Duchess of Cornwall Gallery

Steamship Duchess of Cornwall.

Moored at Falmouth in March 1903 after being damaged in heavy weather in March 1903 off the Scillies when bound from Barry for Brindisi with coal.

Masters: 1890 J Richards: 1892 J Doncaster: 1894-98 FR Chellew: 1898-1903 TG Hunt: 1903 Colman; 1906 GL Eustice: 1908 J Trethowan: 1909 D Evans: 1917 William Irvine.

March 1903 from Barry for Brindisi with a cargo of coal she encountered severe weather off the Scillies which damaged her starboard lifeboat & ventilators, carried away the flying bridge & half-filled her hold with water. She made her way to Falmouth for repairs.

On a voyage from London for Le Havre the defensively armed Duchess of Cornwall was torpedoed without warning (U-26 Matthais Graf von Schmettoew) & sank five miles north of Cape Barfleur on 11 April 1917. 23 lives lost.

Lives lost April 1917: Bascombe, Arthur Stanley, 2nd engineer, 31, b. Flushing, Falmouth; Carter, C, sailor, 59, b. London; Davies, Rees, 3rd engineer, 31, b. Swansea; Goodley, Victor George Vine, mess room steward, 16, b. Paddington, London; Halcrow, Adam, leading seaman (Royal Naval Reserve) aged 17, Lerwick, Shetland; Harris, John, fireman/trimmer, 61, b. Totnes, Devon; Irvine, William, master, 49, Brislington, Bristol; Lelean, James, chief officer, 53, b. Mevagissey, Cornwall; Lumley, Robert, able seaman, 39, b. Stockton, resided Berdmondsey, London; Mallet, TM, 2nd mate, 23, b. Chatham; McDonald, Jas, fireman/trimmer, 32, b. Aberdeen; Mills, Charles Thomas, able seaman, 53, Rotherhithe; Pearce, Arthur, ship’s cook, 47, b. London; Petersen, E, able seaman, 36, b. Russia; Smith, A, fireman/trimmer, 59, Walworth London; Smith, Robert Scott, boatswain, 35, Rose St., Dundee; Sullivan, Phillip, donkeyman, 49, Cardiff; Taylor, Albert Edward, ordinary seaman, 15, b. Islington, London; Trott, W, ordinary seaman, 16, Poplar, London; Van Noey, Augustine Antonio Antonette, steward, 27, b. Antwerp, Belgium, resided Leyton, Essex; Van Rossen, T, sailor, 56, b. Belgium; Webb, WA, fireman/trimmer, 44, b. London.

This section will, in time, contain the stories of more than 450 merchant ships built or owned in the Hartlepools, and which were lost during the First World War. As an illustration of the truly global nature of shipbuilding, these ships were owned by companies from 22 different countries, including more than 30 sailing under the German flag at the outbreak of war.