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Dubbed the "greatest disaster in the history of the Liverpool Pilot service."
In the early morning of 28th December, 1917, No. 1 Pilot Boat was on duty south of the Bar Lightship. It was an extraordinarily fine morning for the time of the year, and most of the pilots and crew, not required for duty, had retired to rest. The 457 ton vessel was carrying pilots in addition to her twenty-five crew.
No. 3 Pilot Boat was in close proximity, and at 3.15 a.m. the pilots on board the vessel were startled by a load explosion, and at once notices that the lights of No. 1 Pilot Boat had disappeared. They hastened to the spot with all the boats ready for launching, to find that No. 1 Boat had sunk, only the top of a mast being visible, but hearing cries of help from the water, they lowered two boats, and picked up three survivors - a Marconi Operator and two Pilot Apprentices, one of whom expired on reaching the deck of No. 3 Pilot Boat. The cause of the explosion was determined to be a mine which had been laid nearly a year earlier by UC-75 (Johannes Lohs).
In all thirty-nine persons perished, of whom nineteen were pilots, the remainder being examination officers, boathands, engine-room staff, and signallers. At least 7 aboard were Freemasons, and others believed to either have previously been Freemasons or had relatives that were. There was probably not a Lodge in Merseyside which hadn't been shocked by this tragic loss.
Three crewmen were picked up alive and landed at Liverpool, along with several bodies' ADM 137/2963 - LR 1915-16 No.649 (A) No 1 pilot boat, S.S. Alfred H. Read struck a mine at the Bar Station The mine that sank her was laid by the submarine UC-75. A similar event occurred on New Years Eve 1916 when virtually the entire complement of Tyne pilots was wiped out in a "jolly-gone-wrong" on the Pilot Boat - Protector"
This terrible event cast a gloom over the Port, for the pilots were well known to the shipping fraternity, and expressions of sympathy were received from all quarters. The disaster caused heavy claims to be made upon the Pilots' Benevolent Fund, and the Chairman of the Pilotage Committee, supported by the other members, came to the rescue, and were instrumental in obtaining such generous subscriptions from the Shipowners that they were not only able to reimburse the Pilots' Benevolent Fund but also to provide some additional assistance for those lost, other than pilots.
On the termination of the war the sinker of the mine (the box & mine tether) which it was believed was struck by No.1 Pilot Boat was handed over by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to the Pilotage Authority, and placed on the Canning Pierhead, in front of the Pilotage Office.
A brass memorial plaque naming all the pilots who lost their lives used to be attached to a wall inside the Williamson Museum, in Slatey Road, Birkenhead, above a scale model of the "Alfred H Read." before moving to the Museum in Birkenhead Town Hall. When the Town Hall Museum closed the plaque was taken into the care of the Merseyside Galleries and Museums. |
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