BORN HULL 1873. WIFE MARGARET (MASON) LIVED AT THIS CWGC ADDRESS. PARENTS ELIZABETH & THE LATE RICHARD SHIELDS. KILLED BY MINE EXPLOSION ON 24/02/1916, AGED 43. LISTED IN THE HULL MERCHANT NAVY ROH.
At 6.15 a.m. on 26th February 1916, while lying at anchor during a raging gale and heavy snow showers, just north of the Humber, a violent explosion rocked the DIDO on her port-side up forward, She was carrying one passenger, who also happened to be a stowaway, a crew of thirty and an unspecified general cargo, while on passage from Middlesbrough for Bombay. Captain Taylor instructed the Chief Officer to lower a boat and have the damaged area examined. The Chief and two crewmen climbed in, but as the boat reached the water, the battering from choppy waves broke it adrift. The men tried desperately to row back to the steamship, but in the thick squally snow, they lost sight of the ship and were soon driven away by a strong tide and the wind. The Belgian steamship MARTHA actually found the three men headed over to the DIDO to see what assistance could be rendered. The DIDO was gradually sinking and some of the men had gone into the sea by the time the MARTHA reached the vessel. Attempts were made to rescue the men by throwing ropes, but the icy water had left them too weak and exhausted to grab hold of the ropes. A lifeboat was then lowered from the Belgian steamer, but the freezing conditions were also affecting the rescuers and the squally lumpy sea made rescue almost impossible. At 7.20 a.m., with the MARTHA standing by, the DIDO heaved up and went down to the bottom, taking the confidential papers down with her. In total, twenty-seven people were lost, the stowaway and twenty-six crewmen. The MARTHA then proceeded on her voyage to Hull, where she landed the three survivors. Later, the explosion was discovered that the vessel had detonated a mine placed by the Imperial German submarine SM UC 7.
(Four-months later, on 6th July 1916, the submarine was also lost with her crew of eighteen, when it is believed she detonated a newly laid British mine, between Thornton Bank and Zeebrugge in the English Channel.
SS Tummel, built by Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd., Goole in 1912 and owned at the time of her loss by E. P. Hutchinson, Hull, was a British steamer of 531 tons. On February 24th, 1916, Tummel, on a voyage from Grimsby to Tréport with a cargo of coal, was sunk by a mine from the German submarine UC-5 (Ulrich Mohrbutter), 7 miles south of the Kentish Knock lightvessel, Thames’ mouth. 9 persons were lost.
SS Tummel, built by Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd., Goole in 1912 and owned at the time of her loss by E. P. Hutchinson, Hull, was a British steamer of 531 tons.
On February 24th, 1916, Tummel, on a voyage from Grimsby to Tréport with a cargo of coal, was sunk by a mine from the German submarine UC-5 (Ulrich Mohrbutter), 7 miles south of the Kentish Knock lightvessel, Thames’ mouth. 9 persons were lost.
ANDERSON, M (35), Able S
