BORN RETFORD, NOTTS, 1896. SON OF JOHN SMITH CALAM (1854-1908) AND ANNIE CLARKE (1857-1908). ONE OF 4 BROTHERS. THEY BOARDED WITH THE YOUNG FAMILY AT 23 LISTER STREET, HULL. HE SERVED AS A SECOND OFFICER, AT SEA. RECEIVED HIS SHIP MASTER’S CERTIFICATE, ON 05/07/1916. TAKEN BY SUBMARINE & WHEN IT SUBMERGED WAS ALLOWED TO WASH OFF & DROWN. PREVIOUS TO THIS HE SERVED ON THE STEAM SHIP, ‘BELGIAN PRINCE’ WHICH WAS TORPEDOED, WHEN ALL WERE SAVED. HIS BROTHER WAS KILLED AT THE DARDENELLES, 12 MONTHS BEFORE, AND TWO OTHER BROTHERS WERE SERVING. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH ON 01/09/1917. HIS DEATH IS RECORDED ON TRINITY HOUSE ROLL OF HONOUR. HE LEFT £162 IN HIS WILL TO HIS BROTHER, SYDNEY CLARKE CLAM AT THIS PROBATE ADDRESS. HIS PHOTOGRAPH IS PRINTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 01/09/1917. *
Belgian Prince was attacked by torpedo by U-55, Oberleutnant zur See Wilhelm Werner in command, 175 miles NW by W. of Tory Island, NW Ireland. The Captain (Harry Hassan) was taken prisoner by U-55 & held below deck. The other 41 crew members were lined up on the submarine’s casing, but perhaps believing incorrectly that a British warship was in the vicinity, the submarine moved off & submerged, washing the survivors into the sea. Their life-jackets & outer clothing had been taken from them & tossed overboard & their lifeboats had been smashed with axes. U-55 later fired two shots from her deck gun & Belgian Prince sank stern first at about 7:00 a.m. on Aug. 1, 1917. 39 lives in total were lost.
Captain Hassan survived the war as a prisoner of war. Of the crew of 42, there were just 4 survivors. Captain Hassan & i) Chief Engineer Thomas A. Bowman, ii) George Silessi, an able seaman, & iii) 2nd Cook William Snell, of Jacksonville, Florida, all 3 of whom were rescued by a British patrol vessel 11 hours later that day & told the story of what had happened.
