Harry’s tribute to Vanguard, 100 years on
IT was one of the worst disasters in the history of the Royal Navy that cost the lives of all but two of the hundreds of sailors on board.
The catastrophic loss of HMS Vanguard, which was blown apart while at anchor at Scapa Flow in Orkney on the night of July 9, 1917, shocked a nation still in the thick of the First World War.
Yesterday, a day of commemoration was held to mark the centenary of the tragedy, attended by 40 descendants of some of the 843 men who perished.
The blast is thought to have been triggered by the detonation of faulty cordite in the magazine that ignited the whole of the warship’s explosives.
Last night, a memorial service was to be held at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, at 11.20pm to mark the moment when the first of the explosions ripped through the decks.
Just two ratings, Stoker Cox and Royal Marine Private Williams, survived.
Acts of remembrance were also held in the waters above the wreck site, which is a protected war grave, and at nearby Lyness Naval Cemetery, at Hoy, where 41 of the victims are buried.
Harry Remers, from West Sussex, laid a wreath with his father Chris in memory of the five-year-old’s great, great uncle, Lieutenant Reginald Elgood.
At sea, relatives of the dead laid wreaths from the bow of a passenger vessel stationed above the wreck, which lies in 110ft of water to the north of the island of Flotta.
Divers from the Royal Navy’s Northern Diving Unit also took a wreath to the seabed to place on the wreck.
One victim, Lieutenant Evelyn DunbarDunbar-Rivers, known as Evie, was just 2 on the night of the disaster. His nephew, Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith and great-nephew Duncan Dunbar-Nasmith, of Glen of Rothes, Moray, attended the commemorations.
Duncan said: ‘To be in Scapa Flow, on the waters above the ship, we feel closer to a man whose life came to a sudden end at such a young age so long ago. None of us will forget the sacrifice they made.’
‘None of us will forget sacrifice they made’