butterfly
HONOURED MEMBER RIP
....at a recent car boot sale I bought a batch of paperwork, amongst it was an item that caught my eye, it was a certificate entitled 'certified extract relating to the supposed death of a Seaman'. it was filled in '...sunk by enemy action' and dated '27th June 1918'.
needless to say I bought it as curiosity got the better of me, I wanted to know more....
The ship was named on the certificate, but at the time I had no recollection of it, however a search on the internet unveiled much more than I could have anticipated - the ships name is LLandovery Castle ........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMHS_Llandovery_Castle
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/lcastl12.htm
Harry Robert Cocks was an assistant Steward aboard the hospital ship and at the age of just 22 he lost his life, a few short months before the wars end.
(I have read on many occasion of WW2 merchant men being sunk in the Atlantic, surviving the sinking only to be terrified of the thought of being gunned down by the Uboat crews. However in reality it was quite the contrary, often U-boat crews would supply food to the shipwrecked sailors, and offer directions to the nearest land, sometimes even cigarettes were passed over..................... However, after reading about the story of the LLandovery Castle, I now understand where perhaps some of these fears come from. Its clear that this incident in WW1 made headline news and was used in much propaganda - did this continue to lurk in the minds of the men fighting in another war just twenty plus years later? )
below are two images showing the certificate as well as a photo of Harry.
regards Kev
needless to say I bought it as curiosity got the better of me, I wanted to know more....
The ship was named on the certificate, but at the time I had no recollection of it, however a search on the internet unveiled much more than I could have anticipated - the ships name is LLandovery Castle ........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMHS_Llandovery_Castle
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/lcastl12.htm
Harry Robert Cocks was an assistant Steward aboard the hospital ship and at the age of just 22 he lost his life, a few short months before the wars end.
(I have read on many occasion of WW2 merchant men being sunk in the Atlantic, surviving the sinking only to be terrified of the thought of being gunned down by the Uboat crews. However in reality it was quite the contrary, often U-boat crews would supply food to the shipwrecked sailors, and offer directions to the nearest land, sometimes even cigarettes were passed over..................... However, after reading about the story of the LLandovery Castle, I now understand where perhaps some of these fears come from. Its clear that this incident in WW1 made headline news and was used in much propaganda - did this continue to lurk in the minds of the men fighting in another war just twenty plus years later? )
below are two images showing the certificate as well as a photo of Harry.
regards Kev