Genealogy Chat

Can anyone help I am trying to get details of a merchant ship the fishpool which was damaged in ww1 off the coast of ireland it did not sink but my relative was lost at sea with others after leaving the stricken ship The fishpool did reach saftey and was repaired Iam trying to find out how my relative was lost.I have googled but can only find details when it was actually sunk in 1943 off southern Italy. the Irish bombing was in late 1942 I believe

You could try the National Archives? Or possibly contact the Imperial War Museum or National Maritime Museum?

If you know the assumed d.o.d of your relative, try searching for the weather conditions during that period. It could be that they were swamped/ran aground in bad weather.

Hell makem, if you want to give us details of your relative we could try to find info that way .....

Hope you meant 'Hello' MC :-D

makem -the mv Fishpool sunk in 1943 was different to the one your relative sailed on.


http://josephcummings.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

"M.V. Fishpool was apparently an unlucky ship. She was bombed in the North Atlantic in November 1940 on her >>>maiden voyage.<<< Captain Hill, 10 officers and 16 men were killed. She was abandoned and eventually towed back to the Clyde.

On 9th May 1941 she was bombed whilst in Barrow.

The Fishpool was bombed again, set alight and sank by German aircraft in July 1943. She was carrying 1,000 tons of aviation spirit and 4,000 tons of munitions."

My would be uncle was Jackie Mordey I believe it was November 25 1942
I have read the Joseph Cumming letter and I thought that was different, I think they actually changed its name

Is this your relative? He's the only 'Mordey' sailor on the CWGC, and from a different vessel.

MORDEY, JAMES

Rank: Apprentice
Date of Death: 04/07/1917
Age: 16
Regiment/Service: Mercantile Marine
S.S. "Goathland" (Whitby)
Memorial TOWER HILL MEMORIAL
Born at Sunderland.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2972327/MORDEY,%20JAMES

If that's not him, what is your source? Just trying to tie down dates!

Someone else on the Goathland, so doesn't tie in with your knowledge, especially as you said that the Fishpool made it to Port

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bandl.danby/Skelton1917.html

4th July (1917)- Death of Steward FRANK HANSON, Mercantile Marine, of 11 Vaughan St, North Skelton. His ship, the SS Goathland [Whitby], was sunk by a German U-boat 30 miles off St Nazaire.

makem, have you accidentally put ww1 in your opening post, when you say the ship was damaged off the Irish coast, as you have then put later in the post that you believe the Irish bombing was in late 1942?

From the following site -
http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2005/06/20/merchant-navy-plaque-for-ropners-men-killed-in-two/

Billy McGee on January 23, 2005 at 12:00 am said:
SS FISHPOOL (2), 4,950grt, built 1940, (ON. 160785) Sunk in an air raid at Syracuse on the 26th July 1943 while discharging ammunition and aviation spirit brought from Alexandria killing 23 crew and 5 DEMS gunners. 18 survived. Earlier in the war on the 14th November 1940 the Fishpool had been sailing from the Tyne to Vancouver in ballast when she was hit by seven incendiary bombs South-West of Rockall killing several crew. The ship was abandoned and one lifeboat with 15 crew was never seen again. The ship was taken in tow and repaired. Also on the 9th May 1941 while loading stores at Barrow-in-Furness the ship was again damaged by a parachute mine, which detonated next to the ship killing 2 crew.

But - from this site, where ships of the Ropner line are listed,

http://www.plimsoll.org/OnTheLine/ShippingLines/ropners/fleetlist.asp#1
amongst many others are -
Ropners Line

This fleet list shows the ships operated by the line between 1930 and 1945.

For full details of these ships, search Lloyd`s Register of Ships, available on this site later in 2003.

If you want to find this line`s ships in Lloyd`s Register of Ships, look under `Ropner Shipping Company`.
Ship Year of build
Fishpool 1912
Fishpool 1940

and finally from
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/archive/index.php?f-353.html
Try to get hold of a copy of Billy McGee's book Ropners Navy . Billy is the fount of all knowledge on Ropners

My uncle's name JohnGeoge Mordey (Jackie) b-1920 Sunderland and the account of what happened is all from his late mother my grandmother and his sister my mother.But they have no information apart from lost at sea they did not know whether the life boat just sank or was attacked
Just found this and it looks like it was the same ship later sunk at Syracuse

The following is courtesy of Tony Wilding:

SS FISHPOOL (2), 4,950grt, built 1940, (ON. 160785) Sunk in an air raid at Syracuse on the 26th July 1943 while discharging ammunition and aviation spirit brought from Alexandria killing 23 crew and 5 DEMS gunners. 18 survived. Earlier in the war on the 14th November 1940 the Fishpool had been sailing from the Tyne to Vancouver in ballast when she was hit by seven incendiary bombs South-West of Rockall killing several crew. The ship was abandoned and one lifeboat with 15 crew was never seen again. The ship was taken in tow and repaired. Also on the 9th May 1941 while loading stores at Barrow-in-Furness the ship was again damaged by a parachute mine, which detonated next to the ship killing 2 crew.

"Born 1920 Sunderland" . Right - so 2nd World War, not the First !! :-D

Your original request was 'How did he die?'

As there were no survivors from the lifeboat, it boils down to 'lost at sea'.

From CWGC

MORDEY, JOHN GEORGE

Rank: Carpenter
Date of Death: 14/11/1940
Age:21
Regiment/Service: Merchant Navy
M.V. Fishpool (West Hartlepool)
Panel Reference Panel 49.
Memorial TOWER HILL MEMORIAL

Additional Information:
Son of John George and Grace Mordey, of Hendon, Sunderland, Co. Durham.

I suspect that the date of death was given as the same as the date of the bombing

Could someone double check if there is a death reg please? The certificate may not answer your question, but may give you peace of mind.

Although I doubt that there would have been a Board of Inquiry, its another avenue to explore

Thanks that would have been my uncle jack, Parents details are that of my grandparents.I supose lost at sea is the only account they can give when there are no survivers or witneess's to tell what happened
Sorry about the WW1 just looked at my mistake

Not to worry, although it did cause us all a bit of confusion!

It might be an idea to follow up Stuart's suggestion to look for a copy of Billy McGee's book Ropners Navy. Your local library may be able to source it on your behalf.

You could also check with Sunderland Archives/Library to see if they have any further knowledge. The problem with war years is that any publication at the time isn't going to go into too many details as it could affect morale.

The CWGC (Commonweath War Graves Commission) site is excellent if one of your family disappears without trace. With an unusual surname such as your's, there aren't too many results to filter through.

I have made a note of Billy's book and will have a look at main Sunderland library as I would like to know other crew members at that time
Thanks for everyones help