SHELL SHOCK
Sailor’s son discovers local author is granddaughter of unsung hero who saved his dad’s life in WWI
OVERHEARING other guests at a party has led to a man finding out who saved his dad’s life 100 years ago at the Battle of Jutland.
David Morgan, 77, was “astounded” by the surprise discovery.
The revelation was thanks to a woman who lives nearby and whose grandad was the brave rescuer.
David previously only knew that it was a petty officer who stopped his Royal Navy sailor dad Geoffrey from drowning on HMS Warrior after it was hit by German shells in the North Sea.
At the lunch party at a friend’s house, David’s ears pricked up as guests chatted about a new biography published to mark the centenary of the 1916 First World War sea battle.
He said: “I overheard people talking about the book and told them ‘That’s funny, my father was in the engine room on HMS Warrior’.
“It was an absolutely astounding moment. It was purely by chance.”
The book, A Shy and Simple Warrior, by Rosie Parr is about her grandad George Lancaster. It was George who dragged Geoffrey to safety from the stricken HMS Warrior.
Only one other person escaped the wrecked engine room of the vessel as it flooded and began to sink. A shell had exploded in the engine room.
Geoffrey, then a 26-year-old engineer lieutenant, and George, a 29-yearold engine room petty officer, risked their lives to keep the engines going.
After helping the ship escape more enemy fire, they found themselves trapped. George grabbed Geoffrey as he began to drown. Sailors were pulled on to another ship – around 700 survived, dozens lost their lives.
Rosie, a solicitor from Wanstrow, Somerset, was not at the party but David, of nearby Ilminster, wrote to her publisher and they arranged to meet. David said: “I found Rosie and told her ‘I think your grandfather and my father must have known each other. I would go further to suggest your grandfather was responsible for saving my father’s life’.”
Geoffrey died of cancer aged 65 in 1956. George, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, died of a heart attack in 1945 aged 58.