Thread: Hopper Barge "D" sunk 1945

Hopper Barge "D". 262grt (William Cooper & Sons Ltd) On the River Mersey loaded with a cargo of sand at the Eastham Channel the barge left her anchorage at 23.30 hours on the 15th January 1945 and had been heading for the West Bank Dock, Widnes. The barge never arrived. An extensive search was made and wreckage was eventually discovered three days later just over a mile from the Eastham pumping chimney. The wreck damage was found to be consistent of that from an external explosion. The Head Dock Gateman at Eastham informed the inquiry about midnight on the 15th January he had been awakened by an explosion. The final conclusion was that the barge had been sunk by an external explosion, probably that of a relic of the blitz three years earlier. The explosion theory was later substantiated when the body of the Chief Mate was found the following month and the Coroner recorded a verdict of "Death from asphyxia, shock and multiple injuries following an external explosion" The body of the young boy rating was also discovered some considerable time later

BOOTH, Boy Rating, ERIC. Hopper Barge "D". (Merchant Navy) 16th January 1945. Age 16. Son of Mr. and Mrs. John Edgar Booth, of 105 Cholmondeley Street, Widnes, Lancashire.

BRENNAN, Fireman, MICHAEL. Hopper Barge "D". (Merchant Navy) 16th January 1945. Age 40. Husband of Mary I. Brennan, of 235 Upper Mann Street, Liverpool 8.

LEE, Master, RICHARD. Hopper Barge "D" (Merchant Navy). 16th February 1945. Age 48. Son of the late Capt. William Shaw Lee; husband of Alice Lee, of 118 Mersey Road, Widnes. on the River Mersey.

MURRAY, Chief Mate ROBERT. Hopper Barge "D" Merchant Navy. 16th January 1945. Age 54 of 28 White Street, Widnes. Body found at foreshore, Speke, opposite the airport 25th February 1945.

ROWE, Chief Engineer, ALBERT. Hopper Barge "D" Merchant Navy. 16th January 1945. Age 61. Husband of S. J. Rowe, of 56 Oakland Street, Widnes.

Non of the above named are commemorated as Merchant Navy casualties of WWII, though they do appear on the civilian register. I think this should be addressed by the CWGC and have sent details on the loss to the Commission. All five are recorded in the Deaths at Sea Register and I have copies of her last Crew Agreement from Kew. I also have a death certificate of Robert Murray and his occupation is recorded as "Steam Hopper mate" and his death and injuries are recorded as "owing to enemy action war operations" I am awaiting a copy of Eric Booth's death cert. A local paper in Widnes has offered to run a story in the hope I can find where the two bodies found were eventually interned as to have their graves marked accordingly as other men lost from these Steam Hoppers were. Hopefully the other names will be placed on Tower Hill Memorial where they rightly belong.

Any other help in finding anything on the above named or incident most welcome. Details of the loss of Hopper "D" are from my latest book "They Shall Grow Not Old...." due for publishing 2010.

Lest We Forget!.

This is still and ongoing project with the CWGC as I found other evidence to back up the incident. Below is the last reply I had from the CWGC.

Generally we accept that there would appear to have been some inconsistencies in those of the Mercantile Marine whom we commemorate. As Jackie advised in previous correspondence, all the names that we record were advised to us by the appropriate service authority after the war. In the case of men of the Mercantile Marine this would have been the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman.

As a consequence of this, we are presently looking at all our archival documentation which includes correspondence between ourselves and the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman at the time in an attempt to clarify just why some Merchant Seaman were accorded war grave status and not others. In the course of our research it may be necessary to liaise with other organizations so it may be some time before we can deal with your cases.

Kind regards
Tim Brown
Records Supervisor
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
2 Marlow Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire
SL6 7DX
Direct Line: 01628 507231
tim.brown@cwgc.org