UB 57 Shipyard & Patrol Info

Some information on UB57 :

Shipyard :
A G Wesser , Bremmen (Werk 269)
Ordered 20 May, 1916
Laid down 13 Sep, 1916
Launched 20 Jun, 1917
Commissioned 30 Jul, 1917

Commanders:
3 Jul, 1917 - 1 Jan, 1918 : Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck
2 Jan, 1918 - 14 Aug, 1918 : Johannes Lohs

Career :
11 patrols
20 Sep, 1917 - 14 Aug, 1918 Flandern I Flotilla
Successes 53 ships sunk for a total of 153.150 tons (warships excluded).
Fate 14 Aug, 1918 - Mined off the Flanders coast on August 14, 1918. 34 dead (all hands lost).

Source : http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=UB+57

Torpedo Image

This is a torpedo recovered from the UB 61 - a U-boat of the same design as UB 57. It is believed to be a G6 torpedo, but there's not a lot left to go on! It would probably have been one of these that sank the T.R. Thompson.

T R Thompson ~ Ship Port Side Bow

T R Thompson ~ Ship Aft View

Dover (St James's) Cemetery, Kent

An image of the Kent cemetary which is the final restingplace for Fireman S ALI, of the Indian Merchant Service. A casualty ofthe sinking of the T R Thompson. Chris-P

UB-57 Picture

This is stated to be a photograph of UB-57 although I'm not able to confirm that at present. All I can state is that it is probably a UB-III class boat... and this one is the right way round!

Post Card from Beni Saf

A Post Card from Beni Saf
Three images of Beni Saf the Algerian port from which the T R Thompson departed on it's last voyage

And I'm doing the legwork on behalf of Chris "I'm too busy to learn how to post my own photos" Pascoe, although in deference to him, I am at least posting these images the correct way round!

Article ~ Herr Oberleutnant zur See Lohs

I've received a copy of the article from John Grogan (thanks John, if you're reading this!) and although it mostly concentrates on Herr Lohs better known kills such as the RMS Moldavia, Shirala and The City Of Brisbane, it also mentions the Luxor who was hit only days before T.R Thompson on March 19, 1918.
I've extracted a couple of photos from the report which I'll try and source again as they are a scan of a photocopy of a photo and therefore not exactly top quality... but, here is Herr Oberleutnant zur See Lohs in uniform.

He is further referred to in "The German Submarine War 1914-1918" by Gibson & Prendergast as Herr "Losz" which might explain why I've had a lot of trouble tracking him down. He is quoted as being known as "the blithesome spirit of Flanders" which might sound more poetic in German and is directly quoted as having said (on referring to the Dover Barrage) "Go through the barriers on the surface" and boasting "The patrols are blind. I go through under their noses"*

A captain indeed...

* "Raiders of the Deep" - Lowell Thomas

Magazine Article on Johannes Lohs

I've just received a reply from a chap called John Grogan who wrote a magazine article called "Johann Lohs - The Channel Hunter" about our elusive U-boat Kapitan. He's kindly offered to send me a copy of the article, and given me some pointers of where to go next for material.

So, watch this space...

Gun Details

I think it's a fabulous idea, but it's really going to need a bit of planning... mind you, if the BSAC could lift that U-Boat deck gun that's sitting outside Paradise Park then it's got to be do-able (also I seem to remember the "Mary Something" in a shed in Portsmouth?

A cautionary note though:

Gun Weight: 0.6 tons (510 kg)
Gun Length oa 123.6 in (3.139 m)

I'm in....

Survey Planning

Hi to all

Having Dived the Thompson a few weeks ago I have come to realise how difficult it is going to be to carry out the survey dives, we are really going to need to be spot on. Project dives will need perfect planning if we are going to achieve proper useful results. I am at present working on dive planning sheets for this.
I feel we should for the time being concentrate any survey /photo work on the stern section.

We dived the stern area of the ship and noticed that the gun is still connected to the mounting pintel and that someone seems to have tried to lift it. This has given me an idea. With the development of Newhaven marina, would it be a good idea to develop some sort of partnership with Newhaven Council and developers to see if we could lift the gun get it restored and create some sort of memorial in Newhaven to the crew of the thompson and all other merchant seaman lost of our part of the coast.

Lifting the gun would be a mammoth task and we would need permission, but it could be done next season with the right planning. How do other project members feel about this? any thoughts or ideas would be welcome.

Tad

Mr Evan NICHOLAS ~ First Mate

Some additional information on the First Mate of the TRT:-

NICHOLAS Evan
Place of Birth : St.Davids , Pembrokeshire
Born : 1849
Certificate of competency or certificate of service number : 95597
2nd Mate Certificate issued 1872
Only Captain certificate 1875
Kew Reference : 122/66&85

Appointments:-
Mate / 66870/ Lilian / 1877-8, Bombay.
Mate / 35237/ Beau Monde / 1878-9, Bombay.
Mate &Captain / 66966 / Prince Rudolph / 1879-81, WI, US.
First Mate / 8617 / Mylomene / 1883-7, Aust, EI.
Captain / 70168? / Grampian / 1888, EI.
First Mate /106417 / T.R.Thompson, vessel sunk by enemy off Beachy Head on 29 March 1918. Killed or drowned whilst serving.

Source : www.welshmariners.org.uk/search.php

Chris-P

A start point for researching the survivors...

I've been through the blog, and can't find any reference other than "there were three survivors"... so, today I found out from "Lloyds Shipwreck Index Of The British Isles Vol 2 - Hampshire, IOW, Sussex & Kent" that the survivors (three) were taken to Dover by another vessel.

I'm also trying to track down a copy of a BSAC book which might have some further info.

It's nice to know that some of our info is spot on though... as "British Vessels Lost At Sea 1914-1918" (HMSO pub 1919 - reprint 1988) confirms the date and the loss of life as "33 including master"

So, off we go in search of red herrings, wild geese and other curious creatures such as "footnotes"....

Crew Memorials at Barry & Tower Hill

I have a confirmation that the names of the following crew:

DAVIES, JOSHUA SIMEON

EVELEIGH, ALEXANDER DAVID

both from Barry in South Wales are commorated on the Merchant Navy Memorial in Barry as well as at Tower Hill Memorial in London. I'll be getting photo confirmation of this shortly.

I know that the name "Eveleigh" is well-known locally, so we may be able to get more information from surviving family members. "Davies" could be slightly more problematic, seeing as every 8th person in Wales is either Davis or Davies!

Apprentice Sylvetser Cowell~ A crewman who died

Apprentice S. Cowell

FIRST NAMES: Sylvester

UNIT: Merchant Navy

NUMBER: 106417

STATUS: Killed in Action

DATE OF DEATH: 29th March 1918

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: Tower Hill Memorial, London

AGE: 17 or 18


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sylvester Cowell was born in Northallerton and was educated at Northallerton Grammar School, having won a North Riding County Council Scholarship to do so. He lived with Mr & Mrs W Hunton, at Brompton, while he was at school, after which he joined the Merchant Navy. Sadly, William Hunton was also destined to die of wounds received during the Battle of the Somme and his name is recorded on the Brompton Memorial.

He was killed when his ship, the S.S. T.R. Thompson was torpedoed, without warning, on Good Friday 1918, with the loss of 33 lives including that of the Captain. The S.S. T.R. Thompson was a merchant vessel of 3538 tons, registered in Sunderland, though it did carry a gun for defensive purposes. The ship was approximately 7 miles South of Newhaven when it was attacked and sunk.

Sylvester has no known grave but the sea and he is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in London, which is dedicated to all those officers and men who were killed while serving with the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets and who have no known grave. The memorial is situated next to the Tower Hill Underground station.

He was either 17 or 18 when he was killed, the former being his age according to the Register Of Shipping and Seamen and the latter that recorded in the register of the Tower Hill Memorial.

T R Thompson ~ Memorials

Memorials to the casulaties of the T R Thompson include:-

The Bombay 1914-1918 Memorial

The Dover (St James's) Cemetery , Kent

The Plymoth Naval Memorial, Devon

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire

The Tower Hill Memorial, London

Photographs of the Memorials are now sought!

Chris-P

The Rota - A Mirror Image ?

A British armed merchantman that was transporting iron ore from the Algerian port of Beni Saf to the United Kingdom. That was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine during the First World War leaving a wreck with a stern gun lying upright in the English channel that has been dived and had it's bell recovered, is this the story of the T R Thompson - No!

It's the sory of the 'ROTA' that lies at 50 24 57N; 03 18 50W. The bell of this British, formerly Danish, 2171-ton armed merchantman built in 1915 by Dunlop, Bremmer and Company, was raised by Devon divers Ken Breeze and Dave Baker in 1981. The 310ft ship was heading from Beni Saf in Algeria with a cargo of iron ore for Middlesborough on 22nd July 1917, when she was torpedoed by UB-40, commanded by Oberleutnant Howaldt. On this mission from Zeebrugge (14th to 25th July), Howaldt had already sunk the liner Salsette in Dorset waters on 20th July and had been heavily depth-charged on several occasions. When this torpedo struck the ROTA, the captain and four men died.

Today the ship is upright and the torpedo damage can be clearly seen between bows and bridge on the starboard side. She lies almost east-west, in 28m to her deck and 44m to the sea bed. There is a 2m scour in her port side. Until recently her gun was still on the stern.

Chris-P

T R Thompson ~ Casualty Names

Listed below are the names of the T R Thompson casualties, I have more information on each of the named persons, those with european names have a greater deal of information recorded :-

ABDUL HAMID

ABDULLAH

HASAN MUHAMMAD

IBRAHIM ALI

MUHAMMAD

UMAR MUHAMMAD

ALI

REES, HANANIAH

CRAIG, CHARLES GOWANS

SIMPSON, GEORGE

AGG , A

BAKER, HENRY

COWELL, SYLVESTER

DAVIES, JOSHUA SIMEON

DREW, ALBERT EDWARD THOMAS

EVELEIGH, ALEXANDER DAVID

GODFREY, MARSHALL

HARGEST, THOMAS LEWIS

HENDERSON, T

HOWELLS, FREDERICK

JACK, LESLIE FRANCIS

KRIPAH, C

NICHOLAS, EVAN

REMNANT, HARRY

SHEWAN, WILLIAM

SLATER, W,

SPAIN, STANLEY

TOWLER, THOMAS

WINBERG, R

WOODALL, THOMAS STANLEY

YAMARE,J

There are 31 names (RIP) whereas the information we have indicates that there was a crew of 36 of which only three were saved. The DIVER Magazine article of Sept 1990 suggests the Master's name was EGGLESTONE where as this research indicates that William SHEWAN was the master at the time of the ship's loss.

As ever more research is needed!

Chris-P

Ships Owners ~ Westoll Line

Been doing some more research to while away the hours and annoy the wife... seems we might possibly be woofing up some incorrect timber with our old mate Mr Thompson.

I found a copy of "Lloyds Shipwreck Index Of The British Isles Vol 2 - Hampshire, IOW, Sussex & Kent" sitting in Newhaven library... now it's Lloyds list-based so it ought to be legit and at £54 a copy I'd trust it!

T'book says she was owned by Westoll Line (not Thompsons) and that the Captain was one Thomas Knill.

Further to this it says that the gun was a 12 pdr 12 cwt (info here:
http://www.warships1.com/Weapons/WNBR_3-40_mk1.htm )

Plus, and this is the bit that really gave me some hope that we might get some cracking information... A lot of J Westoll's information and Short books and plans seem to be stored on Tyneside...

http://www.thenortheast.com/archives/guides.html

And it seems we need Guides 5 and 6 to really get cracking on... 'cos there's crew lists and all sorts of stuff!

Who's been a Busy Hector then?

Beni Saf - Algerian Port

Beni Saf - Algerian Port from which TR Thompson sailed on her last voyage a port, town, northwestern Algeria. It lies midway between Cape Falcon and Cape l'Eau. With the discovery of iron deposits in the surrounding hills, an artificial harbour enclosing 45 acres (18 hectares) of water was built (1876–81) by the Companie de Mines de Soumah et Toufna (later absorbed by the Companie de Mokta el-Hadid).

"Beni Saf." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2004. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
2 June 2004 .

Matt's note:

1. "Hadid" is the Arabic word for 'iron', which makes the company's name spot on.