Z/1397 ORDINARY SEAMAN GEORGE CARTER
ROYAL NAVAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE
S.S. LOUGH FISHER
DIED BY DROWNING
30TH MARCH 1918
AGED 25 YEARS
George had been born in Halesworth on the 12thSeptember 1893, the second son of Samuel, a Maltster Labourer, and Elizabeth (née Nunn). In 1908 George had left school, taking up an apprenticeship with Mr W.E. Fairweather, the printer and stationer of Bridge Street, where after receiving his indentures he was then employed as a Compositor. At the outbreak of war, having a steady job and home life with his family in London Road, he would not be one of those young men and boys who rushed to join one of the Armed Forces. However, after the introduction of conscription in 1916, he was called to join the army reserve on the 2nd March, where, after carrying out the formalities of enlistment, he then returned home to wait until being called to serve. This came on the 18th December 1916, when he was enlisted into the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, for the duration of hostilities, originally serving as R/552 Ordinary Seaman in the 4th Reserve Battalion, Royal Navy Division based at Blandford Camp, Dorset for his basic training. On the 19th March 1917 he was transferred to Crystal Palace in South London with the new number of Palace Z/1397. Here he was taught the art of Naval Gun Fire, for at the time many ships of the British Mercantile Marine and fishing fleet were being armed with various deck guns as defence against German submarines, who preferred to sink smaller vessels by gunfire rather than the use of torpedoes. After training George’s service sheet shows that from the 3rd September 1917, he had been posted to H.M.S. Vivid III at Devonport. This was not a ship as such but the name of an accounting base for sailors serving on craft taken over by the Admiralty for Naval duties, ships that were considered vital for the transporting of goods or materials essential for the war effort. These would be armed, with Royal Naval personnel to man the guns. George then became one of those sailors.
In an article in the Halesworth Times newspaper of the 9th April 1918, it was reported that George had lost his life on the 3rd March of that year. It also mentioned that previously he had served on another ship that had been lost to a submarine attack in the Irish Sea and that after several hours he and the other crew members had been rescued from an open boat and taken into the port of Swansea, where they were all found to be suffering from exposure. Regrettably, no information could be found regarding this incident in official reports or other sources.
After possibly recovering from his first sinking, he was then transferred to H.M.S President III, another accounting base for sailors serving in what was now known as Defence Armed Merchant Ships. These by February 1917 totalled two thousand, eight hundred and ninety-nine British-registered vessels. At some time during the next five months, George had found himself posted to the S.S. Lough Fisher. This was a 418-ton British coastal steamer that had been built in Belfast in 1887. On the day of its loss, it was on a voyage from Cork in Ireland to Gaston, a small port adjacent to Liverpool Docks carrying a cargo of timber pit props, when she was attacked and sunk by gunfire by the German Submarine U-101. The crew of thirteen including the Naval gun crew of two, being George and Leading Seaman D Hyland, were all lost. Further information held at the National Archives is a report by the skipper of the Armed Trawler H.M.T. Serba, Lieutenant A Twining R.N.R., that while patrolling in the area on the 31st February at 4.15 pm a life raft was spotted twelve miles off Minehead. When they went alongside to investigate, they found signs that it had been shelled, as there were pieces of shrapnel and shell splinters imbedded in the woodwork. It could not be determined if this damage had been caused while it was still on board the Lough Fisher or after it had been launched with survivors from the crew on board. The following day, 1st April, a body wearing a lifebelt was spotted on the surface some distance from where the life raft had been located. On taking the body on board, identification was found in the form of a Seaman’s paybook and other items that proved it to be the body of George Carter. After preparing his body he received a burial at sea officiated by Lt Twinning, George is now remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial to the Missing (see report below).
On hearing the news of her son’s loss Elizabeth must have felt particularly bereft as she had recently lost her husband, Samuel. As with other next of kin, his mother received a pension initially of 10/- (50p) per week that would continue with increases until she passed away in 1937.
She would also receive his medal entitlement of the British War and Victory medal pair with Memorial Plaque and scroll.
Location of these awards is unknown.
For George to lose his life by drowning, although suffering wounds, seems particularly sad, as in 1907 he had been a member of the Halesworth Boys School’s relay swimming team that had won the Lady Gooch Challenge Trophy during the local schools swimming regatta for that year. The win was triumphally announced in the Halesworth Times, which reported that, after finishing second for the previous three years, their win was considered a great victory against the other local teams, due to the superior facilities enjoyed by the others. For example, the six school teams from Lowestoft were all able to train for free in the town’s swimming baths whereas the Halesworth lads had carried out all their training in the River Blyth.
Below is a copy of the original report held at the National Archives from Lieutenant Twinning, R.N.R., regarding the recovery of George’s body from the Irish Sea after the sinking of the S.S. Lough Fisher.
