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Strath Carron

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NPRN274643
Map ReferenceSR05SW
Grid ReferenceSR0243251071
Unitary (Local) AuthorityMaritime
Old CountyMaritime
CommunityMaritime
Type Of SiteWRECK
Period20th Century
Description

Archaeological remains associated with the loss of this vessel are not confirmed as present at this location, but may be in the vicinity.

Event and Historical Information:
The STRATHCARRON was built by the Greenock and Grangemouth Dockyard Co, Greenock, in 1912. At time of loss, it was owned by Strath Carron Steamship Company Ltd. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 4347gt; 2907nt; 375ft length x 52ft breadth x 25ft depth; 2 decks, 5 bulkheads, passenger deck 36ft, boatdeck 100ft, forecastle 39ft; screw propulsion powered by four boilers linked to a triple expansion engine producing 321 nhp. The vessel was on hire to the Admiralty as collier number 715. The STRATHCARRON had left Barry on Monday 7 June 1915 with a cargo of coal for Zanzibar, when around 6.20m the next day, without warning, the ship was struck by a torpedo on the port side amidships. Contemporary newspapers printed crew accounts - one stated "It was our water tanks that, allowed us to escape as we did. For it kept her up sufficiently long for us to get clear". Another stated ?There was not much time for thinking but we were well prepared, the boats all being in readiness for an emergency, and every man obeyed the Captain's orders to the letter so there was no commotion and we got nicely away, but the ship soon afterwards sank". All the crewmembers got safely into the lifeboats and the STRATHCARRON sank 20 minutes later. After the lifeboats were some distance astern of the sinking ship, the periscope of a submarine was seen a quarter mile away, and five minutes later the U35 surfaced. The enemy remained surfaced until 6.45 a.m, when it submerged to attack a French schooner LA LIBERTE (see NPRN 519181) some 6 miles away to the east. The crew of the STRATHCARRON bore witness to the attack. After the schooner has been sunk, the two crews rowed their lifeboats together until picked up by the steamship BRANKSOME HALL and landed at Milford Haven. The U-35 was under the command of Waldemar Kophamel and went on to became with most successful U-boat of the Great War - undertaking 17 patrols and sinking 226 ships. The submarine was surrendered on 26 November 1918 and broken up at Blyth in 1919-20.

 

Sources include:

Barry Dock News, 18 June 1915, p.5
Great War at Sea: STRATH CARRON and LA LIBERTE sunk 8 June 1915, People's Collection Wales
Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph, 9 June 1915, p.3
HMSO, 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, p.7
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 April - 30 June 1915, p.9 (i)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1914 - 30 June 1915, number 2030 in S
Mercantile Navy List 1915, p.560
National Archives, ADM 137/2959 (157)
Strathcarron, uboat.net
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea
UK Hydrographic Office Wrecks and Obstructions Database. ? Crown Copyright and database rights. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk)


Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, February 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.