This record comprises a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location OFF SKOKHOLM ISLAND pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.

Event and Historical Information:
The INISHOWEN HEAD was a steamship built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, in 1886. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 3050.19gt, 1987.64rt; Length 341.6ft; breadth 40.2ft; depth in hold 26.45ft; two decks, two masts, schooner, elliptical stern, clencher built, framework steel and iron; Length of engine room and boiler room 58ft. Engine: triple expansion compound surface condensing 3 cranks. Built Harland and Wolff, Belfast, in 1886. Diameters of cylinders 24 1/2in, 37in, 64in, length of stroke 48in. 320hp, 10.5 knots; official number 93155. The ship was registry as a new vessel in June 1886 by the Ulster Steamship Company of Ulster Chambers, Belfast. The ship was managed by G Heyn and Sons (Frederick L Heyn designated manager). The company operated routes between Russia, Canada, and United States Gulf ports to Belfast and Dublin, with a large proportion of the company's vessels had been taken into Government service during the war. The intelligence collated by the Admiralty regarding the attack notes that the ship had left Port Talbot at 8.00pm on the 13 February and was on passage to St Johns, New Brunswick. The master for the voyage was W J Campbell. The ship was attacked, without warning, 1 1/4 miles south of Skokham at 3 am on 14 February. The first torpedo struck the starboard side at No 1 hold abaft the forecastle head. The decks were broken up and bulwarks smashed. The second torpedo struck the vessel between the 3rd and 4th holds and, it is thought, exploded the magazine. The second torpedo was fired whilst the lifeboats were hanging to their falls. Many of the crew originated from Belfast (e.g. the master, W. J. Campbell; the chief officer, Mr. Mathers; and the chief engineer, Mr. M?Clure). One sailor, John McMaster, age 17, from Co Antrim, was drowned in the sinking and is commemorated on the memorial to the Mercantile Marine at Tower Hill, London. The remainder of the crew escaped in two boats and landed at Marloes. The submarine was last seen steaming away in a southerly direction. The ship's port of Belfast Shipping Register entry is closed with the annotation 'Sunk by German gunfire in Bristol Channel 14 February 1917'.

Sources include:

ADM 137/3980 Home Waters Ships Attacked February 13 - 20 1917, The National Archives, Kew
Belfast News-Letter, 15 February 1917, p.5
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, p.104
Irish Independent 15 February 1917, p.3
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1917, p.11 (i)
Northern Whig, 23 February 1917, p.3
Port of Belfast Shipping Register 1878-1893, CUS/1/6/1/9, 12 in 1886
Sailor John McMaster, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
South Wales Weekly Post, 17 February 1917, p.5
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, April 2019.

This record was enhanced in 2020 with funding from Lloyd's Register Foundation as part of the project ‘Making the Link: Lloyd's Register and the National Monuments Record of Wales’. Visit Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre for more resources.