Today - 3rd September is Merchant Navy Day.
Merchant Navy Day is commemorated on the day the first British merchant vessel, SS Athenia, was torpedoed and sunk without warning by the German submarine U-30 only 10 hours after Britain’s declaration of war on 3 September 1939.
One of the best-known battles involving merchant mariners is the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted almost the entire duration of Second World War and saw over 3,000 Allied merchant ships sunk and some 30,000 Allied sailors and merchant mariners lost at sea.
Today we remember our merchant mariners and honour the some 800 Australians who tragically died serving the Allied cause during the First and Second World Wars. Lest we forget.
The soldiers who served at Gallipoli and on Lemnos and the other northern Aegean Islands in 1915-16 were transported on ships to and from the battlefield, these included transports which were worked by merchant mariners from across the world.
During
the campaign a number of these were attacked by enemy submarines and torpedo
boats, some damaged, others sunk. As a result a number of merchant mariners
were killed during the Gallipoli campaign, and in the northern Aegean in the
years up to the end of the First World War. It should be remembered that they
served as civilians on these ships, into harms way, not as service personnel.
Many of their families would not only have suffered the loss of a loved one but
also they would not receive a service pension - for while they were killed in
the war they didn't qualify as civilians.
A number of these are buried in the Commonwealth War Cemeteries on Lemnos.
One of
these was a seaman serving on the HM Transport Southland. T.
Harbourne was a trimmer (or a stoker) in the engine room of the ship. He was
killed when the Southland was torpedoed off Lemnos as it transport hundreds of
Australian (and some other) troops to Lemnos on 2nd September 1915. He would
probably have died as the torpedo exploded into the side of ship but he may
have drowned as many others did. My photograph of his grave stone at Lemnos'
East Mudros Military Cemetery is reproduced above. To read more about the Southland click here.
Another member of the merchant marine buried on Lemnos is Quartermaster H. Brown who served on the Fleet Messaenger Waterwitch (pictured below during WW1) This vessel plied the dangerous waters between Gallipoli and Lemnos, faicng enemy threat and attack from land and sea, delivering sick, wounded and weary soldiers to and from the battlefields. A number of personal diaries by Anzacs provide accounts of the service of the ship during the campaign. One of those was Private Henry Gissing who recorded sailing on the Waterwitch in Lemnos' Mudros Bay, as it transported him and his unit to a transport ship anchored in the Bay in November 1915. Another digger Lance Corporal William Lycett also wrote about the Waterwitch. To read more about the Waterwitch click here
On this
day we should remember merchant seaman like Trimmer Harbourne and Quartermaster
Brown.
Here is a list of some of those buried at East Mudros Military Cemetery. The list is not be considered exhaustive and no doubt there are others buried at the other CWGC on Lemnos, the Portianos Military Cemetery. But this gives an idea of the scope of those who served and those who died serving with the mercantile marine on Lemnos and its surrounding waters during and after the Gallipoli campaign:
Storekeeper
C.A. Leeman HMT Somali, Died 19th July 1915, Age 33, Thy will be done.
Fireman C. Graves HMT Minnehaha, 30th July 1915.
Chief Steward H Watson HMT Queensland, 20th August 1915.
Chief Steward J.L. De Souza, SS Baron Balfour, 22nd August 1915.
Cook E. Coverdale HMT Hindustan, 25th August 1915.
Fourth Engineer J. Kennedy HMS Minnetonka, 12th September 1915.
Sixth Engineer A.W. Hall RFA Reliance, 11th September 1912, Age 22.
Fireman Arubrumayan Ali HMHS Karapara, 22nd December 1918.
T.H. Smith
SS Baron Balfour, 5th October 1915.
Quartermaster H. Brown, MMR HM Fleet Messenger Waterwitch, 19th October 1915.
Fireman J. Brown HMT Moynune, 14th November 1915.
Skilled Labourer G. Frendo, HM Dockyard Malta, 3rd January 1917.
Steward J.F. Le Huquet MMR HMS Sarnia, 8th September 1915, Age 40, Dearly loved husband of Edith Le Huquet.
Able Seaman Winnal HM Dockyard Malta, 14th May 1916.
Carpenter G Boake HMT Patani, 23rd January 1916.
Ship's Cook J. Thompson HMT Westmoor, 5th January 1917.
Boatswain L Forgoul RMT Raventazon, 26th January 1917.
Surgeon
J.D. Rutherford HMS Theseus, 13th September 1917, Age 28, Shall we not
meet as heretofore some summer morning.
Leading Fireman J.H. Sinclair MMR RFA Reliance, 22nd April 1918
A/Inspector
of Engineer Fitters W.E. Armes RFA Reliance 16th May 1918
Seaman H Vesprey HMT Gothic, 2nd January 1918.
Fireman S. Stewart HMT Gothic, 29th December 1917.
Ablebodied
Seaman J Glaze MMR MFA Brighton, 7th December 1917, Age 35.
Second engineer T. Hickey HMT Don Caeser, 22nd December 1918, Age 27, He died at duty Thy will be done None can take his place.
Greaser
J. Platt MMR HMS Hazel, 29th November 1918.
Able Seaman E. Secluna HMT St Margaret of Scotland, 10th November 1918.
Fireman J. Nugend HMT Ivernia, 29th May 1915.
Baker J. Maguire HMT Massilla, 3rd July 1915.
Mate P. Williamson SS Tees, 13th May 1915.
Trimmer
T. Harbourne HMT Southland, 2nd September 1915.
Legend:
HM - His
Majesty's; HMT- His Majesty's Transport; HMHS -
His Majesty's Hospital Ship
MMR -
Mercantile Marine Reserve; RFA -
Royal Fleet Auxilliary; RMT - Royal Marine Transport (possible); SS - Steam Ship.
Lest we forget.
Jim Claven, Secretary, Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee
