BORN HULL 1893. SON OF WILLIAM PARKER (1862-1946) & MARY WARING (1866-1937), OF 33 MAYFIELD STREET HULL. THIRD MATE. SHIP TORPEDOED OFF THE FALMBOROUGH COAST, ON 09/03/1915, COMMEMORATED ON THE HULL MERCHANT NAVY ROLL OF HONOUR AND TOWER HILL NAVAL MEMORIAL, LONDON.
According to the statement of J. O’Toole, seaman and sole survivor, the TANGISTAN was early for the tide at Middlesbrough and was going slow at 0.30 a.m. when she was suddenly brought up with a great shock. All the lights went out and all hands rushed up on deck. Before the boats could be freed the ship went down on an even keel. O’Toole sank with the vessel but came to the surface again and after swimming for some two hours was picked up by the s.s. WOODVILLE. The rest of the crew of 39, including the Master, perished. O’Toole was landed at West Hartlepool. The TANGISTAN was a steamship built by William Gray in Hartlepool. She was launched in 1906 and had a beam of 14.93m and a draught of 4.87m. She was sunk on 9th March 1915 nine miles from Flamborough Head by a German U-boat U-12. There were thirty-eight people on board but only J. O´Toole survived. ref. used:Carl Racey †, East Coast Shipwreck Research Carl Racey † 27/03/2009 Built for the Anglo-Algerian S.S. Co (1896) Ltd (Strick), Swansea; Yard No 736; Launch Date19/09/1906; Bronze propellor; Electric light. TANGISTAN was torpedoed by U-12 with 37 lives lost including master, only one crewman was rescued, One of the dead was William KAVANAGH, boatswain (Bosun) born in Dublin age 56. This would appear to be the first vessel to be torpedoed off the Yorkshire coast by a German U-boat. Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?65686
