Belgian Prince and Harry Hassan

[Guest CATHC53]

SS Belgian Prince was torpedoed on 31 July 1917. The Master, Henry "Harry" Hassan was taken on board the U boat and never seen or heard of again. In 1918 Mr Justice Coleridge gave leave to presume the death of Harry Hassan "on or after 12 August 1917" on the basis that the U boat had been destroyed by a British war ship on 12 August 1917 and that there were no survivors. Three of the crew survived the sinking of the Belgain Prince and provided statements about the incident so my first question is does anyone know if these statements are now publicly available, and if so, can anyone point me in the right direction to access them? I have had a browse through the online catalogue at Kew but am totally confused about where exactly something like this would be held.

In the last few days I have read an account of the sinking of the Belgian Prince which suggests that Harry Hassan spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. If this was indeed the case does anyone know if there are any surviving public records that list POW's, either survivors or deceased? From a Google search it seems that the most likely place for seamen pows to be held was Brandenberg. I have also contacted the author of this account and am awaiting a reply re his source of information.

Any additional information and all advice anyone can provide will be most gratefully received.

Many thanks.

katycarney

[David_Underdown]

There are various files under the FO lettercode (Foreign Office) which relate to civilian internees and POWs, including merchant seamen. They are organised by date, and mostly come under the British Legation in the Hague (as the Netherlands remained neutral, and took up issues in Germany on our behalf). I think there may be some relating from the period before the US entered the war when they also represented our interests from time to time.

[KevinBattle]

It seems it raised quite a fuss at the time, as the Belgian Prince crew were ordered to board the U boat deck, whereupon the lifeboats were sunk, life jackets and outer clothing removed and the survivors left to fend for themselves. As a consequence, only 3 of the 41 initially surviving crew were rescued.

SS Belgian Prince

The Wrecksite website has the following info:-

Built in 1904 as the SS Mohawk, in 1912, purchased from North Atlantic SS Co, Bristol and renamed SS Hungarian Prince.

In 1915 renamed SS Belgian Prince, 1917 torpedoed and sunk off Ireland. Owned by the Prince Line.

The SS Belgian Prince was sunk on the 31st July 1917 by a German submarine U-55 when 175 miles NW by W from Troy Island.

The Master was taken prisoner and 39 lives were lost.

It seems that, contrary to reports, U55 was not sunk and was surrendered to the Japanese in 1918, serving with the IJN until 1921.

It would seem that the Master would have been handed over when next U55 reached a German port.

There should be some more reports as it seems

WERNER, WIlhelm (1888 - 19 ). SS-Brigadeführer / Oberst:

Born: 6. Jun. 1888. Died: 19??

NSDAP-Nr.: 332 139. SS-Nr.: 9 916

Promotions: SS-Brigadeführer: 15. Sep. 1935

Career: Pers. Stab RF SS: (9. Nov. 1944)

Decorations & Awards:

Pour le mérite: 18. Aug. 1918 as Kapitänleutnant, Kdt. U-55

1914 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse

1939 Spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse

1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse

Kriegsverdienstkreuz I. Klasse ohne Schwerter

Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse ohne Schwerter

Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer

Landesorden

Ehrendegen des RF SS

Totenkopfring der SS

Werner was nominated as a war criminal by the Allies in WW1 for submerging,and sending to their death, ship survivors on the deck of U-55 and torpedoing two hospital ships. His show trial at Leipzig never eventuated.

[Guest CATHC53]

Thank you David and Kevin for your most helpful responses. David I will certainly pursue the direction you have pointed me in - I really would like to know what became of Uncle Harry. As I said earlier, his family never saw or heard from him again - certainly they hadn't by 1918 when Mr Justice Coleridge gave leave to presume his death and according to my grandfather (Harry's brother) he was not heard from again.

Kevin I read somewhere that Werner skipped to Brazil and that was why his trial didn't eventuate, but that he returned, joined the NAZI party and the SS where he was on the personal staff of Himmler. He was obviously a very pleasant gentleman!

Thanks again.

katycarney

[mbriscoe]

As far as I aware only one of the crew of the Belgian Prince who was murdered by the Germans has a known grave, I came across it by chance whilst photographing war grave for the War Grave Photographic Project.  I was surprised by the strength of the inscription so asked the local War & Peace Museum but they did not know anything about it.

 

It is the centenary of the sinking next year, I had thought of putting letters into a few newspapers to see if there are plans for any sort of commemoration.

 

War Grave of Chief Officer Neil McDougall MORTON in Kilbrandon Old Churchyard

 

It was a major scandal at the time with lots of coverage in the press and at the end of WWI there were some articles on U-Boat captains who were wanted as war criminals.  I remember one described Werner as 'specialised in sinking hospital ships'.

 

There is a website that lists the names of all the crew.

 

Horror as German U-boat dived with British sailors on deck

Daily Event for July 31, 2008

 

 

[mbriscoe]

I was down at Easdale today and called in the local museum, they were not aware of the grave of Chief Engineer Morton at Kilbrandon and had not heard the story of the Belgian Prince and murder of the crew.  It is the centenary of the sinking this year so I had thought of putting a letter in the Oban Times to see if there was going to be any sort of commemoration - as far as I know this is the only identified grave of any of murdered crew.  One of the people was in the British Legion and also thought that it should be marked in some way.

 

I took a few pictures on the way through Balivicar - all on FLICKR

 

 

 

 

 

[Terence Munson]

Bit late but found these records:

PoW Index of Fishermen and Merchant Seamen
HASSAN Henry (Born 1870 ) Master of Belgian Prince
Of 9, Clervan [sic], Terrace, Jarrow-on-Tyne, Durham.
PoW Camp listed (L) = Unknown    

 

BT 334 Deaths at Sea, 1781 - 1968
H. Hassan, Belgear Prince [sic]. Death year 1919 (April) 

 

Terry   

[mbriscoe]

He was declared as dead in court in June 1919, the above record just sounds as if tidying things up and actually refers to his death in 1917.

 

 

Edited 4 May , 2017 by mbriscoe

[Terence Munson]

9 hours ago, mbriscoe said:

 

He was declared as dead in court in June 1919, the above record just sounds as if tidying things up and actually refers to his death in 1917.

Not according to post 3

On 2/4/2011 at 15:38, KevinBattle said:

It seems that, contrary to reports, U55 was not sunk and was surrendered to the Japanese in 1918, serving with the IJN until 1921.

It would seem that the Master would have been handed over when next U55 reached a German port.

 

Terry

[mbriscoe]

The Master was seen being taken down below on the U-Boat but there is no record of him after that.  If he had been handed over on arrival at a German port then he would have appeared on Red Cross records and possibly the family contacted. 

 

Werner would not have known any of the crew survived until he reached port so keeping one person alive to tell the story would be risky.  I see Werner was also accused of drowning the crew of another vessel.

 

 

[Terence Munson]

13 hours ago, mbriscoe said:

The Master was seen being taken down below on the U-Boat but there is no record of him after that.  If he had been handed over on arrival at a German port then he would have appeared on Red Cross records and possibly the family contacted. 

 

Werner would not have known any of the crew survived until he reached port so keeping one person alive to tell the story would be risky.  I see Werner was also accused of drowning the crew of another vessel.

 

These were my first thoughts as well and I didn’t expect to see him listed on the PoW index - but he is on it - a website that a few years  ago the N.A. use to advise was worth visiting when looking for Fishermen and Merchant Seamen PoWs. The website I believe was purchased by a family history organisation and taken down, and the records added to their database. Attached below are a couple of screen clips from the original website.
When you think about it Henry Hassan was not a witness - he was taken below and I suspect most of the u-boat crew were as well. To get rid of him (Hassan), then would be taking a risk with so many witness’s.

 

Terry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mbriscoe]

I suppose if he was taken down into the U-Boat immediately then he could believe the rest of the crew were put back in the lifeboat.

 

The POW records might not have been available at the time of the court case and it was just a matter of declaring him dead for probate etc.  Death on the U-Boat or in a POW camp did not affect that, all that mattered was that he was not found after the war.

 

 

[Curlew1919]

On 5/4/2017 at 23:29, Terence Munson said:

Bit late but found these records:

PoW Index of Fishermen and Merchant Seamen
HASSAN Henry (Born 1870 ) Master of Belgian Prince
Of 9, Clervan [sic], Terrace, Jarrow-on-Tyne, Durham.
PoW Camp listed (L) = Unknown    

 

BT 334 Deaths at Sea, 1781 - 1968
H. Hassan, Belgear Prince [sic]. Death year 1919 (April) 

 

Terry   

 

That would be 9 Clervaux Terrace

The street is still in Jarrow today (google it)

But the houses were demolished about 1968

Today it is the back gardens of houses built in Prince Consort Road in 1976

[Terence Munson]

Thanks Curlew1919 - One can imagine the difficulties of a German translator trying to master a

north eastern dialect when recording PoW details.

Terry 

[Curlew1919]

On 2/4/2011 at 15:38, KevinBattle said:

It seems that, contrary to reports, U55 was not sunk and was surrendered to the Japanese in 1918, serving with the IJN until 1921.

It would seem that the Master would have been handed over when next U55 reached a German port.

 

Yes the sinking of U-55 was just "PIE IN THE SKY" it never happened
The U Boat U-55 under Kapitanleutnant Wilhelm Werner survived the war
link:
http://www.uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/710.html

Yes Wilhelm Werner survived to 1945 with the Third Reich

Kapitanleutnant Wilhelm Werner went on to become SS Brigadefuhrer one of SS Reichfuhrer Heinrich Himmler,s personal staff in WW2

 

Henry Hassan would of ended his days later as a Brit POW
links:
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=99&articleid=1386&displayorder=52
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=99&articleid=1386&displayorder=183

 

Good story for someone to research innit
Would make a reet canny sized book

 

ps

Kapitanleutnant Wilhelm Werner with the U-55 even sunk the Carpathia in July 1918
Carpathia the Geordie built ship who picked up the survivors of the Titanic
link:
http://www.uboat.net/wwi/men/commanders/400.html

 

 

Edited 23 July , 2017 by Curlew1919

[mbriscoe]

I mentioned the BELGIAN PRINCE to someone from Oban and Ganavan Heritage recently and commented that it is a pity that the grave of Chief Officer Morton gets little attention.

On 31st August members of three history groups gathered at the grave and placed flowers there, the story of the sinking of the SS BELGIAN PRINCE was told.

This was reported in the Oban Times which can be accessed on PressReader using most libraries online service.

 

 

 

Edited 18 August , 2022 by mbriscoe

[SIHT]

On 18/08/2022 at 09:02, mbriscoe said:

I mentioned the BELGIAN PRINCE to someone from Oban and Ganavan Heritage recently and commented that it is a pity that the grave of Chief Officer Morton gets little attention.

On 31st August members of three history groups gathered at the grave and placed flowers there, the story of the sinking of the SS BELGIAN PRINCE was told.

This was reported in the Oban Times which can be accessed on PressReader using most libraries online service.

 

 

 

The grave of First Officer Niel McDougall Morton is one of four CWCC graves in Kilbrandon Old Churchyard who have been independently remembered every year since 2014. This is in addition to the Remembrance Service held every year at the Kilbrandon War Memorial. The CWGC headstones are maintained annually along with all the 16 WW1 family headstones in the Kilbrandon Old Churchyard  as is the Kilbrandon War Memorial. The Easdale Branch of the British Legion  along with The Slate Islands Heritage Trust will be holding a Day of Remembrance laying crosses at all of the graves and family headstone commemorations this  November together with an Exhibition in Seil Island Community Hall open to the public between 2:00 and 4:00pm. This will be the third Exhibition commemorating the men from Kilbrandon who died in WW1. I can assure you that the SS Belgian Prince, First Officer Niel McDougall Morton, Master Henry Hassan and all the 38 crew who perished will have full attention paid to them. All sixteen WW1 men named in the Old Churchyard will be honoured. They are just a part of the 39 men named on the Kilbrandon War Memorial who will be Remembered on the Sunday. They are all part of this small community. 

[mbriscoe]

I had an EMail from Oban about the commemoration on Friday and the exhibition so hope to get down there.

[mbriscoe]

There is report in 1946 which seems to confirm how Werner met his end

Quote

Belfast News-Letter - Friday 16 June 1944

1,000 PRISONERS TAKEN

FRENCH PARTISANS' ACTIVITIES

STERN BATTLES

M. Emmanuel d’Astier, French Commissioner for the Interior, announced in Algiers yesterday that the French forces of the interior had taken over 1.000 prisoners, and were in control of a large number of daces. Their arms, he added, were insufficient.

A Swiss report states that the Gestapo chief Major-General Werner, who was captured by partisans near Pontarlier, was tried and executed after his refusal to sign an order releasing all patriots imprisoned in the Cote d'Or region

The General is believed to be the Wilhelm Werner, who served in the 1914-18 war as a U-boat commander, and whose surrender as a war criminal was later demanded by the Allies. Werner, however, escaped to Brazil, and was finally acquitted by the German Supreme Court after his return.

It was added that all the officers accompanying the Gestapo chief were killed by machine-gun at the time of capture, except one who escaped.

The Vichy radio stating yesterday that more than 300 Frenchmen had been shot since June 11 for anti-German activities, described the offenders as "anarchists" and reiterated that all Frenchmen who tried to help the Allies in France would, under the new decree, be shot as franc‑tireurs.

 

 

 

Ancestry have this

 

German Navy Crew Chronicle, 1891-1918 for Wilhelm Werner

1905 Band 1