The wreck site of the FERGA has been identified during research by Dr Innes McCartney (2022: 219) for the Echoes from the Deep project. McCartney concluded that the FERGA is positionally, dimensionally, and archivally consistent with UKHO 10031 (NPRN 516153). The record has been updated to reflect that research.
Event and Historical Information:
The FERGA was a steel-hulled steamship built by Dublin Dockyard Co Ltd in 1916. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 791gt; 197ft length x 30ft 5in breadth x 14ft 8in depth; machinery aft; 1 deck, 5 bulkheads, quarterdeck 119ft, boat deck 9ft, forecastle 29ft; screw propulsion powered by a single steam boiler linked to a triple expansion engine made by Ross & Duncan, Glasgow; official number 139593. At the time of loss, the vessel was owned by Michael Murphy Ltd, Dublin, and registered at Cardiff (12 in 1916). Joseph O'Dowd was noted as the ship's manager.
The intelligence files compiled by the Admiralty contain information about the incident given by the master, Thomas Henry Callister. The ship sailed from Swansea at 8 pm for Liverpool. On 14 February 1917, the submarine was first sighted 1/4 mile off the port quarter at 7am, at position 30 miles NE by N of Strumble Head (52 2N 5 4W). The ship was attacked some 10 minutes later with three rounds being fired. The master acted to stop the ship after the first shot was fired by the submarine, and the crew abandoned the ship. The Master and his boat's crew (all except four hands) were taken onboard the submarine and their spaces in the boat were taken by two Germans with bombs. A patrol boat was then sighted and the crew of FERGA were ordered back into their boat. Their vessel was then sunk by eight shots being fired into the engine room. The patrol boat, HMT NORMAN, then opened fire on the submarine which submerged and disappeared. Thomas Callister also provided a description of the officer he had seen - about 5ft 7in, age 28-30, fair, clean shaven, slight build, pale complexion. The submarine was the UC-65 and the commander Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck. The UC-65 was built by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, and commissioned on 7 November 1916. Before being torpedoed by HM Sub C15 in November 1917, the submarine undertook 11 patrols and sunk 105 ships including the destroyer TARTAR and the hospital ship GLENART CASTLE (162 people were killed).
Sources include:
ADM 137/3980 Home Waters Ships Attacked February 13 - 20 1917, The National Archives, Kew
Appropriation Books, Official Numbers 139551 - 139600 (139593)
The Cambria Daily Leader, 15 February 1917, p.1
Gater, D, 1992, Historic Shipwrecks of Wales, p.130
HMSO, 1988, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45, p.33
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyds Register Documentation: https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/ships/ferga-1916-city-of-durham-fergu/
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1917, p.11 (i)
McCartney, I., 2022. Echoes from the Deep. Leiden: Sidestone Press. https://www.sidestone.com/books/echoes-from-the-deep
Mercantile Navy List 1917, p.206
Port of Cardiff Shipping Register 1916-1920, Glamorgan Archives, folio 1
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea
UKHO ID 10031: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.
https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?58429
J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, December 2023.
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.