BORN HULL 1873. SON OF JAMES & REBECCA REYNOLDS ABOVE. HE WAS EMPLOYED WITH THE ELLERMAN -WILSON LINE. HE RESIDED WITH HIS BROTHER ALFRED (WHO SERVED IN FRANCE) AT 6, VINE TERRACE, BARNSLEY STREET, HULL. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION, AT SEA, ON 08/07/1918, AGED 45. RECORDED IN THE HULL MERCHANT NAVY ROH. HIS DEATH AND PHOTOGRAPH WERE ALSO REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 15TH JULY 1918 * HIS NAME IS LISTED ON THE BRITISH GAS LIGHT AND COKE COMPANY WW1 MEMORIAL, WHICH IS KEPT AT THE FAKENHAM GAS MUSEUM, NORFOLK.
Chicago was a 7,709grt, defensively-armed steamship. Built for Ellerman´s Wilson Line Ltd, Hull; Yard No 616; Launch Date 24/02/1917; 1 x 4.7ins QF stern gun; Carring Fuel oil in double bottom.
Whilst on passage from North Shields to Gibraltar and in convoy off Flamborough Head, at 1.15 a.m. the CHICAGO was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-107. The torpedo struck level with the No 2 hatch below the water line. The crew abandoned ship but were unable to find either the 3rd officer and two crew, they were presumed to have been in the explosion. The vessel sank within ten minutes, the survivors were picked up by an escort vessel and landed at Grimsby.
The UB-107 was responsible for the following losses off the Yorkshire coast in 1918: ERICH LEA 10/05, NAPARIMA 10/05, AGNES 13/05, KALO 13/05, KIELDRECHT 15/05, HOGARTH 07/06, CHICAGO 08/07, WAR CROCUS 08/07, CHLORIS 27/07, and JOHN RETTIG 27/07.
PEOPLE ON BOARD SS ‘CHICAGO’
LIE, JACOB ANDREW (55), Able Seaman, S.S. Chicago, Mercantile Marine, 08/07/1918, Son of the late Jacob and Hannah Lie; husband of Olive Cecilia Lie (nee Abrahamson), of 44, Madeley St., Hessle Rd., Hull. Born in Norway, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
MARGERISON, GEORGE WILLIAM (22), Third Mate, S.S. Chicago, Mercantile Marine, 08/07/1918, Son of Walter and Jane Margerison (nee Walton), of 18, Goddard Avenue, Hull. Born at Leeds, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
REYNOLDS, WILLIAM (45), Fireman, S.S. Chicago, Mercantile Marine, 08/07/1918, Son of the late James and Rebecca Reynolds. Born at Hull, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial.
