Simon

I don't think anyone will ever know what really happened. However divers said the radio mast was in the up position, which seems to suggest that the boat was on the surface when something suddenly happened, she was also very close inshore to be on the surface, only a mile off the huge Flamborough cliffs.

Commanded by Captain T. Harris and armed with a 12-pounder, the MALVINA had left London on July 31st, on passage for Leith, carrying a crew of twenty-eight & 750-tons of general cargo, including bagged cement. On 2nd August 1918, the MALVINA was off Flamborough Head and travelling at 12-knots, in a light easterly swell, when a torpedo struck her at 0435hrs. Lookouts in the forecastle never saw the submarine. There was a massive explosion amidships on the starboard side, level with the boiler room and the ship buckled in two and at once. The port lifeboat was lowered, but capsized at once and the men in it were thrown into the water. Those men still on the sinking ship were forced to jump overboard and tried to swim clear to avoid being sucked down. Many grabbed hold of floating wreckage. The patrol boat GAUL, a trawler, which was half a mile northward at the time of the explosion, rescued fourteen survivors and landed them at Scarborough. However, the fourteen men who were thrown into the water were not picked up, including Captain Harris.

The explosion was believed to have been a torpedo, but many now believe that it may have been a loose mine. The MALVINA had had her speed reduced because of major damage a couple of years earlier and she was almost rebuilt. The ship was in very poor condition when she sailed.

Just food for thoughtIt is a long drawn out saga

Cheers Ron