Ashbury - a general history

Master: 1945 David Morris.

Owing to circumstances arising out of a state of war emergency the vessel was ordered to make a northerly passage round the North of Scotland and through the Pentland Firth, although under normal circumstances this passage would not have been attempted at that time of year.

On a Ministry of War requisition charter Ashbury was on a voyage from Melilla where she had loaded a cargo of iron-ore for an East coast port in the UK but she was diverted to Workington on the west coast to unload. She left Workington on 31 December 1944 in ballast with a crew of 42 on a voyage for Loch Ewe & the Tyne. While anchored at Loch Ewe she had difficulty maintaining her position & required assistance from a tug, she also lost an anchor at this time. She left Loch Ewe in convoy on 6 January 1945. In heavy weather she became detached from the convoy & was stranded & sank near Black Rocks at the mouth of the Kyle of Tongue off the North of Scotland on 8 January 1945. 42 lives lost.

Lives lost January 1945: Addicott, James Thomas, 3^rd engineer, 37, Cardiff (husband of Alice Minnie); Anderson, Robert, chief engineer, 59, Liverpool; Ayres, Ernest Harold, leading seaman, 30, Stockton-on-Tees; Boulter, John, 3^rd radio officer, 18, Blyth (son of James & Elizabeth); Buckle, Stanley Hilton, assistant cook, 18; Cadogan, Kieran, boatswain, 58; Cassar, Carmel, 26, fireman/trimmer, b. Malta, resided Canton, Cardiff; Cassar, Karmenu, 27, b. Malta; Cauchi, Carlo, fireman/trimmer; Chiplen, Frederick Charles, chief steward, 35, Canton, Cardiff; Clark, Harold, ordinary seaman; Crosby, Dane Geoffrey, 1^st radio officer, 18, Norton, Stockton-on-Tees; Dunham, David Vincent, sailor, 21, Stockton-on-Tees; Falson, Charles, fireman/trimmer ; Fletcher, John, able seaman, 20, Lancashire; Getty, William Paul, chief officer, 26, Thorne, Yorks.; Gibbons, Frederick, assistant steward, 21, Saltburn-by-the Sea; Grima, Coronato, fireman/trimmer, 31, Gozo, Malta; Grove, Ernest, boy, 16; Heller, James Dennis, able seaman, 21, Bassett, Hants.; James, Ivor Morgan, 2^nd officer, 51, Barry, Glam.; Kelly, Joseph Stanley, sailor, 24; Kerr, John I, able seaman, 19, Grangemouth; Locke, William Robert, senior ordinary seaman, 17, Balry, Glamorgan; Lowther, Alexander, cook, 23, Whitby; MacArthur, Robert Dawson, 4^th engineer, 23, Middlesbrough; McCarthy, Dennis, sailor, 20; McLaren, Stanley, 3^rd officer, 36, Bishop Auckland; Mercieca, Emmanuelle, greaser, Malta; Muscat, Francis, fireman/trimmer, 27, b. Malta; Morris, David, master, 59, Grangetown, Cardiff; Pile, Hubert Bernel, 2^nd engineer, 45, Llanelly; Portelli, C, donkeyman ; Saffarese, Romeo, fireman/trimmer, 35, Cospicua, Malta; Scorfna, Angelo, fireman/trimmer, 24, Cardiff; Skillen, Charles, sailor, 20, Middlesbrough; Smyth, Thomas, senior ordinary seaman, 18, Stockton-on-Tees; Vassallo, Joseph, greaser, 27; Vella Giuseppe, fireman/trimmer, 54, Gozo, Malta; Welham, Ernest, steward’s boy, 16, Sittingbourne, Kent; Zahra, Paul, fireman/trimmer, Malta.

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