The amazing story of was lone survivor of G C

APTAIN Anthony Starkey was master of the SS Torrington, which was built in 1905 by William Doxford and Sons of Sunderland, and owned by the Tatem Steam Navigation Company of Cardiff.

On April 8, 1917, the ship was sailing from Savona, Italy, to Barry to load coal for the Italian railways.

Shortly after 11.30am, a sailor called out from above that he could see lifeboats in the distance, so Capt Starkey altered course slightly in order to close the boats and render any help required.

But as he did so, around 150 miles off the Isles of Scilly, he saw the wake of a torpedo heading towards him from a German submarine. He swung his helm to avoid it, but was too late.

The torpedo caused “considerable damage” before a submarine surfaced and opened fire on the ship.

A newspaper article in Sydney Times described the submarine as a “deadly menace”.

The Torrington did not sink at this point, but was helpless and immobile, so Capt Starkey hauled down his flag, ordering his men on to two lifeboats, boarding one himself.

The submarine U-55 approached, and Capt Starkey ordered the men on his lifeboat to board it.

He was then ordered below deck, which he did thinking he could save his men, before being interrogated by German officers while the rest of the group remained on the deck, with others still in the second lifeboat.

The captain of the U-boat then brutally ordered the vessel to dive, reportedly shouting that “the others could swim”. During the submerging, which lasted around 20 minutes, about 20 members of the Torrington’s crew were killed. The remaining crew in the other lifeboat were never heard of again. In total, 34 members of the crew died, with Capt Starkey the only survivor.

Inside the submarine, he also found four captains and three gunners of other British ships that had been sunk a few hours before.

But while he was still on board the submarine, she sank two other British ships, one of which, the Toro (3,066 tons), went down on April 12. In both cases, the master was made prisoner, and both times the submarine submerged for about 20 minutes, immediately after the prisoner had been brought below.

In the case of his own ship, the Torrington, Capt Starkey said: “I never heard of any reason why the submarine should have dived.

“There was no ship in sight, and no alarm was given.

“Some of her own men and one officer were absent from the submarine when she dived, and we remained in the vicinity for the rest of the day on the surface.

“I was kept amid ships away from the other prisoners for about two hours, and then sent forward with the two that were already there.”

Capt Starkey was held prisoner on the submarine for 15 days before being housed at four different prisoner of war camps in Germany, including Brandenburg, Holzminden and Strohenmoor.

It is not known exactly when he was released, but The Sydney Times story described the treatment of the prisoners as “not of the pleasantest”.

It reported Capt Starkey saying: “We would have starved if it had not been for the food we received from home. We were there for two months and a half on German rations and looked like shadows when the time was up. Then food began to arrive from home and we certainly enjoyed that. The food in the camps was always potato soup, not always good potatoes, cabbage soup and some bread.

“It was awful truck and impossible to eat it. They treated us pretty badly at