raider, and the Captain and his crew after being confined on the German vessel for 72 days and undergoing many adventures, was landed at Rio de Janeiro.

Last year, Captain Shewan visited Shetland for three weeks in June. He was an extremely popular officer, and his loss is much regretted by his employers and a wide circle of friends. He leaves a widow and five children.

(Courtesy of  :- Angus Johnson of shetland-archives.org.uk )

Mr Alexander A New TRT Mystery ?

I have been contacted by Robin who has been conducting some family tree research . As a part of his research into a man called Elijah Alexander, born 29th March 1882 in Lambourn, Berkshire, he checked a substantial number of death records which led him to discover a record for an Alexander (with no forename), whose death certificate shows that this Mr Alexander was a Fireman on the HMS T.G.Thompson, and died on the 29th March 1918 when the ship was sunk off Beachy Head following it being struck by a torpedo.

The certificate (copy shown above) is quite difficult to read. It has been interpretated as follows:-

No. 464.
When & Where died: Twenty ninth March 1918 English Channel off Beachy Head.
Name and Surname: -------------- Alexander.
Sex: Male.
Age: 34 Years.
Occupation: Fireman on HMS "T.G.Thompson" of Sunderland.
Cause of Death: From immersion in the sea his vessel being sunk by a torpedo.
Informant: Certificate received from Sydenham Payn, Coroner for Dover and its Liberates. Inquest held : Thirtieth March 1918.
When Registered: Second April 1918.
Registrar: Walter E Wright.

The circumstances, the date, the location all seem to point to this death being linked to the sinking of the SS T R Thompson, however, neither the crew list for the journey from South Wales to Beni Saf in Algeria (the trip before it's fateful last journey back the UK) , nor the casualty list from the Commonwealth war Graves Commission show any member of the crew with the surname of Alexander and the only person with that name as a forename was much younger.

It would seem a new mystery has been uncovered, who was this Mr Alexander and why does his name not appear on any of the crew or casualty lists we have found so far. We will need to do some more research.

(Click on Image above to enlarge)

Thompson One Name Study (2)

The following comment (on a post of the same title) is reproduced here for convenience:-

Thank you very much for publishing this material - you have things in the blog that I wasn't aware of, although I think I was aware of the ship that carried his name. It is good to know that it is not yet forgotten. Best regards Michael Thompson mthompson@btinternet.com

Thomas Roe Thompson ~ Final Resting Place

A picture of St Dochdwy's Church in Penarth, the final resting place of Thomas Roe Thompson , shareholder in the SS T R Thompson and likely to be the person that the ship is named after.

Norman and Mary Jack at The T.R.Thompson Dinner

After the fabulous but quite emotional day and Dive on the T.R.Thompson Norman and Mary Jack were guests of Honour at a dinner held in their honour in Alfriston.

Norman gave an emotional speech and was presented with a framed photo of the T.R.Thompson signed by all of the Meridian Divers.

Photos courtesy of Ian Barefoot from the N.A.S

Meridian Divers A Day and A Dive to Remember with Mr Norman Jack and The BBC

Thomas Lewis Hargest ~ Third Engineer

Hi,

One of the Crew mentioned who died aboard the SS T R Thompson was the Third engineer Thomas Lewis Hargest.

I will be writing up a memorial soon on my Hargest/Hergest One Name Study to all Hargest's killed during World War I.

As I have been for the last few years been researching the Genealogical History of the Hargest & Hergest families since the 1400's.

Best regards

Adam Hargest
Hargest/Hergest One-Name Studies
Registered with the Guild of One Name Studies 4334

http://www.one-name.org/profiles/hargest.html

T.R.Thompson Dinner 22nd July

At the meeting last night I was asked to put a list on the blog for people wanting to come to the T.R.Thompson dinner on the evening of July 22nd

As discussed it looks like the Golden Galleon near Seaford will be the restaurant of choice plus the name has a nautical theme which is very appropriate.

The booking will need to be confirmed asap so I will need numbers pretty quickly. Please add a comment or contact me direct to be added.

The meal is open to all who wish to come along whether you have been involved in the project, past, present or not involved, or if you are just interested, it doesn't matter as it will be a great social and fun evening, all will be made very welcome so the more the merrier.

Lets make the evening a big success for the family

For the current list of people going see our sister blog www.meridiandivers.blogspot.com

Relatives Contacts 2 & 3

I have just got off the phone from a relative of two of the survivors of the T R Thompson sinking after the BBC had forwarded the family details to Meridian Divers.

The relatives Great Grand Father and Great Great Grand Father both managed to escape the ship along with one other crew member as the ship went down. They survived by holding on the part of the wreckage that was left floating after the ship was sunk and were saved by a trawler who arrived on the scene later.

I have put this relative in contact with our other original contact and will be speaking to him again in a few days time.

I now have also been in contact with a gentleman who has written a book on the Westoll Line and happens to know everything there is to know about the company and its ships including the T.R.Thompson and also has personal commections with the company.

It is also happens that next week I am at a meeting in Leicestershire 3 miles from where this gentleman lives so have made arrangements to visit him. Will feed back afterwards.

The project is growing by the day.

Tad

T.R.Thompson Relative

After the BBC showed the T.R.Thompson report on their Look North Programme I was contacted by a descendant of Lesley Frances Jack (17 years) who was an apprentice on the T.R,T at the time she sank. Lesley was killed during the sinking.

I have arranged to speak to Mr Jack's relative next week to get further information but he has told me that Lesley's father who was a master of a ship also died on a ship run by the Westoll line who owned the T.R.T

The story continues and I will post more info as soon as I have it.

Tad

Contact Made with T.R.Thompson Seaman Relative

After footage of the TRT dive was shown on BBC Look North lunchtime and evening programmes a relative of a crew member who lost their life on the T.R.T. has contacted Meridian Divers

The TRT project has always regarded finding a relative as an important objective and now with help from the BBC we have.More details shortly.

Watch this space

Tad