Lives lost and lives saved – the tragedy and heroics of RMS Leinster recalled
New research has highlighted the tragic tale of the RMS Leinster and the less-known story of its role in saving lives before it was sunk. Will Hayward reports
RMS LEINSTER was sailing to Holyhead, Anglesey, when she was torpedoed by a German U-boat almost exactly 100 years ago.
According to the ship’s log, she was carrying 77 crew and 694 passengers including more than 100 British civilians, 22 postal sorters (working in the mail room) and almost 500 military personnel from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force as well as nurses from around the world.
More than 500 of them lost their lives in the turbulent waves.
It was the largest ever loss of life in the Irish sea.
However, what many people don’t know is that just months before, the crew of the Leinster were saving the lives of another ship that was hit by the deadly German subs.
A number of people on board the SS Mexico City survived as a result of the actions of the Leinster’s crew just months before the Leinster itself sank.
Volunteer researcher at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), Geoffrey Hicking, has been looking into the story.
The lesser-known SS Mexico City (originally named the SS Narrung) was built by the Sunderland Shipbuilding Company in 1896 and could be considered quite an unlucky vessel.
This reputation for bad luck began almost immediately as she suffered damage entering the water after construction.
On top of this she almost sank in 1912 and was attacked by U-boats in 1916.
However on February 5, 1918, her luck completely ran out when steaming from Liverpool to Milford Haven to form a convoy.
About 15 miles from South Stack, Holyhead, the Mexico City was spotted by German submarine and hit with a torpedo near the number two hatch on the port side.
The ship’s lifeboats boats were immediately launched but the master of the ship did not make it.
He was last seen entering his cabin to recover the ship’s papers to throw overboard.
The is where the Leinster enters the story.
One of the lifeboats was picked up at 11.15am the next day by the Leinster, saving the lives of those on board.
The people on the boat were bought on board and this included the ship’s Chinese cook and seven Chinese seamen.
Other lifeboats had a far more eventful time before they were rescued, with some not ever making it to safety.
According to Mr Hicking, the U-boat came alongside one lifeboat to search for officers to question, but the surviving chief officer remained hidden in the bottom of the boat until the Chinese sailors managed to drive the submarine away.
He said: “In my research the sources said that he lay down in the bottom of the boat and the Chinese sailors ‘holla’d at the boat until it went away’.”
Another lifeboat containing 16 men was sighted by the ship War Bracken but it capsized as it was being secured.
Only four men out of the 16 survivors on board were recovered from the sea and landed at Milford Haven.
Another boat containing the Mexico City’s Chinese boatswain and five other crew members managed to land at Douglas.
According to Mr Hicking, it is important to remember that, despite the tragedy which would befall the Leinster, it still had just saved the lives of several people.
Mr Hicking said: “While it is right that the Leinster’s sinking be remembered today, we should also remember the positive contribution she made to saving lives.”
On an interesting and tragic side note, the vessel that sank the Leinster, UB-123, was itself probably lost in a minefield in the North Sea on its way back to Germany, on or about October, 19 1918.
The bodies of her commander Oberleutnant zur See Robert Ramm and his crew of two officers and 33 men were never recovered.
A conference commemorating the Welsh experience of The Great War at sea will be hosted in November.
A number of people on the SS Mexico City survived as a result of the actions of the Leinster’s crew