BORN BOSTON, LINCS MARCH 1882. SON OF DANIEL LONGSTAFF (1839-1908) AND MARY JANE WILLIAMSON (1841-1907). HE CAME FROM A SEA FARING FAMILY WITH HIS FATHER A CAPTAIN AND THREE BROTHERS AT SEA. THE FAMILY WERE LIVING IN HULL BY 1901 CENSUS. HE MARRIED BERTHA DOWNING, AT HULL, IN JULY 1908. HE SERVED AS A SECOND ENGINEER, IN THE MERCHANT NAVY AND DIED AT SEA, ON 12/05/1918, AGED 35. HE LEFT £581 IN HIS WILL TO HIS WIDOW, BERTHA AT 66 LEE STREET, HULL (PROBATE ADDRESS.). SHE LATER MOVED WITH THEIR TWO DAUGHTERS, TO 12 SUMMERGANGS, EAST HULL. HIS DEATH IS NOT RECORDED IN CWGC RECORDS.
IIBIS SS was built in 1898 by Neptun AG, Rostock, Germany as the HEDWIG SS a German cargo steamer for Flensburger DG (H. Schuldt), Flensburg, Germany. In 1914 she was renamed IBIS SS when purchased by the Western Russian SS Co. On the 12th May 1918, while on voyage from Bilbao to Glasgow with a cargo of ore. IBIS was in collision with SS WHIMBREL, 6 miles W of the Lizard, United Kingdom and sank. Crew lost were:-
BREACKER, JAMES WILLIAM , Able Seaman (no. London/Z/3778), S.S. Ibis, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 12/05/1918, Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
COOK, F , Master, Ibis SS, 12/05/1918
DAY, JOHN WILLIAM (JACK) , 2nd Officer, SS Ibis, 12/05/1918, His death was clearly a huge blow to his family; his name appears multiple times in the Hull Daily Mail In Memoriam column at least until 1930, Memorial: Roll Of Honour Ellerman-Wilsons Line Hull
LONGSTAFF, E.T , Second Engineer, Ibis ? SS, 12/05/1918, Taken from Hull Daily Mail In Memoriam column 12.5.1919
MATTHEWS, R , Chief Officer, SS Ibis, 12/05/1918, Left two young children Leslie & Doreen, Memorial: Roll Of Honour Ellerman-Wilsons Line Hull
ROBERTSON, J , Third Officer, SS Ibis, 12/05/1918, Memorial: Roll Of Honour Ellerman-Wilson’S Line Hull
SORENSEN, J , Leading Seaman (no. Wales Z/99), S.S. Ibis, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 12/05/1918, Memorial: Helston (Porthleven) Cemetery.
