The Royal Naval Reserve vessel s.s. 'Gregynog' was a 1,699 gross register tons, defensively-armed, British cargo merchant vessel built in 1899. On the 18th April 1918 when c.3 miles offshore, 16 miles off Hartland Point, North Devon, and without warning, she was torpedoed and sunk by UB86 whilst on a voyage from Penarth to Portland with a cargo of coal. The lives of three crew members were lost.
A steel vessel, built in 1899 by S. P. Austin and Son, Sunderland. Registered at Sunderland. The owners were Lambton and Hetton Collieries Limited, part of Edward T. Nisbet, Newcastle upon Tyne.
She had a total crew of 22 and was torpedoed on the starboard side at 8.00am and sank within 5 minutes. Seventeen men escaped in a lifeboat whilst two others escaped on a liferaft. After the vessel sank the submarine, UB86, approached the boats and questioned the master as to her identity and cargo which was 2,400 tons of coal.
The three killed were a fireman who died in the explosion, a gunner who drowned on leaving the ship and the boy who was on the raft with the master and the mate. They were later picked up by a French lugger and landed at Padstow. The ship is also said to have sunk 3 miles south-west of Hartland Point. [884]
|
