ANGLO-CALIFORNIAN

The horse transport vessel Anglo-Californian sank off the south coast of Ireland on 4 July 1915 while en-route from Montreal, Canada to Avonmouth, England.  At the time she was carrying 927 horses destined for the Western Front.  At 0800 on 4^th July, German submarine U39 surfaced a mile off the port beam of the Anglo-Californian as she was about 90 miles off Queenstown, Co Cork.  The Master, Lieutenant Frederick Parslow (Royal Naval Reserve) with his eldest son at the helm, took evasive action but U39 opened fire with her deck gun repeatedly hitting the vessel.  At 1030 the submarine ordered Parslow to stop and abandon ship.  Having received signals from local destroyers to delay, Parslow ignored the order much to the annoyance of U39 commander, Walter Forstmann, who opened fire on the vessel wrecking the bridge, lifeboats and superstructure.

Thomas M Henry “Unconquerable”

U39 closed to 50 yards shooting at anything that moved but soon dived to avoid the approaching destroyers.

The Anglo-Californian was towed into Queenstown on 5 July.

Lt Parslow lost his life along with 21 others including Horseman David O’Neill from Belfast.

Parslow was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) while his son and the chief engineer were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.  Interestingly, Parslow was not a member of the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) at the time of the incident.  He was posthumously awarded a commission as a RNR Lieutenant and then awarded the VC.

Parslow’s grave along with 9 others from his ship can be found at Cobh Old Church Cemetery, County Cork.

Research by Mark McCrea, Member, History Hub Ulster.

Lieutenant Frederick Parslow VC citation

Lieutenant Frederick Parslow

The post WW1 Centenary: The loss of Anglo-Californian appeared first on History Hub Ulster.

Lusitania at the end of the first leg of her maiden voyage, New York City, September 1907.

On 1 May 1915, the Lusitania embarked on its crossing of the Atlantic with 1257 passengers and a crew of 702 under the command of Captain William Turner.

On 5 May, U-20 tried to destroy but missed several ships, including several neutral ones.  That day, he destroyed the Earl of Lathom.  The next day he fired two torpedoes at the Candidate, a steamer from Liverpool. The same day he destroyed another ship, the Centurion.

On 7 May the Lusitania entered the Irish Channel.  Contrary to orders to travel at full speed in the submarine war zone around Great Britain, Captain Turner slowed the ship down because of fog.  As a precaution, Captain Turner posted extra lookouts and brought the lifeboats out.  Meanwhile U-20 was travelling west in the Irish Channel and sighted the Juno, a cruiser. It’s zigzag path made it difficult for a submarine to fire at and so it escaped.  Captain Turner of the Lusitania did not do this because he felt that it wasted time and fuel.

At 1:20pm British time, Schwieger sighted something of note.

‘Starboard ahead four funnels and two masts of a steamer with course at right angles to us’

He submerged and waited until at 1:40pm when the ship turned towards him, and fired a single torpedo.

The 18 year old lookout on the Lusitania grabbed his megaphone and shouted to the bridge:

‘Torpedoes coming on the starboard side.’

Thomas Quinn, a lookout in the crow’s nest, saw the torpedo’s wake and sounded the alarm.  There was a large explosion at the side of the ship just ahead of the second funnel.  Then there was a larger, muffled explosion from the bottom of the ship.  The ship tilted to the right and although the power failed, Captain Turner attempted to steer the Lusitania toward land in an attempt to beach her.  Without power the rudder and engines did not respond and the watertight doors could not be closed.

Although the Lusitania had adequate lifeboats for all on board, most lifeboats simply could not be launched.  Due to the list, the lifeboats on the port side could not be launched.  The starboard side boats swung out so far that many passengers had to jump from the deck to the lifeboats, risking falling into the water far below.  A few lifeboats were launched that contained only crew members.  Other lifeboats capsized and some were damaged when the torpedo hit the ship.

The Lusitania sank below the waves shortly before 2pm.  It sank in only 90 metres of water, and since the ship was 239 metres long, the bow hit the bottom of the ocean while the stern was still up in the air.

Norman Wilkinson – The Illustrated London News, May 15, 1915.

Captain Turner jumped into the water as the bridge was about to go under.  He swam for 3 hours until he finally found a nearby lifeboat.

The distress signals sent from the Lusitania reached Queenstown, where the Vice Admiral Sir Charles Coke gathered up whatever ships were available and told their captains to sail to where the Lusitania was.  They arrived 2 hours after the sinking.  They picked up any people still alive in the water and only 6 lifeboats.

761 survivors were collected by boats from Queenstown.  1198 people died.

Some Ulster passengers lost on the Lusitania were:

Thomas McAfee

Frank Houston, the only son of Mr and Mrs Houston of Fernbrook Cottage, Carnmoney Road.

Frank Houston

Thomas McAfee, originally from Belfast, who had moved to Toronto was coming home to enlist.  He had worked at the York Street Spinning Mill and his sisters lived at Summer Street, Belfast. Also lost was his friend Robert McCready who had emigrated to Canada a few years before.   He was a photographer employed by Charles ad Russell photographers, Royal Avenue, Belfast.  His father was William McCready of Oldpark Road, Belfast.

Some crew with Ulster addresses who died on the Lusitania were:

Robert McCready

Isaac Linton, aged 48, and Michael Corboy, aged 49 both fireman from County Down. Michael Rice, aged 60 and Patrick Campbell aged 35 both firemen from Newry.  Another Newry man lost was Patrick Loughran, a trimmer aged only 19 from Queen Street in Newry. Kenneth Mackenzie, aged 25, a waiter from Belfast. Trimmer William Field from Ship Street in Belfast was also lost, aged 31.  Edward Finnegan, aged 22, a trimmer from Castleblaney in Monaghan.  Sadie O’Hale aged 29, a ship’s typist from Ballymena.

Edward J Heighway an able seaman from Strangford was saved.  Also saved were Able Seaman James Hume from Canmore Street, Belfast and Fireman Stephen Rice from Armagh.

Research: Karen O’Rawe, Chair, History Hub Ulster

Newspaper Pictures: Nigel Henderson, Member, History Hub Ulster

The post WW1 Centenary: The loss of RMS Lusitania 7th May 1915 appeared first on History Hub Ulster.