The centenary of the loss of HMS Drake and HMS Brisk off the North West Coast of Ireland.

HMS Drake was the lead ship of her class of armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy around 1900.  She was flagship of the 6th Cruiser Squadron of the 2nd Fleet on it’s incorporation into the Grand Fleet upon the outbreak of World War I.

She remained with the Grand Fleet until refitted in late 1915 when she was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station for convoy escort duties. HMS Drake was torpedoed by German submarine U-79 off the Irish North Coast on 2 Oct 1917 and sank in shallow water with the loss of 18 lives.

Shortly afterwards the destroyer HMS Brisk made a sweep up the Sound to assist her and was hit by U-79, firing one torpedo amidships causing a catastrophic explosion which broke her in two. The bow section sank in the Sound and the stern section was eventually towed into Derry. The explosion killed 32 men outright with another surviving with severe burns until pneumonia eventually took his life on 31 Oct 1917. 

U-79 had a successful day, also sinking the Steamer Lugano, although no casualties were reported.

Of the 18 men who died on HMS Drake, Petty Officer Stoker Robert O’Brien was the only Irishman. He was from Skerries, County Dublin.

Of the 32 men who died on HMS Brisk, four were from Ireland.  Officer’s Steward William Argent had Irish links as his mother Sarah was notified of his death at the Kinsale Coastguard Station in Cork. 

The four Irishmen were Seaman Adam Carthy – born in Kinsale, Stoker Michael Fay – born in County Meath, Leading Seaman Michael Flood was a Cork native and Petty Officer Stoker John Owens was born in Lusk, County Dublin.

Able Seaman Cyril Brook who died from his injuries is buried along with three of his crewmates at Londonderry City Cemetery.  None of the other men’s bodies was found, and their grave remains the sea.

There was a Commemoration Service and Service at Sea today in Ballycastle for those who died to mark the centenary of their deaths.  

Photo: Robert White

 

 

 

 

Missing Names Project – Ballymena and District

You are encouraged to come forward with names currently missing from Ballymena and District War Memorial.

Mid and East Antrim citizens have been encouraged to take part in a consultation aimed at ensuring all local people who lost their lives during the First World War are remembered on Ballymena and District’s War Memorial.

Earlier this year Mid and East Antrim Borough Council agreed the addition of verified missing names of the Fallen on the monument in Memorial Park, Ballymena.

In 2013 it was discovered that some local soldiers who died in The Great War were not honoured on the Memorial.

Research undertaken by WW1 Research Ireland has found that up to 172 names could be missing.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor Paul Reid, said: “I would encourage local people and those from further afield to check if their forebear is on the published list of missing names and, if not, for them to share their information during the consultation period which has just opened. We would wish to ensure as best we can that all those who made the ultimate sacrifice from Ballymena and district are now remembered side by side on the Memorial with the existing names of those who lost their lives. This includes any relevant local women who served in clerical or nursing roles.”

Ballymena and District War Memorial was unveiled in 1924 after a fundraising effort raised just over £1,000.

It is unknown how the 495 names were gathered by the then War Memorial Committee in the early 1920s but through professional research, using agreed criteria, it has emerged that some of those who were killed in action or subsequently died of wounds have been overlooked until now.  

A public call for anyone who believes that their relative should be included for verification has been made by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

Council’s Museum and Heritage Service at Mid-Antrim Museum is conducting the consultation facilitated by History Hub UIster.  

The consultation will be conducted through History Hub Ulster – please click here.

Primarily the criteria requires that the proposed person was born and/or enlisted in Ballymena or District, or was born in Ballymena or District and enlisted elsewhere including Dominion Forces.  

Other criteria requirements are that the proposed person was killed in action or subsequently died of wounds before August 1921, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cut-off date for First World War Fallen.  

A current database of the existing names on Ballymena War Memorial and verified names collated through ongoing research is also available to view on the page. 

Members of the public who have no access to the internet, or who would prefer to submit their information in person, are welcome to call into The Braid, Ballymena, on either Thursday 26 or Saturday 28 October. Mid-Antrim Museum staff will be available between 10am – 1pm on both days in the museum atrium to accept submissions. 

Files containing the list of existing names on the War Memorial and verified names recently collected through research will be available to view.  The 1924 Ballymena Rural District Council boundary map will also be available.

The online consultation opened on Monday 25 September and will close on Friday 10 November 2017. All names supplied, either online or in person, will be verified prior to inclusion in the final list of names missing from the War Memorial.  Members of the public who submit names for consideration will be advised accordingly.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council have undertaken to have the engraving of verified names completed on Ballymena’s War Memorial in time for the national Centenary of the Armistice on 11 November 2018.  An application is being prepared to the War Memorials Trust in London to support this initiative.

Click here for more information.