Official Number:           131393

Class:                         Fleet Messenger/Store Carrier

Pennant No:                Y 4.54

Builder:                       J T Eltringham & Co Ltd., South Shields

Launched:                   24 August 1911

Into Service:                26 September 1915

Out of service:             1921

Fate:                          1955 grounded and sank

Items of historic interest involving this ship: –

Background Data  One of a group of ships requisitioned by the Admiralty during WW1 to augment the ships of the RFA

24 August 1911 launched by J.T. Eltringham & Co Ltd, South Shields as Yard Nr 283 named OVERTON for Overton Steamship Co Ltd (R.R. Clark, Managers), 4 Albert Building, 12 Preesons Row, Liverpool

24 October 1911 completed

26 October 1911 the Shields Gazette reported …

13 December 1911 arrived at the River Tyne from Cardiff

14 March 1912 entered Eastham Locks in ballast from Liverpool

12 June 1913 arrived at Portsmouth from Cardiff

4 January 1914 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west

13 March 1914 arrived at Teighmouth Harbour to load clay

23 April 1915 grounded at Shoreham

Press Cutting from the Liverpool Daily Post of 27 April 1915

26 September 1915 requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as a Fleet Messenger, name unchanged

5 October 1915 Lieutenant Joseph Hewitt RNR appointed as Commanding Officer and Engineer Lieutenant David Morris RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

8 October 1915 in Plymouth Sound having her compass adjusted

9 October 1915 sailed Plymouth to Gibraltar arriving on 15 October 1915

15 October 1915 while at Gibraltar bunkers and fresh water were loaded

18 October 1915 sailed Gibraltar to Malta arriving on 23 October 1915

24 October 1915 while at Malta bunkers and fresh water were loaded

26 October 1915 sailed Malta for Salonika Bay – anchored off

27 October 1915 to 15 November 1915 discharged all her cargo

16 November 1915 sailed Salonika Bay to Mudros arriving the next day

1 January 1916 pink list location shows her to be a Fleet Messenger (No: 54) in the Mediterranean under the orders of the Vice Admiral in command of the Eastern Mediterranean

23 June 1916 sailed Alexandria to Mudros arriving 28 June 1916

6 July 1916 at Mudros alongside RFA RELIANCE

7 July 1916 and 8 July 1916 fitters from RFA RELIANCE were fitting a gun mounting 

20 July 1916 sailed Mudros to Suda Bay, Crete

5 August 1916 at Mudros alongside RFA BACCHUS (1)

7 August 1916 at Mudros cast off from RFA BACCHUS (1)

1 October 1916 pink list location shows her to be a fleet messenger at East Indies and Egypt

2 October 1916 Lieutenant J Hewitt RNR was the ship’s Master

12 October 1916 at Mudros alongside MFA RACE FISHER loading petrol in drums

13 October 1916 at Mudros alongside HMS ABERCROMBIE discharging naval stores to her

HMS ABERCROMBIE

26 October 1916 at Salonika anchorded off

17 November 1916 Sub-Lieutenant Edward Alexander Leigh-Carte RNR discharged dead from heart failure. He is buried in Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery in grave O.25

Courtesy and © of The War Graves Photographic Project

11 December 1916 at Mudros alongside collier Ellerdale for bunkers

1 January 1917 at Mudros struck by lighting – the mizzen mast was split

4 January 1917 at Mudros Seamen D Spittle and F Graham place under arrest on HMS EUROPA

HMS EUROPA

17 February 1917 at Kephalo arrived and berthed alongside HMS GRAFTON to unload Naval Stores

4 March 1917 arrived at Kephalo

5 March 1917 at Kephalo berthed alongside HMS GRAFTON to unload Naval Stores then sailed

29 April 1917 arrived at Kephalo with a lighter in tow

30 April 1917 sailed Kephalo

14 May 1917 at Salonika alongside HMS St GEORGE delivering Naval Stores

HMS St GEORGE

27 May 1917 arrived at Mudros

28 May 1917 at Mudros alongside HMS ARK ROYAL to discharge sea plane

2 June 1917 at Stavros alongside HMS ENDYMION delivering Naval Stores

HMS ENDYMION

30 June 1917 pink list location shows her to be a Fleet Messenger in the Mediterranean

28 July 1917 sailed Mudros

21 August 1917 at Salonika alongside HMS St GEORGE delivering Naval Stores and mail

22 August 1917 cast off from HMS St GEORGE

17 September 1917 at Stavros alongside HMS ENDYMION delivering Naval Stores

13 December 1917 sailed Mudros

14 December 1917 at Salonika alongside HMS St GEORGE delivering Naval Stores. Cast off

2 January 1918 pink list location shows her to be at Mudros

13 January 1918 sailed Mudros

23 February 1918 arrived at Mudros

30 June 1918 pink list location shows her to be listed as a depot ship in the Agean Force

11 September 1918 at Corfu alongside RFA BACCHUS (1) delivering Naval Stores to her

31 October 1918 and 1 November 1918 at Mudos alongside RFA BACCHUS (1) delivering Naval Stores to her

11 November 1918 pink list location shows her to be at Mudros

1 May 1919 at Kaffa Bay alongside HMS CENTAUR delivering Naval Stores

HMS CENTAUR

November 1919 pink list location shows her to be in the Black Sea and Sea of Manmora

29 December 1919 at Constantinople sailed for Novovossisk

16 January 1920 sailed to Odessa with a cargo of 7,450 rifles. 7,760 bayonets, 10 complete machines guns, 18 incomplete machine guns, machine gun belts, belt boxes and 1,000,000 rounds of small arm ammunition (source page 141, The Mediterrean Fleet by Paul Halpem)

31 January 1920 at Odessa (ADM137/1756)

6 February 1920 sailed Odessa Harbour with all female typists and 10 men from the British Mission together with all the American Mission together with the Consul General and the Vice Consul and sent out to the Roads

7 February 1920 arrived in Odessa harbour and berthed alongside HMS CERES at Odessa and loaded 200 refugees

24 August 1920 berthed at Gibraltar from Malta with naval stores for Devonport

7 September 1920 arrived at Plymouth from Gibraltar

October 1920 to 1921 served as a stores carrier

1921 returned to her owners

26 July 1922 sailed Seaham Harbour for Weymouth

8 July 1923 arrived the River Tyne from Boulogne, France

7 January 1931 sailed Penzance in ballast

10 January 1931 at Victoria Dock, Birkenhead Deck Boy Arthur Edward Leonard Warren discharged dead – drowned

22 December 1935 arrived at Hull from Hamburg with general cargo

12 October 1939 at Weston Point Chief Engineer Officer William J Dawson discharged dead – natural causes

23 August 1940 bombed by enemy aircraft off Bardsey Island – no loss of life

1941 owner H Harrison (Shipping) Ltd., Liverpool

13 January 1947 arrived at Avonmouth to load cargo

14 January 1947 sailed Avonmouth with a cargo of potatoes for Sharpness

1951 owner William Coe & Company Ltd., Liverpool

7 September 1955 ran aground in mist and was wrecked on Saddle Rock near the Maidens Lighthouse, 3 miles from Larne, Co Antrim during a voyage from Liverpool to Larne and Coleraine with a general cargo.  Her crew were taken off by the Danaghadee Lifeboat

13 December 1955 disappeared in heavy seas from Saddle Rock where she had been left abandoned

3 February 1956 at a subsequent Ministry of Transport Enquiry the Master – Captain Bernard Richardson – was held to blame. His Master’s Home Trade ticket was suspended for six months. On application by Captain Richardson he was granted a Mates Home Trade ticket during the suspension.