Losses in WW1

This page includes basic information about the ships and how they were lost, a photo of the relevant panel(s) of the Tower Hill Memorial and information about those that lost their lives extracted from the CWGC database. In the table I have included information about those who served on the ships but who had a normal burial as this seems appropriate to me. In some cases further family information about the individuals may be available on the CWGC website [7].

Andromache

Casualties

Angela

Casualties

Anglia

Casualties

Anglian

Casualties

Anglo-Californian

The account below is by courtesy of Archibald Hurd [34]. The activities of Captain Frederick Parslow resulted in him being postumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

A conspicuous vindication of the resourcefulness and high courage of British merchant seamen was supplied by the officers and men of the Anglo Californian (7,333 tons). At 8.30 a.m. this vessel, on passage from Montreal with a large number of horses, was about ninety miles south of Queenstown when an enemy submarine was sighted breaking surface on the port beam about three miles away. The master (Mr. Frederick Parslow) immediately realised the imminent danger which confronted him. Every effort was made to increase speed, and the ship was manoeuvred so as to bring the enemy astern. An S.O.S. signal was sent out, and to the relief of everyone on board was at once answered by a British man-of-war. For half an hour the submarine continued to chase the Anglo-Californian, gaining on her rapidly. At last the enemy came within firing distance, and then for an hour and a half, while the merchantman zigzagged backwards and forwards to confuse the aim of the enemy, a steady fire was maintained.

The British vessel was frequently hit, and in order to save life Captain Parslow decided to obey the signal to abandon ship. The engines were stopped and the boats manned: the port after lifeboat was successfully lowered, but one of the falls of the starboard boat was struck by a shell, with the result that the boat fell away and capsized. The submarine at last ceased firing and then closed. Captain Parslow's courage in maintaining the chase had not, however, been fruitless, for at this juncture an armed ship, the Princess Ena, which had been slowly overhauling the submarine, opened fire at 9,000 yards, to the consternation of the enemy. The shot fell short, but a wireless message from a destroyer " to hold on " gave Captain Parslow fresh courage. The course of events seemed to be favouring him, so the firemen who were in the boat still on the davits were ordered to go once more below, and orders were given for the ship to get under way. The men responded with fine spirit to the master's orders. The submarine, fearing that after all the ship might escape, opened fire at close range on the bridge and boats, rifles as well as the vessel's guns being brought into use. Captain Parslow and his men were without any means of defence. In a few moments the upper bridge had been wrecked and the master killed; the steering wheel and compass had been damaged and one of the port davits smashed, causing a boat to drop into the sea, together with all its occupants. The chief officer again ordered the ship to be abandoned, the firemen came up from below, and the remaining boats were manned and lowered. The outlook seemed black when suddenly the destroyers Mentor and Miranda steamed up. The submarine, counting discretion the better part of valour, dived out of sight. The Anglo Californian then proceeded under escort to Queenstown, which was reached in safety.

Captain Parslow had succeeded in saving his ship, but at the sacrifice of his own life, and twenty members of his crew were also killed, seven others being wounded. Everyone on board, from the master downward, had exhibited pluck and coolness, as well as seamanlike competency, in the emergency. Frederick Parslow, the son of the master, had remained on the upper bridge with his father throughout the action, steering the ship. By little short of a miracle, he was unwounded, although one of the spokes of the wheel was blown away and the bridge was riddled. Under the unnerving circumstances which confronted him down below, the chief engineer (who, with Mr. Frederick Parslow, afterwards received the Distinguished Service Cross) maintained discipline. Throughout the fierce fusillade the wireless telegraph operator stuck to his post on the lower bridge, sending and receiving accurately a number of messages. A veterinary surgeon (Mr. F. Neal), who was in charge of the 900 horses on board, not only rendered aid to the animals, of which twenty were killed, but under heavy fire attended to wounded members of the crew. The chief officer (Mr. H. O. Read), who in the later phase of the action, after the death of the master, acquitted himself well, was, in common with the second engineer (Mr. H. F. Suddes) and the wireless operator, awarded a mention in despatches. As long as the memory of these early days of the submarine campaign persists, the story of the unequal fight put up by the unarmed Anglo-Californian under her heroic captain will be retold as an epic of the war by sea.

The ship was sold to Cunard Steamship Co. Ltd. in 1916 for whom she was managed by Lawther, Latta & Co. of London; she was renamed Vandalia. Vandalia was sunk on 9 June 1918 by torpedo fired by German submarine U-96 at position 51° 44' N, 06° 10' W - approximately 18 nautical miles West-North-West of The Smalls. She was en route from Liverpool to Montreal in ballast. There was no loss of life on this occasion.

Casualties

Anglo-Patagonian

Casualties

Anteros

Casualties

Antinoe

Casualties

Antonio

Note: Earlier accounts have her being sunk by gunfire from German submarine U-48.

Casualties

Apapa

In June 2019 I was contacted by Richard Knight who had come across a gravestone commemorating an "Unknown Engineer" from Apapa in a cemetery in Llanasa, Flintshire. This is less than 40 miles from the place the ship was lost and a photo is below. If anyone can throw any light on the circumstances, please contact me and I will update the page. My assumption is that the poor chap's body was washed ashore nearby but could not be identified other than his role - perhaps from what he had been wearing.

Casualties