FOR ALL THOSE WITH AN INTEREST IN BRITISH INDIA STEAM NAVIGATION (BI)
CENTENARY OF THE ROHILLA DISASTER
November 1-2, 2014
ON October 30, 1914 the BI ship Rohilla was on a coast North Sea voyage south from Scotland to France. On the outbreak of war, she had been taken up to become a military hospital ship and was
bound for northern France to pick up wounded soldiers from the Western Front in Flanders. In a fierce north easterly gale, the ship ran aground on treacherous rocks at Saltwick Bay which resulted in the a tragic loss of 84 lives.
In a feat of heroism the Whitby lifeboat made two successful trips out to the grounded ship during which 35 survivors were rescued. A third run was thwarted however by damage to the lifeboat. The remaining 50 souls clung desperately to the disintegrating wreck for the next two days before being rescued by a motor lifeboat that had struggled through the gale from Tynemouth.
On the outbreak of war, Rohilla had been taken up from India trooping duties as a hospital ship and
was on her first voyage in that capacity - a passage south from Leith through the North Sea, bound for Dunkirk - when at about 0400 on Oct 30 she ran aground just a mile south
of the entrance to Whitby harbour on the northeast coast of England. The wind was gale force and under wartime restrictions, coastal lights had been extinguished. What ensued was one of the great rescue operations of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Almost immediately, crews of several lifeboats set out to rescue the 229 people on board the stricken ship, which was already starting to break up. But for their efforts many more than the 84 who did lose their lives would probably have perished. It was 50 hours after the stranding that the last survivors were brought ashore in full public view, the last off being Captain Neilson and the ship's cat. The total lives saved was 145.To mark the dramatic rescue of the survivors and to remember those who could not be saved, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and local organisations are planning a 100th anniversary tribute to all those involved, over the weekend of Nov 1-2, 2014 (see www.rohillawhitbycentenary.org.uk)
In our own tribute specifically to BI personnel on board Rohilla on those fateful days, we are reproducing research done by Derek Ings of BI's personnel department, at the time of the 50th anniversary. In the following table, he has unearthed as much information as was available into the subsequent lives of Rohilla's officers.
Name
Rank
Age
Wage £/m
Notes
D L Neilson
Commander
50
Retired Oct 1920. Died Dec 1927
F A Bond
Chief Officer
36
18
Later attained command in BI. Retired Apr 1927. Died Jun 1954
A Winstanley
Senior 2nd Officer
34
12
Later attained command in BI. Retired Jan 1936. Died Oct 1965
L Huddy
2nd Officer
28
12
Joined RN Nov 1914. Torpedoed and drowned May 1915
C C Gwyn
2nd Officer
31
11
Later attained command in BI. Retired Dec 1939. Died Apr 1950
C W F Morgan
Junior 2nd Officer
24
11
Joined Royal Navy 1914
P C Moore
3rd Officer
21
8
Lost in Rohilla
D C Graham
4th Officer
20
7
Left company in Bombay Nov 1915
W H Rodd
Purser (Clerical)
40
10
Retired Jul 1939. Died Mar 1944
M N Kerr
Assistant Clerk
18
5
R G Oram
Ship's Surgeon
35
10
R T Utting
Radio Officer
20
Retired from Marconi Company Mar 1926
F E Wilson
Radio Officer
20
M Turnbull
Chief Engineer Officer
57
30
Retired Dec 1914. Died Apr 1920
P H Thomson
2nd Engineer Officer
41
16
J Brown
3rd Engineer Officer
31
12
Lost in Rohilla
T P Braidwood
4th Engineer Officer
26
10
Left BI after wreck
G Taylor
5th Engineer Officer
27
10
Did not return to BI
G H Sunner
6th Engineer Officer
24
8
Resigned Feb 1918
E Mackenzie
7th Engineer Officer
22
8
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