Ship Query

[Humbaba]

One of my granmothers was married twice (I am a descendent of her second marriage). Her first husband is recorded as being lost whilst on the merchant ship Purdy which was sunk en route to Russia in 1917. According to source’s I've seen say that the Purdy was not on a loss list. The chap in question, Thomas Heron and two others may have been on an another ship in the same convoy called the SS Hollington. Can anybody point me in the right direction to confirm this information either way ??

[GrahamSimons]

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3043681/HERON,%20THOMAS

is a fair starting point.... I've also found

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=130160

[Flattybasher9]

Have a look at the 10th entry down the page :-

http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1917-06Jun.htm

Regards

Malky.

[seaweed]

Bit of a mystery.
PURDY is not recorded in BVLAS, and I can find no reference of her as MFA. She is not recorded in the Mercantile Navy list 1917. In fact I cannot find a vessel with this name to fit the timescale, anywhere.
I suggest you look at the last logbook and Crew agreement of HOLLINGTON official number 135133
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2480715
The narrative in the logbook may give some information as to the circumstances surrounding the incident.
My thinking is that the word PURDY could be a misspelling. I know there was a MFA collier named PURLEY official number 135229 although she was lost on the 25/July/1917

[seaweed]

I asked around the Maritime research community on this issue and no one can find a vessel named PURDY.
 Spindler, describes the incident as a gunnery action that ended when darkness set in. U 95 maintains contact, and then sinks HOLLINGTON during a submerged torpedo attack.
I need info from U 95's KTB to see whether the submarine attacked one steamer or two during the gunnery phase of the engagement. If it's two ships, the obvious answer would be that PURDY, whatever her true identity is, took a shell hit which killed Thomas Heron and three others. If U 95 was in action with a single steamer, then either PURDY is another name for HOLLINGTON or the PURDY/HOLLINGTON link was false and Thomas Heron was killed in some other action.
I will look further in the British sources at Kew regarding this incident and make a further post with my findings.
I believe we owe it to those who were killed to at least get the correct name of the vessel they died on.

[Humbaba]

Great, thanks very much to you all for your help. Seaweed, I agree, we owe it to these people to keep there memory alive.

[Flattybasher9]

Interestingly enough, there is also a mystery about the U95. They are not sure where it is, and there seems to be confusion between it and the U93's final resting place. The U95 is reported as being a U93 type submarine also.

Regards

Malky

[seaweed]

Just an up date.
The KTB of U95 states. The U-boat was in action against only one ship, so the question now becomes whether PURDY is another name for HOLLINGTON or was PURDY a coded word for some kind of Admiralty charter.

Was HOLLINGTON a Q Ship? Very doubtful. She is listed in BVLAS as a Mercantile Marine casualty plus her Board of Trade logbooks seem to be available.

Thomas Heron is recorded in the DAS register as being lost from HOLLINGTON although his name is incorrectly spelled. See attached courtesy of HMac.

Who or what was PURDY?

[barryd]

Thomas Heron on another site.Hopefully this will help in the confusion of the two ship's names.

http://www.merseysiderollofhonour.co.uk/obits/ships/hollington&purdy.htm