Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

Naval Campaign is defined as to include all sea operations where attrition rates are in ones and twos and which do not fall within specific naval battles such as Jutland, Coronel, Falklands etc. This includes Merchant Navy losses.

Detail :

COLE, Harold Arthur, Engineer Lieutenant RN The vessel 'Bombala' went by several names. Originally she was the 'Willow Branch' and was converted to a Q-Ship. She also went under the name of the 'Britannia'. A Q-Ship was a heavily armed merchant ship with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ship the chance to open fire and sink them. The tactic of the Q-ship directly led to German U-Boat captains being highly suspicious of all merchant vessels and contributed to the sinking of unarmed and neutral merchantmen. Eventually this considerably influenced opinion in the USA and contributed to the background to the decision of the USA to enter the war on the side of the Allies in 1917. The name of Lt. Bernhard Anderson RN was flagged up on a research website when his great nephew appealed for information concerning the circumstances of the sinking of HMS Bombala on April 25th 1918. The family understanding was that he went down with his ship fighting against two German U-Boats. The story continued that he ordered his crew off the vessel remaining with just his gunners to man the guns to the last. HMS Bombala left Gibraltar on April 18, 1918, for Sierra Leone. A week later, off the West African Coast, she sighted a submarine off the port quarter, and a few minutes later a second one off the starboard bow. These were German submarine cruisers U-153 & U-154 each armed with two 10.5cm and two 8.8cm guns. They were working together off NW Africa at the time. Both submarines opened their attack with shells, this class of submarine also being armed with a couple of 5.9 guns. After about thirty rounds the Germans found the range and then began to hit the ship repeatedly, carrying away the wireless and causing many casualties. Lieutenant Anderson shortened the range so that HMS Bombala could use her 4-inch and 14-pounder guns, and the action went on for two and a half hours. By that time Bombala was done for, and it was impossible to save the ship. The crew were ordered into the lifeboats, and then the ship foundered, bows first. It was reported that Lt Anderson 'was picked up badly wounded after the ship had sunk but died a few days later from exposure'. This report originated from two men who apparently survived and who presumably picked up Lt Anderson from the sea. However other sources indicate that there were no survivors. However, the Q-ship had not sunk without severely damaging the enemy, for when the submarines came alongside Bombala's boats it was found that in one of the submarines there were seven killed and four wounded. Again this report depends on survivors to tell it. On balance it is not possible to be 100% certain of the final moments of the Q-Ship HMS Bombala but it seems fair to believe that Lt Anderson did lead a spirited defence against the two U Boats. The vessel sank NE of the Cape Verde Islands, off Cape Blanco (now Ras Nouadhibou), Mauritania (20?50?N, 17?20?W) Lt Anderson is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial whilst Eng Lt Cole is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial. Lt Anderson was also a freemason and in fact knew Harold Cole. They were both members of the same lodge XXXXXXXXXX No 2874. Both men were omitted from the Masonic Roll of Honour published in 1921, presumably due to a late return from the lodge secretary. They are now included in the updated roll at Freemasons Hall in London. Sources http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t92256.html

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley