BORN BLYTH, 1900. SON OF HENRY & ELIZABETH SWANSON. BOARDED AT 10 , WOODHOUSE STREET, HULL, (1911 CENSUS) AND 7 LILLIAN TERRACE, WOODHOUSE STREET, HULL. LOST AT SEA. AGED 15 YEARS. DEATH REPORTED IN HDM, on 26/02/1915* and 15/02/1918.
The Scarborough Minefield During the First World War, nothing outraged the people of Yorkshire more than the bombardment of Scarborough by a fleet of German ships in December 1914. Nineteen people were killed and a further eighty were injured. The cry “Remember Scarborough!” was used in recruitment posters, so great was the anger felt. What was not so clear at the time was that the bombardment was nothing more than a cover for an even greater threat. While the German battle-cruisers DERFFLINGER and VON DER TANN were firing their shells at the town, the light cruiser KOLBERG was engaged in laying, what proved to be, the densest minefield ever known in the history of naval warfare just off Scarborough. There is a theory that the intention of the German ships was to try and lure the British Grand Fleet into this minefield, and there are strong arguments for this. Whatever their reasons, the minefield did have devastating results, many of which did not become apparent until the last few years. Many ships in the war years simply disappeared without trace: they left their home ports and failed to reach their destinations. At the time, many of these unfortunate vessels were listed as “lost in the North Sea”. Discoveries by amateur divers of Scarborough Sub-Aqua Club in more recent years have shown that many such losses were, in fact, victims of the KOLBERG´s mines. The first victims succumbed almost before the raiders were out of sight: the 1228-ton collier ELTERWATER struck a mine between Filey and Scarborough, and she was quickly followed by the 1190-ton Norwegian VAAREN, another collier, and then the 988-ton PRINCESS OLGA, carrying a general cargo. On this first day, December 16th, there was no indication as to the extent or density of the minefield, but when a group of minesweeping trawlers from Grimsby steamed in on December 19th, they were to find out It was a brilliantly-clear morning as the trawlers steamed past Filey, blackening the sky with their smoke, the sweeps out in readiness. Within the first five minutes they had exploded eighteen mines, and as they got into the thick of the field the falling tide brought the anchored mines closer to the surface. Each had five horns, and contained some 350lbs of explosive. At 11 am, the 273-ton minesweeping trawler ORIANDA struck a mine while steam full ahead, and her momentum caused her to plough herself under the waves, her masthead cutting through the water like a submarine´s periscope as she sank. Surprisingly, only one man was lost: Lt. H. B. Boothby and the rest of his crew were picked up from the water very quickly. A second trawler, the PASSING, later renamed PACIFIQUE, was also mined and a huge hole was blown in her bows: but she did not sink, and eventually beached at Scarborough for repairs. Significantly, perhaps, she was new and was the biggest trawler in the country at the time. The sweepers found themselves in a desperate situation by this time as the full horror of the minefield became apparent. As the tide fell, they were in the midst of a horrible mêlée of floating mines, tangled wire sweeps and stricken trawlers, all drifting with the current. Operations were suspended until the tide rose again. The next day, the 203-ton auxiliary patrol vessel GARMO was blown up and sank with the loss of six lives, including that of skipper, T. Gilbert. The loss of the merchant ships continued: the 1168-ton BOSTON was crippled by a mine, but drifted onto Filey Brigg before sinking, and Christmas Day saw the loss of no less than four ships. The 464-ton GEM was blown in half with the loss of 10 men: THERESE HEYMANN, 2393-ton was lost with all hands off Filey: the minesweeper NIGHT HAWK blew up with the loss of six lives, and 1107-ton ELI sank off Cayton Bay without loss of life. Boxing Day brought two more victims, the 3081-ton LINARIA and the 1455-ton Dutch steamer LEERSUM. The last day of 1914 brought another loss: the 2458-ton Danish steamer M C HOLM that had been posted as “lost in the North Sea” until Scarborough divers found and identified her in the early 1980´s. A fourth minesweeper trawler fell victim to the Scarborough minefield on January 6th, 1915, when the 480-ton THE BANYERS struck a mine and sank, taking six men´s lives. The skipper escaped by scrambling out through the wheelhouse window as the trawler took its final plunge – he was no less a man than Lt. H. Boothby, who, it will be remembered, had already had one trawler, the ORIANDA, blown up from under him! Boothby was awarded the DSO – as he put it himself, for losing two ships! It was many months before the last of the 100 mines had either done its deadly work, or been cleared, and hundreds of men died as a result. We shall probably never know the full extent of the damage and death caused by the Scarborough Minefield. Other known or suspected victims of the minefield in 1915 were the 2812-ton cargo vessel GLENMORVEN of Leith on 26th December, posted missing, all hands lost. The 2624-ton collier ELFRIDA on 7th January. The 3027-ton MEMBLAND was also lost with all hands on 15th February, presumed mined. The collier 1208-ton DEPTFORD struck a mine and sunk off Filey Brigg on 24th February. On 1st March the Hull trawler SAPPHIRE struck a mine and sank with the loss of one crewman. The Swedish steamer 1573-ton HANNA was blown up by a mine on 15th March with the loss of six lives. The last recorded victim to the minefield was the Scarborough trawler CONDOR with the loss of all nine crew. (Carl Racey) Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?65765
