andy1400 Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 I have just bought the Soldiers Died for the Essex Regiment and have noticed that a majority of the casualties from the 3rd Bn died at sea on 4/5/1917. Can anybody shed any light on what happened? I would guess a torpedoed ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick H Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 I have just bought the Soldiers Died for the Essex Regiment and have noticed that a majority of the casualties from the 3rd Bn died at sea on 4/5/1917. Can anybody shed any light on what happened? I would guess a torpedoed ship. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Andy, i have often wondered about thta. If you get any replies i would be interested to share Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaymen Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 Andy Interesting !! From the long long trail 3rd (Reserve) Battalion August 1914 : in Warley. Remained in UK throughout the war. Well those who lost there lives weren't quite overseas but there again not quite in the UK either. I am sure one of the pals will shed some light on this ( Michael where are you ) Glyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandsonMichael Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 ( Michael where are you ) Sir! At your service Sir! Couldn't get through the cyberspace traffic Sir! GWF very slow Sir! Right. The 3rd Battalion did stay at home during the War, but it's soldiers didn't. To quote Burrows, Vol. 4, The Essex Militia: “The role allotted to the 3rd Battalion in war was that of supply of drafts, training recruits and home defence, with Harwich as the war station.” (page 180) “On September 11th, 1914, the first draft of two subalterns and 162 men left to reinforce the 2nd Battalion in France, which had been in action at Le Cateau.” (page 181) Here it comes: “One fine draft of 200 men for Gallipoli went down with the torpedoed “Royal Edward” and not one was saved. (page 181) Clearly not the one mentioned by Andy, as the date mentioned for the deaths at sea of about 20 men of the 3rd is 4/5/17. It’s any ones guess at this stage where this draft was sent and to reinforce what Battalion. Palestine? Further research is indicated here. I also remember there was a thread on the GWF about a ship being torpedoed and the mention of Essex men. Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wienand Drenth Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 Pals, As far as I know, the 3rd Battalion of a regiment was the draft finding battalion, or depot battalion. Hence its role was to provide reinforcements to the 1st and 2nd regular battalions serving overseas. Most probably the soldiers in question were officially "part" of the 3rd Battalion, and were sent overseas as reinforcements. (I don't know were ship was torpedoed...) I guess that until official posting to one of the regular Essex battalions the men were in the 3rd Battalion. I seem to recall some officers in the CWGC database whose army unit was given as: 3rd Bn, The ... Regt, attached 1st Bn, The ... Regt. I hope this helps a little, but probably and hopefully another pal as a more definite explanation. Cheers, Wienand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1400 Posted 22 April , 2005 Author Share Posted 22 April , 2005 Thank you all for the information, it needs some more investigation but I am now on the right track. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaymen Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 Maybe this might solve it From the Summer of 1917 until late 1918, the Mediterranean lines of communication for the British Salonika Force ran the length of Italy from Taranto in the south-east, to Turin in the north-west. On 4 May 1917, the Hired Transport "Transylvania", proceeding to Salonika with reinforcements, was sunk by torpedo off Cape Vado, a few kilometres south of Savona, with the loss of more than 400 lives. The bodies recovered at Savona were buried two days later, from the Hospital of San Paulo, in a special plot in the town cemetery. Others are buried elsewhere in Italy, France, Monaco and Spain. SAVONA TOWN CEMETERY contains 85 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, all but two of them casualties of the "Transylvania". There are also a number of Merchant seamen buried in the cemetery whose deaths were not due to war service. Within the cemetery is the SAVONA MEMORIAL, which commemorates a further 275 casualties who died when the "Transylvania" went down, but whose graves are not known. Glyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaymen Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 Bit more about it here http://www.powell76.freeserve.co.uk/crawsh...thegreatwar.htm Glyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandsonMichael Posted 22 April , 2005 Share Posted 22 April , 2005 Well done Glyn! Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1400 Posted 23 April , 2005 Author Share Posted 23 April , 2005 Thnak you very much. Another mystery cleared up Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandsonMichael Posted 23 April , 2005 Share Posted 23 April , 2005 Some additional information: “ The approximate number sent out in drafts up to the Armistice Day from the 3rd Battalion was 1,000 officers and 24,400 N.C.O’s and men.” (Burrows, Volume 4, The Essex Militia, page 188) Say no more….. Interesting information on the troopship Transylvania found at these two websites, including a small photo: http://www.harboro.ndirect.co.uk/rayworth.htm http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/haytonweb/family/fstories.htm Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaymen Posted 23 April , 2005 Share Posted 23 April , 2005 Well done Glyn! Michael <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well Done Michael Glyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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