Came across this event off the Coquet while looking for stragglers for the 1915 WW1 casualty page. :
published 15th May 1915, Alnwick Gazette.
Submarine off the Northumbrian Coast.
TWO TRADERS AND A TRAWLER SUNK.
Two steamers were sunk by a German submarine off the Northumbrian coast during the early hours of Saturday morning — namely the Don, of Goole, owned by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, and the Queen Wilhelmina, of Sunderland, owned by Messrs. Furness, Withy, and Company Limited, of West Hartlepool. The former vessel was commanded by Captain Aaron, carrying a crew of 16 hands, and was in ballast, bound for Cromarthy to Blyth. The Queen Wilhelmina, commanded by Captain Dickinson, carried 34 hands, and was also in ballast, being bound for Fowey from Leith.
It was about 5 miles E.N.E. off Coquet Island, at 3.50 am, that the Don was attacked. The torpedo was fired from the submarine without any previous warning, but, fortunately, it missed its mark. The crew hastily launched two boats and left their ship. Another torpedo was directed at the vessel, and this time no mistake was made, a huge hole being torn in her side, which caused her to sink in about 10 minutes. The escaping crew were exposed to a shower of splintered ironwork and wreckage after the explosion, they being only a few boat’s lengths away when the torpedo struck the Don, and 3 of them — namely the second mate, chief engineer, and an able seaman were cut rather badly about the head and body. Later the shipwrecked men fell in with the Norwegian steamer Elizabeth Maersk, which took them to the Tyne. Upon reaching North Shields the three wounded men were taken to the Tynemouth Victoria Jubilee Infirmary.
The destruction of the Don was witnessed from the decks of the Queen Wilhelmina, then about a mile and a half away, and an attempt was made to escape from the German vessel. This proved unsuccessful, however, and the submarine steadily overhauled the steamer, and commenced shelling her with shrapnel. After a chase of about three quarters of an hour, Captain Dickinson “gave up,” and the submarine came alongside and ordered the crew out of the ship. Two boats were launched and the crew left. The Germans then discharged two torpedoes at the Queen Wilhelmina, besides firing several shells and to her.
When the crew last saw the Queen Wilhelmina, just before the mist hid her from view, she was very low down in the water and listing heavily. A patrol boat picked up Captain Dickinson and his men, and subsequently landed them at North Shields.
|