Official No. 107000: Code Letters JHRC.

Owners: 1899 North Eastern Railway Co, York, West Hartlepool; London & North Eastern Railway, West Hartlepool; November 1914 Admiralty requisition-renamed Char.

Masters: 1903-09 RT Wilkinson; 1915 Lieutenant John Peacock.

On 16 January 1915 Char was alongside the Belgian steamer Erivan in the Thames Estuary & was attempting to board her for an inspection. There was a fierce gale blowing at the time & the two vessels collided leaving the Char badly damaged & drifting with cries for help from the crew heard above the wind.  Signals were sent to call out the Deal lifeboat which searched for around 12 hours in hurricane force winds & darkness but was unable to find any trace of the vessel. It was thought that she drifted onto the Goodwin Sands & foundered there. All three officers & 15 crew lost at sea.

Lives lost January 1915:

Booth, Edward, fireman, 22, Dover St. West Hartlepool

Booth, William, 1st engineer, 58, Dover St. West Hartlepool

(the above were father & son)

Darch, Alfred Percy, private, 23, Taunton, Somerset

Dodd, John, wireless telegraph operator, 30, Manchester

Duchemin, Camille Alfred, seaman, 26, Jersey

Fergus, Ralph, mate, Dent St. West Hartlepool

Hastings, Matthew, deck hand, 20, Wells Yard, Hartlepool

Hatch, William, fireman, 24, Alma St. West Hartlepool

Hunter, John E, fireman, Sheriff St. West Hartlepool

Melsome, Lieutenant Robert Percy, 28, b. Hursley, Hants.

Nossiter, George, 2nd engineer, 48, Wolviston

Park, James, stoker, 31, South Shields

Powell, Clement Arthur, officer’s steward 3rd class, 19, Woodford, London

Robinson, William Henry, corporal, 34, Plympton, South Devon

Stephens, Charles Wesley, wireless telegraph operator, 32, Manchester

Thomson, Gordon, seaman, 22, Aberdeen

Whale, Lieutenant John Peacock, master, South Shields

Whittle, Lieutenant Harold Worsley, 26, Edinburgh