 |
HMS Tara: The HMS Tara was originally built as the 1,862 GRT steel-hulled steam passenger ship S.S. Hibernia. Built at William Denny & Bros., Ltd. (Yard No. 618), Dumbarton, Scotland for the London & North Western Railway Co., Dublin, Ireland, the ship was launched 10 October 1899 and completed on 12 January 1900 with a length of 100.3 meters and beam of 11.9 meters. Propulsion was provided by two triple-expansion steam engines and two shafts and propellers for a speed of 21 knots.
The S.S. Hibernia was ordered and built to replace older ships of the London & North Western Railway line on the Irish Sea Passage express route between Holyhead, Scotland and North Wall Dublin, Ireland. Upon her completion, the Hibernia immediately replaced the older ship S.S. Lily (built 1880) where she provided service on this passage, and later on the Holyhead-Kingston (later known as Dun Laoghaire) service for the better part of the following 15 years.
S.S. Hibernia at Holyhead
Soon after the outbreak of the First World War, the Hibernia was requisitioned by the British Admiralty on 08 August 1914 for use as an Armed Boarding Steamer and was recommissioned as the HMS Tara along with 3 other ships of the L&NWR Line and defensively armed with three 6-pounder guns. (For those that don't know, "Tara" is Ireland's previous name.)
S.S. Hibernia colorized postcard of the photo above.
For the first year of the war, Tara patrolled the waters off of Ireland and Scotland until being deployed in late October 1915 to the Mediterranean where she patrolled along the Egyptian and Libyan coasts.
On 05 November 1915 the HMS Tara, under the command of Captain R. S. Gwatkin Williams, was sailing off the coast of Sollum with a crew of 104 men, most of the men being from Anglesy, Wales. The ship was steaming along at 7 and a half knots when, just after 1000 the lookouts on deck and aloft in the crow's nest, screamed that a torpedo was inbound. The ship attempted to avoid the torpedo, but due to the slow speed at which she was moving, the helm didn't answer in time. At 1010 in the morning the ship was struck on the starboard side amidships by a torpedo launched by German submarine U-35 (Waldemar Kophamel), which surfaced after the explosion. The ship's crew were able to man the 6-pounder guns and 9 rounds were fired at the submarine, all of which missed.
When the torpedo exploded it immediately ruptured the ship's hull, flooding the engine room and killing the 6 personnel in the space, as well as 3 crewmembers who were in the cabins located above the engine room. One of the ship's 4 lifeboats was also lost in the explosion, with the remaining lifeboats being able to be lowered over the side where 93 of the 104 man crew were able to abandon ship.
The Tara took approximately 7-8 minutes to sink by the stern approximately 8-miles off of Sollum.
Meanwhile, the U-35 had surfaced and approached the men in the lifeboats flying the German flag. U-35 moved through the wreckage of the Tara's sinking with its gun trained on the lifeboats without attempting to rescue any men in the water, leaving that to the ship's crew. German Submarine "U-35" (date unknown)
The U-35's commanding officer, Korvettenkapitän Waldemar Kophamel, ordered the Tara's lifeboats to be taken in tow and for some of the ship's crew to be put onto the submarine's deck to lighten the overcrowded lifeboats. The U-35 then towed the lifeboats and crew to Port Soliman (Bardia) approximately 8-miles away, picking up the body of a cook along the way. Prior to entering the port channel, the U-35 lowered the German flag and replaced it with the Turkish flag. Upon arrival at the port, the crew of the Tara was then turned over to Turkish authorities. And this is where the real saga of the crew of the HMS Tara begins......
The ship's crew buried the body of the cook and were given some food, water, and clothing by the U-35's crew before being turned over to the Turkish authorities. The Turkish authorities turned the prisoners over to members of the local Senoussi tribe under the command of a Turkish Officer, Nouri Basha, and were made to march into the Libyan Desert over the next few days, sleeping in the open desert and given very little food. They eventually joined other Senoussi prisoners, survivors of the sinking of the S.S. Moorina (sunk off of Crete 05 November 1915) during these first few weeks. The Tara's crew would spend 135 days in captivity near Bir Hakkim, Libya, with four men dying during this time. They would eventually be rescued in a daring operation on 21 March 1916 in which the Duke of Westminster, leading a force of men from the Yorkshire Yeomanry, with 9 Rolls Royce armoured cars, 10 ambulances, and 20-plus other vehicles, racing across 120-miles of desert, avoiding the Senoussi tribesman, and rescued the captive survivors of the HMS Tara and S.S. Moorina without suffering any casualties during the rescue.
Survivors of the "HMS Tara"
The rescued men were suffering from dysentery, hunger, dehydration, lice investation, and various other ailments, but were considered to be in reasonably good health considering their situation. They were then transferred to the British hospital in Alexandria where they remained until they were fully recovered from their ordeal.
Survivors of the "HMS Tara" convalescing in Alexandria
The Sanusi's Little War: The amazing story of a forgotten conflict in the Western Desert 1915-17
HMS Tara Casualties:
Lost during the ship's sinking on 05 November 1915: BARBER, Fred, Steward, MMR, (no service number listed) HUTTON, James, Warrant Electrician, RNR JACKSON, Walter, Cook, MMR, (no service number listed) JONES, John E, Fireman, MMR, (no service number listed) JONES, Thomas, Fireman, MMR, (no service number listed) JONES, William, Leading Stoker, MMR, (no service number listed) MCKINVEN, James, Seaman, RNR, B 5031 PARRY, John, Fireman, MMR, (no service number listed) PHILLIPS, Richard L, Ty/Engineer Sub Lieutenant, RNR PHILLIPS, Robert, Leading Stoker, MMR, (no service number listed) ROBERTS, Griffith H, Ty/Engineer Sub Lieutenant, RNR WILLIAMS, Owen, Carpenter, MMR, (no service number listed) Lost during internment: 13 November 1915: William Thomas, Quarter Master, died as a result of attempts to amputate a broken leg with a pair of ordinary scissors. 05 January 1916: Cox, Boiler Maker, interned, Died of Illness. 28 January 1916: Williams, Robert J. S., Engineer Lieutenant, RNR, Died of Illness. 19 February 1916: Roberts, Owen H, Greaser, MMR, (no service number listed), Died of Illness. 4 April 1916: Pritchard, Thomas, Seaman, MMR, (no service number listed), Died of Illness. Epilogue: During their time in captivity, many of the men of the Tara kept diaries of events which occurred between the time of their capture and their rescue. One such diary, although incomplete, was kept by a crewmember named David John Davies. View the first page of his diary here. Follow the link at the bottom of the page to view the rest of the diary (navigates away from this site). .
Other survivors went on to publish books of their ordeal. "Prisoners of the Red Desert, Being a Full and True History of the Men of the Tara" (by Captain R.S. Gwatkins-Williams, 1919) is one such work. You can view this book online here. References:
http://www.naval-history.net/WW1AreaMed1915.htm http://www.uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/5908.html Miramar Single Ship Report for 1111027 http://www.anglesey.info/HMS%20_Tara.htm http://www.gtj.org.uk/index.php?id=4796 http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1915/dec/22/hms-tara http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/R_TARA.HTM http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/sites/holyhead/pages/shipyard.shtml http://www.archive.org/stream/childrensstoryof05parruoft/childrensstoryof05parruoft_djvu.txt The Black Hole of the Desert: Being the Diary of a Yeoman Signaller, one of the Survivors of HMS Tara (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1916) The other desert war (By John W. Gordon) http://www.anglesey.info/London_and_North_Western_Railways_Shipping_History.htm http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=10777 Back to Index Page Home Page To: TB-56
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |