Duchess of Cornwall - a general history

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.

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