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


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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.

Owners and Shipwrights Possibly

Hi People

Below is some information I got from an Internet site. I reckon we still need more information to correlate with this to confirm that this article does relate to the TR Thompson that we are researching....if that makes sense. I'd hate to be barking up the wrong tree!! Perhaps this information will help others?

There are photos on the website but they would not reproduce here.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2249/trt.html

Best wishes

Mike Daniels


THOMAS ROE THOMPSON J.P.
Steamship Owner, Shipbroker, and Agent
1846 - 1919
Updated: 11 August, 1998

[ Up ] [ SS Drummond Castle Sinking ]


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Matthew Thompson, ropemaker and shipowner of Monkwearmouth, Sunderland c. 1860, father of Thomas Roe Thompson

Thomas Roe Thompson was born on 6 February 1846 at 10 Dundas Street, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, on the north shore of the river Wear, the second son and fourth child of Matthew and Celia (née Roe) Thompson, ropemaker and shipowner

Little is known about young Thomas Roe Thompson until he moved with his father, Matthew Thompson, and his uncle, John Thompson, to South Wales in 1858 at the age of 12.

According to the "History of the Barry Railway Company 1921-24", he joined his father in the business of Matthew Thompson and later, in conjunction with Captain John Cory, he embarked into the enterprise of ship owning.

From his earliest acquaintance with Cardiff, he made himself thoroughly conversant with the requirements of the port there. Previous to this, he was placed in the office of a Courtier Maritime at Nantes, where beside learning all there was to know of ship-broking, he also acquired a very thorough knowledge of the French language which was to serve him well in later life.

Family myth says that he spent part of his early life in Bordeaux, Southern France but this may have been confused with his time in Nantes.

Thomas Roe Thompson as High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1899

After his father, Matthew Thompson died in 1864, Thomas traded as T.R. Thompson & Co at 2 Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff and amongst the ships he owned there were:

SS Alacrity (1182 gross tons) built at Milford Haven
SS Alaska (2112 tons) built by Shorts of Sunderland
SS Advance (1391 tons)
SS Alert (1382 tons) built by Palmer & Co of Jarrow
SS Dinas (712 tons) built by Schlezinger & Davis of Newcastle upon Tyne.

He promoted the construction of Barry Docks to provide facilities more suitable for modern larger shipping than had been provided by Lord Bute in Cardiff. His name was in the first list of Promoters and he represented the ship owning side of Cardiff Commerce. He attained fame as a Parliamentary witness during the 1880s both in the House of Commons and the House of Lords during the Parliamentary Procedures needed to pass a law so that the Barry Docks could be constructed. It was said that his knowledge of Pilotage was unrivalled and he was a master of statistics when a Parliamentary witness.

He gave evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee in favour of the building of Barry Dock on 11 and 12 April 1883, and to the House of Lords on 6 June 1883. This first attempt to obtain parliamentary approval failed but he and his colleagues were more successful in a second attempt a year later, so that the construction of the Docks was able to commence on 14 November 1884.


Cutting the First Sod of No.1 Dock by the late Earl of Plymouth Lord Windsor on November 14, 1884


As an aside, the legal costs in promoting the two Bills exceeded £150,000 and the cost of construction of the dock and railway up to the time of opening the undertaking exceeded £2,000,000 (Western Mail Barry and District Directory 1897-8).

Thompson himself put up several thousands of pounds towards the enterprise.

He was on the bridge of the first ship to enter the new Barry dock, the Steam Ship Arno at the opening of the docks in 1889.



Opening Ceremony at Barry Dock - 1889


Thomas Roe Thompson was a County Magistrate for the Division of Dinan Powis and was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1899. It is said within the family that he was offered a baronetcy by the Government of the time, for a payment. Rightly, he turned this down, saying that if he merited such an honour, it should be given to him without payment. How many would refuse today!

There is a street named after him, Thompson Street, which is not far from the Public Library in the centre of Barry.



Thompson Street, Barry (photographed in 1995)


Thomas Roe Thompson built a public house in Vere Street, Barry, called the Wenvoe Arms, now called The Admiral Inn, in which he placed one David Thompson. The reason behind this is somewhat of a mystery and it is not known whether David Thompson, a native of Forfar in Scotland, was a distant relative.



Thomas Roe Thompson senior

Thomas Roe Thompson married Mary Elizabeth Davis of Sundridge in Kent on 16 December 1864 at the age of 18.

They lived at Erw'r Delyn on Sully Road near Llandough, and had eight children of which only one child, the seventh, was a son, also called Thomas Roe Thompson (junior) although more commonly called Tom. Within the family, he was known as "Tappa". Erw'r Delyn is now a rather dilapidated building converted into flats.

Thomas Roe Thompson, senior, died on 13 April 1919, in Penarth, the death certificate stating that he had died of "senile decay". He was a widower, his wife having died very much earlier, in 1906. He is buried in the churchyard at Llandough.

There is an inscription on the side of his memorial commemorating the death of his daughter Emily and her husband John Gethin together with their two children, Lorna and Jack, who died in the wreck of the Union Castle liner Drummond Castle on the night of 16 June 1896.





Thomas Roe Thompson's Memorial at the entrance to Llandough churchyard. The Church overlooks Cardiff Bay.


My thanks go to the Local Studies Section of Barry Public Library who were most helpful in providing much of the information above.

My appreciation goes also to my late brother, Brian Gladstone Roe Thompson, who made the initial contact with Barry Public Library on my behalf. He died suddenly on 11 July 1997, one day short of his 64th birthday.

Michael Thompson July 1997

Research Topics

This is the current list of ideas for research - if you are interested in taking up one of the leads let Chris P know. Some of these seem a liitle cryptic , if you need some more info just ask!

1 Research / Locate : Iron Ore (Cargo on TRT)

2 Research links with Middlesborough (Destination for TRT/Cargo)

3 Research Type of Torpedo ( Volunteer: Simon W)

4 Research Submarine UB57 ( Volunteer: Simon W)

5 Research TRT Deck Gun

6 Locate / Photo Shell cases (on wreck)

7 Research naming of ship (Volunteer: Simon W)

8 Research Literature “History of the Barry Railway Company 1921-24” (Refers to T R
Thompson)

9 Research Ownerhsip of TRT

10 Organise (dive) Trip & Drink at the Pub “The Admiral Inn” (Owned by the Thompsons)

11 Research story of the wreck of the “Drummond Castle” (Thompson relatives on board)

12 Photos of T R Thompson memorial (Wales) IF this is the owner / person the ship is
named after.

13 Research Familiy connections (if any) between TRT Owner & the Captain of the TRT

14 Research George Short (Ship Builder)

15 Research James Westoll, Ship Owner.

16 Research launch – local newspapers?

17 Research Financial records?

18 Research “Claxhueugh” (Ship Yard?)

19 Research Wear Shipbuilders Association

20 Research “Pallion” (Ship Yard? )

21 Research Wear Ship Output 1984

22 Research UB57 Commander Lohs ( Volunteer: Simon W / Mike D)

23 Get Photos of the bell

24 Research Beni Saf, Near Oran, Algeria (Port at which Cargo loaded)

25 Identify TRT Lookout (crew).

26 Research TRT Captain Eggleston (link tp Action 13 above)

27 Identify Survivors /descendants.

28 Identify / Research Patrol Vessel / Crew that came to aid of TRT Crew.

29 Trace & Interview , get copy of original article regarding fist recreational dive on
TRT

30 Locate other memorials , grave stones (buried locally?)

31 Research Victim / family/ Memorial – photos.

32 Research Register of Shipping & seamen

33 Identify subjects depicted within dive photos