Archival material on missing steamers

[Lörscher]

Hello,

did anyone out there know if there are any files available at Kew (Board of Trade f.e.) to find out more informations on british steamers which went missing during WW 1 ?

I'm searching for more detailed accounts as given by Lloyds War Losses, like not only date but also time of departure, routing orders, reports of last sightings etc.

Reason for question:

british S/S TREWYN went missing after leaving Algier 22.03. and Gibraltar 25.03.1916 with iron ore for Middlesborough.

british S/S GOVERNOR reportes wreckage and lifebuoy sighted from TREWYN about 1 week later.

There should be files available to find out the location of this wreckage.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Oliver

[sotonmate]

Oliver

I have takne a peek into the BT369 series but there seems to be no record of an enquiry into the loss.

Sotonmate

[Lörscher]

Thanks Sotonmate for your efforts, but there should be other files somethere which deal exclusively with missing vessels, inside BT 369 seems to be only an couple of vessels lost during WW 1 if any (Found only LUSITANIA).

There is some information inside ADM 137, but as most of the steamers are not recorded as war losses, the information in ADM 137 is limited only to an small number of vessels (HOLMTOWN f.e.).

Hm, hope something more special turnes up in this case, but thanks again Sotonmate !!!

Oliver

[montbrehain]

I also could find no record in "British vessels lost at sea 1914-18" this covers all merchant and RN losses, wonder why the TREWYN is not mentioned ?

[sotonmate]

Oliver

Even the owners, Hain Steamship Company of St Ives Cornwall,have failed to list it in their WW1 losses,which were 16 of their TRE- class tramp steamers. They have mentioned it's loss later in their data on all vessels owned since the company came into being but not in the main WW1 loss list.

I note that the tonnage of TREWYN was only 3084,so,if it was the unidentified torpedo-ing you refer to in another thread on this subject then the Kapt. must have had his periscope on high mag to get a 7000 tonner out of it !

Sotonmate

[historydavid]

montbrehain,

BVLAS only includes vessels that had been designated as lost through enemy action, although it is not a complete list.

The Trewyn had been reported as missing, and officially is still missing.

Best wishes

David

[Michael Lowrey]

Also, it's worth remembering that BVLAS came out in 1919 — and as such, it reflects (includes) only those vessels regarded at that time as sunk by enemy action. The Royal Navy's understanding of German submarine operations was not 100% complete. In later years, a small number of additional cases were discovered in which a vessel was sunk by U-boat, there were no survivors (lifeboats not recovered), and the loss was taken by the Royal Navy during the war as not being U-boat related.

Even today, we are at maybe 98% or 99% or so on our understanding ship sinkings during the war. That sounds impressive, except U-boats and U-boat laid mines accounted for about 6,600 ships during WWI.

Having looked through a lot of German submarine war diaries (KTBs), I can say that there isn't that much overclaiming. That's especially true of attacks conducted against ships traveling independently. When a U-boat claimed a ship traveling by itself it's a significant event and virtually always a ship was, indeed, sunk (and even more so if the submarine actual observed the ship sink).

Thus, if a U-boat claims to have torpedoed a vessel and seen it go down, that's not so ease to dismiss. (And tonnage estiamte through a periscope are frequently off; it's not a show stopper.) And as Oliver said, U 28's KTB contains exactly such a sinking claim. A review of the ships listed as missing in Lloyd's War Losses: The First World War and Hocking raises the possibility that the steamer might have been Trewyn. Certainly IF the debris from Trewyn were about where U 28 claimed to have sunk the steamer, then we would have to conclude that's how Trewyn was sunk. And if not, then not.

Best wishes,

Michael