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World War One discussions.
Re: records of ships sunk by U boats in WW1in German archives
Posted by:
ph0ebus
()
Date: June 10, 2009 06:59PM
Hi Jim,
Have you seen:
"...An old sketch shows the last moments of the Bray Head on Wednesday March 14th 1917 as recorded by a crew member, J Watson. A German U-boat fired a torpedo at the steamer but missed. The U-boat surfaced and renewed its attack on the Bray Head.
Watson’s diary reports ‘Our gunners assisted by crew fought the U-boat from 6.10am on Wednesday morning until 8.15, when we hauled down the Red Ensign and hauled it up again upside down in a token of surrender. Picked up by HMS Adventure on Sunday morning at 6.30 am. Arrived in Galway at 11.50 am. We were unable to leave hospital for four days, all frostbitten. We sat in the sunken lifeboat (in water) up to the waist. My hands are still showing the frostbite scarsâ€.
The Bray Head was sunk by German gunfire 365 miles off the River Shannon. Twenty-two men were lost with the ship including the skipper. Twenty men survived the five day ordeal in the lifeboat."
The blog this came from has been taken down but maybe try the email address:
kerrscorner@ulsteronline.org.uk
It would be great if Watson's diary could be found, if you haven't found it already.
Take care,
-Daniel
Have you seen:
"...An old sketch shows the last moments of the Bray Head on Wednesday March 14th 1917 as recorded by a crew member, J Watson. A German U-boat fired a torpedo at the steamer but missed. The U-boat surfaced and renewed its attack on the Bray Head.
Watson’s diary reports ‘Our gunners assisted by crew fought the U-boat from 6.10am on Wednesday morning until 8.15, when we hauled down the Red Ensign and hauled it up again upside down in a token of surrender. Picked up by HMS Adventure on Sunday morning at 6.30 am. Arrived in Galway at 11.50 am. We were unable to leave hospital for four days, all frostbitten. We sat in the sunken lifeboat (in water) up to the waist. My hands are still showing the frostbite scarsâ€.
The Bray Head was sunk by German gunfire 365 miles off the River Shannon. Twenty-two men were lost with the ship including the skipper. Twenty men survived the five day ordeal in the lifeboat."
The blog this came from has been taken down but maybe try the email address:
kerrscorner@ulsteronline.org.uk
It would be great if Watson's diary could be found, if you haven't found it already.
Take care,
-Daniel
