No.1 The Amphion as it sinks. No.2 Some of the Amphions crew. No.3 George Charles McConaghy. No.4 Joseph Pierce Murphy marked with green.(photo by his family) No.5 The German ship Konigin Luise. REMEMBER THOSE AT SEA DURING THE GREAT WAR. Many of us are familiar with WW1 from the armys point of view, but for a moment I would like to focus on the hazardous work the sailors carried out. I think it fair to say a lot of us know about the first soldiers to die on the Western Front are laid to rest in St. Symphorien Cemetery near Mons, having lost their lives around the 23rd August 1914. But, about 36 hours into the start of the war hundreds of men lost their lives at sea through enemy action to become the first British casualties. They were the men serving on the light cruiser “Amphion” which set off together with the “Lance” and the “Landrail” in pursuit of the German steam ferry the SS “Konigin Luise” following reports from a fishing vessel that a ship was “throwing things over the side”. The “Lance” (whose gun is preserved at the Imperial War Museum) fired the first British shot of the war towards the “Konigin Luise” and the “Amphion” soon engaged the enemy as well just off the area known as Outer Gabbard, in the North Sea. The “Konigin Luise” was sunk and 46 of her crew were rescued by the “Amphion”, but heading back towards Harwich she had to steer through the minefield which the German vessel had laid. At 06.30 hrs on the morning of 6th August 1914, the “Amphion” struck one of the mines previously laid by the “Konigin Luise”. Many of the men killed had been at breakfast as well as those on the gun decks, while the other escorting ships of the flotilla made way to rescue as many as they could including some Germans previously rescued by the “Amphion”. However just a few minutes later she drifted back into the same minefield and this time she sank within 15 minutes with a loss of 150 sailors and 18 German prisoners. Ironically one of her shells exploded and landed on the “Lark” killing two of her men and a German sailor. Many Irishmen lost their lives on the “Amphion” including George Charles McConaghy who was born in Pacific Avenue in Belfast but moved to Dungiven, and has his name on the Limavady War Memorial, Co. Londonderry. Also young signalman Joseph Pierce Murphy aged 25 from Ringsend in Dublin, who joined the navy in 1910 as a boy sailor. Also killed were; Joseph Lynch from Co. Down, Maurice Paul Jordan from Co. Cork, Owen Callaghan from Co. Waterford and Martin Munnelly from Co. Sligo to name but a few. So in fact there were 150 British sailors who were the first to die at the outbreak of WW1, and the “Amphion” was the first British ship which was lost by enemy action. The sea area of Cromer-Orford Ness is their grave, where the ship is slowly being covered by sand and eroding to the extent that little can be recognised. Their names live on thanks to the Plymouth War Memorial.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 10:01:07 +0000
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